The Growth of Cities and American Culture

The Growth of Cities and American Culture A Nation of Immigrants - In last half of 19th century, US population tripled; 23.2m in 1850 to 76.2m in 1900 - - 16.2m immigrants fueled growth and 8.8m more arrived in 1901-1910 Growth of Immigration - Negative reasons that drove Europeans to emigrate: - Poverty of displaced farmworkers driven from the land by political turmoil and mechanization of farm work - - - Overcrowding and joblessness in cities as a result of population boom - Religious persecution, mostly to Jews Positive reasons to come to US: - Political, religious, and economic opportunities - Large steamships that made is inexpensive for millions to emigrate “Old” Immigrants and “New” Immigrants - Old immigrants came from north and wester Europe (British Isles, Germany) - - Protestants and mostly english-speaking so easy to blend into American society New Immigrants - 1890s-WWI in 1914, new immigrants came from eastern Europe (Italians, Greeks, Croats, - Poor, illiterate peasants from autocratic countries who were unaccustomed to democratic - Mostly Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodoz, and Jewish - Most went to poor ethnic neighborhoods in NY, Chicago, and other major cities - 25% were young men contracted for unskilled factory, mining, and construction who would Slovaks, Poles, and Russians) traditions return back to their country once they made enough money - Restricting Immigration - By 1886, the year that the Statue of Liberty was placed in NY Harbor, Congress pass many laws restricting immigration - Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, placing ban on immigrants from China - Restrictions in 1882 on paupers, criminals, convicts, and mentally incompetant - Contract Labor Law of 1885 restricted temporary workers to protect American workers - Literacy test for immigrants vetoes by Pres Cleveland but passed in 1917 - Ellis Island opened in 1892, immigrants have to pass rigorous medical exam and pay tax before entering US - Anti-Immigration supported by: - Labor unions: feared use of immigrants to depress wages and break strikes - Nativist society, American Protective Association, openly prejudiced against Roman Catholics - Social Darwinists who felt immigrants as biologically inferior - Anti-immigrant feeling didn’t and restrictions didn’t stop newcomers, 15% of US were immigrants Urbanization - America shift from rural to urban including African Americans (about 1m blacks settled in north and west cities) - Changes in the Nature of Cities - Streetcar Cities - pre-Civil War, people had to live close to jobs, now better transportation so can live miles away - Electric trolleys replace carriages and cable cars in 1890s - Mass transportation segregated workers by income, upper class moved to streetcar suburbs to escape pollution, poverty, and crime of city while poor stay in city (many immigrants) - - Skyscrapers - In 1885, William Le Baron Jenny built 10 story Home Insurance Company (1st skyscraper) - Made possible by Otis elevator and central steam heating system Ethnic Neighborhoods - As wealthy moved out of cities, poor moved in - Landlords divided housing into small windowless rooms for profit, could house 4000 people into one acre - NY City passed law in 1879 that required every bedroom to have a window - Landlords built dumbbell tenements, ventilation shafts in center of building so each bedroom could have windows - Overcrowding result in diseases like cholera, typhoid, tuberculosis In crowded quarters, immigrant groups created distinct ethnic neighborhoods to maintain language, culture, church, temple, and social club - Residential Suburbs - - Reasons why Americans moved to suburbs - Abundant land at low cost - Inexpensive transportation - Low cost construction methods - Ethnic and racial prejudice - AMerican fondness for grass, privacy, and detached individual houses Private City vs Public City - Disease, crime waste, and water and air pollution convinced people to reform cities - Needed municipal water purification, serwer systems, waste disposal, street lighting, police departments - “City Beautiful” movement, plans to remake cities w/ tree-lined boulevards, public parks, and public cultural attractions - Boss and Machine Politics - Political parties in cities came under control of tightly organized groups of politicians known as political machines - Each machine had a boss who gave orders to rank and file and doled out government jobs to - Political machines could be greedy and generous, often stol millions from taxpayers in form of supporters graft and fraud Awakening of Reform - Books of Social Criticism - Henry George published book talking about inequalities in wealth caused by industrialization - - Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy envisioned future era where there was no poverty, greed, crime - Both books shift public opinion away from laissez-faire toward more government regulation - In his book Progress and Poverty, George proposed solution to replace taxes with only tax on land Encouraged people to reform and try to implement author’s ideas Settlement Houses - Middle class want to learn more about poor so settled into immigrant neighborhoods - Settlement homes provide social service for people in neighborhoods - Settlement houses taught English, childhood education, industrial arts, and established theaters and music - Most famous was Hull House in Chicago run by Jane Addams in 1889 schools - Social Gospel - Importance of applying