Transcript Chapter 27

By: Joel and Whitney
The Urban Frontier
 From 1870 to 1900, the American population
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doubled, city population tripled.
Cities expanded. Famous architects like Louis
Sullivan perfected skyscrapers (first appearing
in Chicago in 1885).
Department stores like Macy’s (in New York)
and Marshall Field’s (in Chicago) provided
urban working-class jobs and attracted urban
middle-class shoppers.
Crime increased in cities and impure water,
uncollected garbage, unwashed bodies, and
droppings made cities smelly and unsanitary.
Wealthy city-dwellers fled to suburbs in order to
escape the city.
The New Immigration
 Until the 1880s, most immigrants came from
the British Isles and western Europe (mostly
from Germany and Scandinavia). These
immigrants were literate and accustomed to
some type of representative government.
 After the 1880s, most immigrants consisted
of the Baltic and Slavic people of
southeastern Europe, who were basically
the opposite of most immigrants that arrived
prior to the 1880s.
Southern Europe Uprooted
 Many Europeans came to America because
there was no room in Europe and there
wasn’t many jobs due to industrialization.
 However, many that immigrated to America
stayed for a short period of time and then
returned to their homeland. The immigrants
that remained (including persecuted Jews,
who propagated in New York) tried very hard
to retain their own culture and customs.
Reactions to the New
Immigration
 The federal government did little to help immigrants
assimilate into society. As a result, immigrants were often
controlled by powerful “bosses” (such as New York’s Boss
Tweed) who provided jobs and shelter in return for
political support which created corruption.
 However, the nation’s conscience gradually awoke to the
problems in the slums. People like Walter
Rauschenbusch and Washington Gladden began
preaching the “social gospel,” insisting churches tackle
the social problems of the time.
 Among the people who were deeply dedicated to uplifting
the urban masses was Jane Addams, who founded Hull
House in 1889 to teach children and adults the skills and
knowledge they would need to survive and succeed in
America.
 The new cities also gave women, mostly single women,
(working mothers and wives were considered appalling)
opportunities to earn money and support themselves.
Narrowing the Welcome Mat
 The “nativism” and antiforeignism of the 1840s and 50s came
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back in the 1880s when the Germans and western Europeans
looked down upon the Slavs and Baltics and feared that mixing
of blood would ruin the fairer Anglo-Saxon races by creating
inferior offspring.
Anti-foreign organizations like the American Protective
Association (APA) rose up against new immigrants and labor
leaders who tried to stop new immigration, since immigrants
were frequently used as strikebreakers.
Finally in 1882, Congress passed the first restrictive law against
immigration, which banned paupers, criminals, and convicts from
coming to America.
In 1885, another law was passed banning the importation of
foreign workers under usually substandard contracts.
Literacy tests for immigrants were proposed and resisted until
they were finally passed in 1917. The 1882 immigration law
barred the Chinese from coming in.
In 1886 America received the Statue of Liberty, given as a gift
from France.
Churches Confront the Urban
Challenge
– Since churches had failed to take any stands or rally
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against the urban poverty, plight and suffering, many
people questioned the ambition of the churches and
worried that Satan was winning the battle of good vs. evil.
However, a new generation of urban revivalists stepped
in. For example, Dwight Lyman Moody who proclaimed
the gospel of kindness and forgiveness and adapted the
old-time religion to the facts of city life.
Roman Catholic and Jewish faiths were gaining a lot from
the new immigration.
The Church of Christ, Scientist (Christian Science),
founded by Mary Baker Eddy, preached that Christianity
healed sickness.
YMCA’s and YWCA’s also developed.
Darwin Disrupts the Churches
- In 1859, Charles Darwin published his On the
Origin of Species, which set forth the new
doctrine of evolutionism and attracted the ire and
fury of fundamentalists.
- Colonel Robert G. Ingersoll denounced
creationism after being widely persuaded by the
theory of evolution.
- Although, other people put together their own
interpretations and combined the two theories.
The Lust for Learning
– More public schools were created with free
textbooks that were funded by taxpayers.
– Catholic schools grew in popularity and in
number.
– To partly help adults who couldn’t go to school,
the Chautauqua movement, a successor to the
lyceums, was launched in 1874. This
movement included public lectures to many
people by famous writers and extensive athome studies.
– Americans began to develop a faith that formal
education was a solution to poverty.
Booker T. Washington and
Education for Black People
– The South, war-torn and extremely poor, lagged
behind in education, especially for Blacks. So,
Booker T. Washington, an ex-slave, helped by
starting a black normal and industrial school in
Tuskegee, Alabama, that taught the students useful
skills and trades.
– One of Washington’s students was George
Washington Carver who later discovered hundreds
of new uses for peanuts, sweet potatoes, and
soybeans.
– However, W.E.B. Du Bois, the first Black to get a
Ph.D. from Harvard University, demanded complete
equality for Blacks and action now. So, he founded
the National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP) in 1910.
The Hallowed Halls of Ivy
– Colleges and universities sprouted after the Civil
War, and colleges for women, such as Vassar, were
gaining ground.
– The Morrill Act of 1862 had provided a generous
grant of public lands to the states for education. This
act was extended by the Hatch Act of 1887, which
provided federal funds for the establishment of
agricultural experiment stations in connection with
the land-grant colleges.
– Private donations went towards the establishment of
colleges, including Cornell, Leland Stanford
Junior, and the University of Chicago funded by
John D. Rockefeller.
– John Hopkins University was known as the
nation’s first high-grade graduate school.
