Section 4-The Birth of Reform Click the Speaker button to listen to the audio again

Section 4-The Birth of Reform

Section 4-The Birth of Reform

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Chapter ObjectivesSection 4: The Birth of Reform• I can explain the methods that social critics advocated

to improve society.

• I can evaluate efforts to help the urban poor.

(pages 481–483)(pages 481–483)

Social Criticism


• Changes in industrialization and urbanization led to debates among Americans over the issue of how to handle society’s problems.

• In 1879 journalist Henry George wrote a best-selling book called Progress and Poverty.

• It raised questions about American society and challenged the ideas of Social Darwinism and laissez-faire economics.

• In 1883 Lester Frank Ward’s Dynamic Sociology argued that humans were unlike animals because they could think and plan ahead.

• He concluded that it was cooperation and not competition that caused people to succeed.

• He wanted government to become more involved in solving societal problems.

• These ideas became known as Reform Darwinism.

Social Criticism (cont.)


(pages 481–483)(pages 481–483)

• In 1888 Edward Bellamy’s Looking Backward 2000–1887 became a bestseller and helped shape the thinking of American reformers in the late 1800s.

• The book tells the story of a perfect society in the year 2000.


Social Criticism (cont.)

(pages 481–483)(pages 481–483)

(page 483)(page 483)

Naturalism in Literature


• Realists argued that people could control their lives and make choices to improve their situation.

• In a style of writing known as naturalism, writers criticized industrial society.

• They suggested that some people failed in life due to circumstances they could not control.

• Prominent naturalist writers included Stephan Crane, Frank Norris, Jack London, and Theodore Dreiser.

• All wrote stories of characters caught up in situations they could not control.

Naturalism in Literature (cont.)


(page 483)(page 483)

(pages 483–485)(pages 483–485)

Helping the Urban Poor• Reformers began to organize to help the poor.

• Organizations such as the Social Gospel movement, Salvation Army, YMCA, women’s clubs, settlement houses, and temperance movements formed to help the needy.

• Minister Washington Gladden was an early supporter of the Social Gospel movement.

• He wanted to apply “Christian Law” to social problems.

• From 1870 to 1920, members of the Social Gospel group worked to better conditions in cities through charity and justice.

• Baptist minister Walter Rauschenbusch later led the movement.

• He believed that competition was the cause of many social problems.

• This led to many churches taking on community functions to improve society by offering gyms, social programs, and daycare.

Helping the Urban Poor (cont.)


(pages 483–485)(pages 483–485)

• In 1878 the Salvation Army offered aid and religious counseling to urban poor.

• The YMCA attempted to help industrial workers and urban poor through Bible studies, prayer meetings, citizenship training, and group activities.

• They had facilities that offered libraries, gyms, pools, and low-cost hotel rooms.



(pages 483–485)(pages 483–485)

• Dwight L. Moody was an evangelical Christian and president of the Chicago YMCA.

• He founded his own church, today known as Moody Memorial Church.

• By 1867 Moody was so popular that he brought his revival meetings to other cities.

• He was against Social Gospel and Social Darwinism.



(pages 483–485)(pages 483–485)

• He felt the way to help the poor was by redeeming their souls and not by providing them with services.

• The settlement house movement was promoted by reformers who felt it was their Christian duty to improve the living conditions of the poor.

• Jane Addams set up settlement houses in poor neighborhoods.



(pages 483–485)(pages 483–485)

• Addams opened Hull House in 1889 and inspired many others, including Lillian Wald’s Henry Street settlement house in New York City.

• Medical care, recreation programs, and English classes were provided at settlement houses.



(pages 483–485)(pages 483–485)

(pages 485–486)(pages 485–486)

Public Education


• In the late 1880s, the increase of industry resulted in a need for better-trained workers.

• As a result, there was a need for more school and colleges.

• Americanization, or becoming knowledgeable about American culture, was key to the success of immigrant children.

• Due to the lack of educational opportunities for African Americans, Booker T. Washington led the crusade to form the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama in 1881.

• The grammar school system in the city divided students into eight separate grades to help teach successful habits in the workplace.

Public Education (cont.)


(pages 485–486)(pages 485–486)

• The number of colleges greatly increased in the late 1800s.

• This was partly a result of the Morrill Land Grant Act, which gave federal land grants to states for the purposes of establishing agricultural and mechanical colleges.

• College attendance increased.

• The number of women’s colleges also increased.



(pages 485–486)(pages 485–486)

• Free libraries provided education to city dwellers.

• Andrew Carnegie donated millions toward the construction of libraries.



(pages 485–486)(pages 485–486)

Economics In the 1870s people thought that typing was physically too strenuous and intellectually too complicated for women. As a result, most secretaries were men. The Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) conducted a survey and found that stenography was a lucrative career. In order to help working-class girls who came to urban areas for jobs, the YWCA offered shorthand and typing classes for women.

The Seventh-Inning Stretch This baseball tradition, where fans often stand up to stretch in the middle of the seventh inning, does not have a completely reliable history. One claim is that in 1869, all the Cincinnati Red Stockings players stood during the seventh inning to seek relief from the hard wooden benches on which they were sitting. Another popular story asserts that in 1910, President William Howard Taft stood to stretch himself; thinking that the president was leaving, fans at the Washington Senators game also stood out of respect.Although organized baseball was played as early as the 1850s, the game really took off after the Civil War. Returning veterans helped to form teams, and by 1866 there were 202 teams in 17 states.

During the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge, John Roebling, who designed the bridge, was killed on the job. His son continued directing the work until being injured. The work was then taken over by John’s wife, who completed the project with her son’s direction.

Football became a popular spectator sport during the Gilded Age, with college games proving to be the biggest draw. Rutgers and Princeton played in the first collegiate contest in 1869. Throughout the late 1800s, three Eastern universities–Harvard, Yale, and Princeton–dominated the sport.

Ungraded schools were common in rural areas. Children from 3 to 18 were often taught in the same classroom.



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Section 4-The Birth of Reform Click the Speaker button to listen to the audio again