Christian principles to social problems - - Walter Raushcenbusch lead movement Religion and Society - Roman Catholicism grew rapidly from new immigrants; leaders like Hames Gibbons devoted support to old and new immigrants by defending Knights of Labor and organized labor - Dwight Moody, a protestant, founded Moody Bible Institute in Chicago 1889 to help evangelists adapt to city life - Salvation Army provided necessities to homeless and poor while preaching Christian gospel Urban middle class attracted to Mary Baker Eddy who taught that good health was result of correct thing about Father Mother God - Families in Urban Society - Urban life placed strains on families by isolating them from extended family Divorce rate rose 1/12 marriages in 1900 partly bc state legislature expand grounds for divorce to include cruelty and desertion - Family size lower bc children didn’t need to work in farms anymore; birth rates dropped Voting Rights for Women - In 1890, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B Anthony helped found NAWSA to secure vote for women - Wyoming first state to grant full suffrage for women and by 1900, some states allowed women to vote in local elections; most allowed women to own and control property - Temperance Movement - Excessive drinking by male factory workers was a cause of poverty for immigrants WCTU formed in 1874 advocating total abstinence from alcohol; under leader of Frances E Willard, had 500k members by 1898 - Anti Saloon League founded in 1893 became powerful political force and by 1916, persuaded 21 states to close all saloons and bars - Urban Reforms - In NY, Theodore Rooseelt tried to clean up NY City Police Department; became VP and later president Intellectual and Cultural Movements - Changes in Education - Public Education - New education law required children to attend school, as a result, literacy rate rose to 90% of population by 1900 - - Sending kids to kindergarten became popular (concept borrowed from Germany) - Growing support for tax-supported public schools Higher Education - US colleges increase in late 180 due to: - land -grant colleges established under Morril acts of 1862 and 1890 - Universities found by wealthy philanthropists (ex. Uni of Chicago by Rockefeller) - New colleges for women (ex. Bryn Mawr and Mount Holyoke) - By 1900, 71% of colleges admitted women who represented over ⅓ of students - Charles W Elliot became president of Harvard in 1869 and reduced number of courses and introduced elective that the students got to choose; included languages and sciences - Johns Hopkins Uni founded in Baltimore in 1876 as first institute to specialize in advanced graduate studies - John Hopkins emphasized research and free inquiry, as a result, US produced first generation of scholars who could compete with intellectual achievements of Europeans - - Social Sciences - Application of scientific method in theory of human evolution revolutionized human society - New fields known as social sciences: psychology, sociology, anthropology, and political science - Richard T Ely attacked laisses-faire economics - WEB Du Bois was a social scientist (first black to receive doctorate from harvard) The Professions - - Scientific theory and methodology influenced doctors, educators, social workers, and lawyers Literature and the Arts - Realism and Naturalism - Bret Harte depicted life in the rough mining camps of West - Mark Twain became first great realist for The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) - New generation in 1890 known for their naturalism - Stephen Crane’s Maggie told how brutal urban environment could destroy the lives of young people - - Crane also wrote Red Badge of Courage about fear and human nature on Civil War - Jack London wrote about conflict between nature and civilization in The Call of the Wild - Theodore Dreiser’s Sister Carrie (1900) caused sensation and shocked moral sensibilities Painting - Winslow Homer painted seascapes and rendered scenes of nature - Thomas Eakins painted surgical scenes, used serial action photographs to study human anatomy - James McNeill Whistler, born in MA, spent most life in Paris and London, famous for painting: and paint more realistically Arrangement in Gray and Black - Architecture - Henry Hobson Richrdons changed direction of American architecture, used Greek and Roman - Louis Sulivan went a step further by using historical styles for office building styles - Music - By 1900, most cities had an orchestra, opera house or both - Jelly Roll Morton and Buddy Bolden expanded audience for jazz (African rhythms with European instruments) - Popular Culture - Popular Press - First newspaper to exceed a million in circulation was Joseph Pulitzer’s NY World - - Ny publisher William Randolph Hearst pushed scandal and sensationalism to new heights Amusements - - Had crimes, disasters, stories on political and economic corruption Factors that promoted leisure time activities - Gradual reduction in hours people worked - Improved transportation - Promotional billboards and advertising - Decline of restrictive Puritan and Victorian values that discouraged wasting time - Most popular form of recreation was drinking and talking at saloons - Railroads encouraged traveling circuses like Barnurn and Bailey and the Ringling Brothers Spectator Sports - Boxing attracted many and John L Sullivan (champion) became national heroes - Baseball was organized teams into leagues - Football was primarily college activity - Attended by men, part of bachelor subculture for singe men