The March of the Mind
-College education began to change. The freedom of teachers was
threatened as teachers were fired for teaching evolution or
expressing hostility to high taxes.
-After the Civil War, medical schools and medical science began to
prosper. This left to the improvement in public healthcare.
-Healthcare was also affected by foreign discoveries, such as Louis
Pasteur’s pasteurization and Joseph Lister’s Listerine.
-Intellectuals such as William James also had considerable affects on
American culture. James wrote of behavioral psychology, the
philosophy and psychology of religion, and pragmatism (truth was
tested by practical consequences of an idea).
The Appeal of the Press
-Books continued to be an important aspect of life at the
time. Contributions by philanthropists such as Andrew
Carnegie allowed for the building of public libraries,
especially in Boston and New York.
-The invention of the Linotype in 1885 greatly increased
newspaper production. Newspaper production was
becoming vulgar and circulation grew.
-Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph became
journalistic tycoons. They both championed many
worthy causes, but also manipulated to press for
increased circulation. Their reign ended with the
introduction of syndicated material and by the
Associated Press in the 1840s.
Apostles of Reform
-People also used publication to bring about reform. In
the moderately circulated Nation Edwin L. Godkin
crusaded for civil-service reform, honesty in government,
and moderate taxing.
-Henry George, in Progress and Poverty, wrote that the
pressure of growing population on a fixed supply of land
pushed up property values, which was unfair. His book
sold about 3 million copies and he lectured in America and
Britain.
-Edward Bellamy published Looking Backward, a novel
about a future idyllic government, with nationalized big
business to serve the public interest.
Postwar Writing
-Both literacy and book reading increased after the Civil War.
Writers such as General Lewis Wallace and Horatio Alger
wrote novels that branched off of the writers morality and
religion. Their books sold millions and had huge effects on
society.
-Poets such as Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, and Sidney
Lanier were also popular. Their post-Civil War works had
great impacts in the world of poetry
Literary Landmarks
-Kate Chopin was a feminist author, publishing The Awakening in 1899, but was not
known for her work until after her death.
-Mark Twain, becoming famous upon the publishing of The Celebrated Jumping Frog
of Calaveras County and The Innocents Abroad, went on to become one of America’s
most well known authors. Twain’s most famous works are The Adventures of Tom
Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
-Ben Harte became famous for his gold rush stories like “The Luck of Roaring Camp”.
But he was not able to match neither the excellence or the popularity of his first
stories.
-William Dean Howells became famous as the editor in chief of the Boston-based
Atlantic Monthly and wrote novels about ordinary people and social themes (A Modern
Instance dealt with divorce).
-Stephen Crane wrote of the underside life in urban, industrial America (Maggie: A Girl
of the Streets was about a prostitute driven to suicide).
-Henry James wrote many novels about the confrontation of innocent Americans with
subtle Europeans and wrote about the feminist movement in The Bostonians.
-Jack London and Frank Norris wrote of contemporary life and social problems.
-Theodore Dreiser wrote Sister Carrie, about a poor working girl who’s disregard for
The New Morality
-Victoria Woodhull proclaimed her belief in free love and with her sister
published Woodhull and Clafin’s Weekly and shocked respectable
society when charging a famous preacher with an adulterous affair.
-Anthony Comstock declared war on the “immoral” and went to great
lengths to defend sexual purity, claiming that he drove at least 15 people
to suicide.
-Switchboard and typewriters became the tools of women’s liberation
and the “new morality” was reflected in rising divorce rates, birth control,
and the discussion of sexual topic.
Families and Women in the City
-The urban environment was hard on families, who were
separated from the “clan, kin, and village” they had known,
and the era of divorce was launched.
-In cities, fathers, mothers, and children were forced to work
and the struggle of the family led to dropping birthrates and a
smaller family size.
-Women were gaining independence and feminists was
promoted in literature like Charlotte Gilman’s Women and
Economics.
-Feminists began to demand a vote and the National
Women’s Suffrage Association was formed in 1890.
-Wyoming Territory granted the first unrestricted suffrage to
women in 1869 and most states permitted wives to own or
control their property after marriage by 1890.
Prohibition of Alcohol and Social
Progress
-Liquor consumption increased after the Civil War and
immigrant groups were against restrictions.
-The National Prohibition party was organized in 1869, the
Woman’s Christian Temperance Union was organized in
1874, and the Anti-Saloon League was formed in 1893
-Frances E. Eillar and Carrie A. Nation were female
advocates of the movement.
-Statewide prohibition was increasing, and in 1919 the
Eighteenth Amendment prohibition was made national.
Artistic Triumphs
-Several portrait painter of distinction, like James Whistler, John
Singer Sargent, George Inness, Thomas Eakins, Winslow Homer,
and sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens emerged and changed the
art world of the time.
-The Metropolitan Opera House of New York, were the newly rich
flaunted their wealth, was erected in 1883.
-The phonograph was in over 150,000 homes by 1900, changing
the way Americans listened to their music.
-Henry H. Richardson was a famous American architect whose
style became known as “Richardsonian”.
The Business of Amusement
-The circus became popular when Phineas T. Barnum and
James A. Bailey joined hands to put on the “Greatest Shown
on Earth”
-“Wild West” shows became very popular. “Buffalo Bill” and
Annie Oakley were popular westerns.
-A league of professional baseball players was formed in the
1870s and in 1888 an all-star team toured the world.
-Other spectator sports such as football and boxing also
emerged.
-Basketball was invented in 1891 by James Naismith and
became enormously popular over the next century.