The Growth of Cities and American Culture (1865-1900)

(Chapter 18)

A Nation of Immigrants

Population increase from 2.3 million in 185076.2 million in 1900; 16.2 million of this = immigrants

Push Factors= A) poverty of displaced farmers driven from jobs by the mechanization of farm work B) overcrowding/unemployment b/c European population boom C) religious persecution (i.e. Jews in Russia)

Pull Factors= economic opportunities, US reputation for political and religious freedom, abundance of industrial jobs in cities & large steamships inexpensive one way passage in ships’ “steerage” allowed millions of poor Europeans to emigrate

“Old” Immigrants & “New” Immigrants

Throughout 1800s; mainly northern and western Europe: The British Isles, Germany, Scandinavia

Mainly Protestants, w/minority Irish and German Catholics

High level of literacy Blended easily into rural Amer.

society

1890s- post WWI; mainly southern and eastern Europeans (Italians, Greeks, Slovaks, Croats, Poles, Russians)

illiterate; poor peasants who fled autocratic countries

Unaccustomed to democratic practices

Largely Roman catholic, Greek Orthodox &Jewish

Crowded cities and poor ethnic neighborhoods in NY, Chicago & other major US cities

Around 25%= “birds of passage”

Restricting Immigration

By 1886, Congress passes new laws restricting immigration.

Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882; ban on all immigrants from China.

Restrictions on “undesirable” persons (criminals, mentally ill)

1885- law prohibited contract labor in order to protect American workers

immigration center in 1892 in Ellis Island= new arrivals had to pass more rigorous medical & documental examination, pay entry before entering

Supporters of Restriction

Restriction supported by (A) labor unions

(B) nativist society called the American Protective Association- openly prejudice against Catholics

(C) Social Darwinists-believed immigrants inferior to English and German natives

* H/w despite restrictions, nearly 15% of US pop. was immigrants at turn of the century, until the 1920’s Quota Acts which almost closed Statue of Liberty.

Urbanization

Cities provided central supply of labor for factories, principal market for goods

shift of population from rural to urban. By 1900, 40% of Amer. lived in towns or cities, by 1920 more Amer. lived in urban communities than rural areas

In late 19th century millions decided to seek new economic opportunities in the city, both immigrants and native born; people left farms seeking industrial and commercial jobs

Between 1897-1930, nearly 1 million southern blacks settle in northern and western cities

Changes in the Nature of Cities

Horse drawn cars and cable cars replaced by electric trolleys, elevated railroads, subways transporting people farther from the city’s commercial center. Building of Brooklyn Bridge, allows longer commutes btwn residential neighborhoods and the center city

Mass transportation allowed for segregation based on income. Upper and middle classes move to suburbs to escape poverty and crime of the city

skyscrapers emerge becoming a dominant feature in American urban skylines

Ethnic neighborhoods vs. Residential Suburbia

Affluent citizens left residences near business districts, while poor moved in them

Landlords create tenement apartments which could cram about 4,000 in one city block; overcrowding led to filth, disease.

In crowded tenements different immigrants could maintain their own language, culture, church or temple and social club.

Upper and middle class Amer. decided to move out the city. Factors prompting movement= (1)abundant land w/low cost (2) inexpensive transportation by rail (3)low cost construction methods (4) ethnic and racial prejudice (5)desire for grass, privacy, individual houses

Late 1850s Frederick Law Olmsted designed a suburban community

By 1900, suburbia became American ideal living

Boss and Machine Politics

political parties which came under control of tightly organized groups of politicians, (known as political machines)

Each machine had its top politician who gave orders and gave out gov’t jobs for loyal supporters

Tammany Hall (NYC) started as social club, later power centers to coordinate needs of business, immigrants & underprivileged; in exchange for votes

Party bosses knew how to manage social, ethnic and economic groups in the city. Political machines brought modern services to the city, like a rugged form of welfare.

Political Machine sometimes helpful, sometimes corrupt like Boss Tweed in the 1860s pocketed almost 65 percent of public funds from NYC

Awakening of Reform

New social consciousness in 1880s and 1890s Literature of Social criticism=

– Henry George, Progress and Poverty- criticized laissez-faire economics, proposed placing a single tax on land to solve poverty and shed light on the inequalities in wealth caused by industrialization.

– Edward Bellamy, Looking Backward- book which envisioned a future era in which cooperative society had eliminated poverty, greed and crime; helped shift the public opinion to support greater gov’t regulation.

