Lecture 2Society and poltics in the post-Civil War years

CITY LIFEThe rise of the new elite (underside v. elite)Elite neighborhoods (Nob Hill in San

Francisco)The rise of urban middle class (educated

professionals, white collar workers, shopkeepers)

Modernization of home life (central heating, refrigeration, electric lighting)

CITY LIFECommercially prepared foods (Campbell

Soup, Quaker Oats, Canada Dry ginger ale)Changing structure of the day (no cock crow,

noon-day meal disappears or loses significance, women have more time for self-development)

Victorian mores (discipline, prudishness, sobriety, industriousness, self-control)

Chicago Vice Commission

SOCIAL MOVEMENTSTemperance movement –Women’s Christian

Temperance MovementNativist considerations (anti-German, anti-

Irish)Suffrage movement Susan B. Anthony (National American

Women’s Suffrage Association-1890)

LEADING IDEOLOGIESSocial Darwinism-natural selection, survival

of the fittest, Herbert Spencer- no governmental

interference is necessary in the workings of society

Pragmatism: William James, John Dewey-cash value of an idea, philosophy of business expansion and enterprise

SOCIAL CRITICS

Conspicuous consumptionThorsten Veblen: Theory of the Leisure Class-

wealthy do not provide valueJacob Riis: How the Other Half Lives-description

of tenement living

POLITICS IN THE CITYCorruption (party caucuses choose Senators)Political Machine: providing social services

in return for votesBoss System- Boston’s Tammanny Hall,

Daley in ChicagoStrong mayor type of local governmentEarly form of social services

SOCIAL ILLSEconomic injustice (low pay, over 10 hour

workday)Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire (1913)-Struggle against vices (prostitution,

alcoholism, obscenity)Child laborChicago Vice Commission

PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENTA reform movement 1900-1917Aim: to cure the ill effects of the American

Industrial Revolution (1865-1915)Gentlemen reformers (mugwumps)Muckrakers –documentary journalists,

writersrevealing social problems-Upton Sinclair, The

Jungle (1906)

DIRECT DEMOCRACYSeventeenth Amendment-direct election of

U.S, SenatorsSixteenth Amendment-income taxInitiative (petition, enough signatures, issue

on ballot)Referendum (binding, non-binding)Recall (removal of elected officials, but only

on local level)

REFORMING URBAN POLITICSWeak mayor system, elimination of the boss

system (strong mayor)Professional city managers (not connected to

political parties)Weakening the role of the partyMoving against the trusts, Monopoly-one firm

controlling the market1890: Sherman Anti-Trust Act1906: Food and Drug Act

THEODORE ROOSEVELTBorn in 1858Early traumas, loss of wife, adventures in the

WestDomestic progressive, Improves race relations, denounces lynchingInvites Booker T. Washington to White House

THE SQUARE DEALFight against monopolies Trust buster1904: breaks up the Northern Securities

TrustInterferes in labor relations, settles the

anthracit coal strike of 1902Starts the conservation movementEmphasizes progressive conservatism