Settlement houses emerge, most famous being Hull House in Chicago (1889) Jane Addams; by 1910, over 400 settlement houses in America’s largest cities. Settlement workers set precedent for future social workers, they were also activists for child-labor laws, housing reform and women’s rights.

Frances Perkins and Harry Hopkins will have leadership roles in FDR’s reform program, the New Deal in the 1930s

Religion and Society

Social Gospel movement- In 1880s and 1890s Protestant clergymen apply Christian principles to social problems, led by Walter Rauschenbusch who worked in NYC’s Hell’s Kitchen& urged organized religions to take up the cause of social justice.

Dwight Moody and his Moody Bible Institute help urban evangelists adapt traditional Christianity to city life

Salvation Army-(1879) imported from England in 1879, provided the basic necessities of life for the homeless and the poor, while preaching the Christian gospel.

Mary Baker Eddy- taught good health was the result of correct thinking about “Father Mother God”, founder of the Church of Christ Scientist- popularly known as Christian Science

Families and Women in Urban Society

Urban life meant isolation from extended family for the most part, divorce rates increase to one in 12 marriages by 1900.

Reduction in family size w/shift from rural to urban living; children now seen more as an economic liability than a need for labor like on farms

National average for birthrate and family size continued to drop

Women’s cause for suffrage launched at Seneca falls in 1848 carried by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. They helped found the National American Women’s Suffrage Association. Wyoming was the 1st state to grant full suffrage to women in 1869. By 1900, some states allowed women to vote in local elections, & most women allowed to control and own property after marriage already

Temperance and Morality

Concern from urban reformers, especially women

Women’s Christian temperance union (WCTU) formed in 1874, under leadership of Frances E. Willard of Illinois had 500,000 members by 1898,

Antisaloon League founded in 1893 became powerful political force and by 1916 persuaded 21 states to close down all saloons and bars.

Carry A. Nation raids saloons and creates a sensation

Moralists, thought cities to be breeding grounds for vice, obscenity, prostitution. Anthony Comstock of NY formed Society of Vice and persuaded Congress in 1873 to pass “Comstock Law”, which prohibited the mailing of obscene and lewd material/photos

Intellectual and Cultural Movements

Changes in education, arts, sports Public Schools= children now sent to kindergarten, elementary schools

after 1865 began to teach the 3 R’s (reading, writing, arithmetic) with the increase in enrolled children in public schools, the literacy rate rose to 90% of the population in 1900

Very significant was the tax-supported public high schools. Higher Education= increase in US colleges in late 1800s, largely result

of (1)land grant colleges established under Morrill Acts of 1862 and 1890 (2) universities founded by wealthy philanthropists (3) founding of new colleges for women (i.e.Smith, Bryn Mawr, Mount Holyoke)

By 1900, 71% of colleges admitted women who were 1/3 of attending students

Changes in curriculm, introduction of electives allowing the US to produce its first generation of scholars who could compete w/Europeans.

Social Sciences and the professions

New social sciences emerge including behavioral psychology, sociology, anthropology and political science.

Study of human behavior Oliver Wendell teaches law should evolve with legal precedents Clarence Darrow argued that criminal behavior could be linked

with environmental factors W.E.B. Du Bois was first African American to receive a

doctorate from Harvard, advocated his “talented tenth” plan New trends in education and professions of 1900 would have

significant impact on progressive legislation and liberal reforms of next century

Literature

Realism and naturalism thrive; showing human nature and reflecting human experience

– Bret Harte– Mark Twain – William Dean Howells– Stephen Crane – Jack London– Theodore Dreiser

Painting

– Winslow Homer – Thomas Eakins– James McNeil Whistle– Mary Cassatt

– As the 19th century drew to a close, a group of social realists known as the “Ashcan School” painted scenes of everyday life in poor urban neighborhoods. Upsetting to artists were nonrepresentational paintings exhibted in the Armory Show in NYC in 1913. Art of this kind would be rejected until the 1950s.

Architecture

Louis Sullivan Frank Lloyd Wright Daniel H. Burnham Frederick Law Olmsted

Music

With growth of cities came increases in demand for musical performances and entertainment. By 1900 most large cities had either a symphony orchestra, an opera house, or both.

Great innovators of the era= Jelly Roll Morton, Buddy Bolden, Scott Joplin

Jazz introduced to American public

Jazz, ragtime, blues gained popularity in the early 20th century as New Orleans performers headed north into urban areas like Memphis, St. Louis, Kansas City, Chicago

Popular Culture

Mass Circulation of newspapers exposing scandals and sensationalism to new heights

Amusements increase and leisure time increase Spectator Sports and Amateur sports gain acceptance