CHAPTER 19



CHAPTER 19

Toward an Urban Society, 1877–1900

Focus Questions

19.1 Why did cities in the United States grow between 1880 and 1900?

19.2 How did growth of American cities affect social, cultural, and political life?

19.3 Why did Jim Crow laws spread across the South after the end of Reconstruction?

19.4 How did life in the growing cities lead to ideas of reform?

19.5 How did the territory and demographics of the United States change in the second half of the nineteenth century?

Chapter Outline

Introduction: The Overcrowded City

19.1 The Lure of the City

19.1.1 Skyscrapers and Suburbs

19.1.2 Tenements and the Problems of Overcrowding

19.1.3 Strangers in a New Land

19.1.4 Immigrants and the City

19.1.5 Past and Present: The Never-Ending Battle Over Immigration

19.1.6 Urban Political Machines

19.2 Social and Cultural Change, 1877–1900

19.2.1 Manners and Mores

19.2.2 Leisure and Entertainment

19.2.3 Changes in Family Life

19.2.4 Changing Views: A Growing Assertiveness Among Women

19.2.5 Educating the Masses

19.2.6 Higher Education

19.3 The Spread of Jim Crow

19.4 The Stirrings of Reform

19.4.1 Progress and Poverty

19.4.2 New Currents in Social Thought

19.4.3 The Settlement Houses

19.4.4 A Crisis in Social Welfare

19.5 Charting the Past: The Settlement of the United States, 1900

19.5.1 Territorial Expansion, 1790–1900:

19.5.2 Urban America, 1900

19.5.3 Young America, 1900

19.5.4 Immigrants in the United States, 1900

Conclusion: The Pluralistic Society

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION: THE OVERCROWDED CITY

AN ACCOUNT OF THE TRAGIC DEATH OF A YOUNG WOMAN IN AN AWFUL SLUM IS AN EXAMPLE OF THE OVERCROWDING AND HORRIBLE CONDITIONS THAT CHARACTERIZED AMERICA’S LARGEST CITIES AROUND 1900. REFORMERS FELT ALMOST HOPELESS IN THE FACE OF SUCH MONSTROUS PROBLEMS.

19.1 The Lure of the City

WHY DID CITIES IN THE UNITED STATES GROW BETWEEN 1880 AND 1900?

Cities grew dramatically in population. In 1900, the United States had three cities with more than 500,000 inhabitants and three of those had more than 1 million. By 1920, half of all Americans lived in cities of 8,000 people or more.

19.1.1 Skyscrapers and Suburbs: The use of steel beams allowed architects to construct buildings to previously impossible heights, and the streetcar allowed the middle class to move from the crowded city centers to suburbs. Electric elevators carried passengers upward in the skyscrapers, and architects made innovative designs that included a plain style with windows to let in air and light. Skyscrapers and suburbs became the defining characteristics of the American city.

19.1.2 Tenements and the Problems of Overcrowding: Enormous numbers of people flocked into the central cities, moving into cramped apartments in rows of tenements. Inadequate sanitation, air and water pollution, and the stench of factories and human wastes made the cities dangerously unhealthy. In addition, cities suffered high rates of crime, suicides, and alcoholism.

19.1.3 Strangers in a New Land: The cities were populated by the millions of immigrants who came to the United States in the late nineteenth century. Most immigrants were unskilled and male, settling on the East Coast. Galveston, Texas, was an additional port of entry, which attracted Russian Jews to Texas and the Southwest, but most immigrants flowed through Ellis Island in New York. Nativism again became a strong force, especially in the 1880s, when a new wave of immigration from southern and eastern Europe brought millions of Italians, Slavs, Greeks, and Jews into the country. Organizations such as the American Protective Association tried to limit immigration but without success.

19.1.4 Immigrants and the City: European immigrants faced the difficult task of becoming American factory workers, but, while doing so, they retained much of their traditional way of life and shaped the city as much as the city shaped them. Immigrants tended to have more children than did native-born Americans but followed familial structures similar to native-born Americans. Immigrant associations helped preserve the language and customs of the old country while aiding the process of adjustment to a new country. All immigrant groups started their own newspapers, their own churches or synagogues, and their own schools; all of these institutions helped preserve the immigrants’ traditions.

19.1.5 Past and Present: The Never-Ending Battle Over Immigration: The large influx of immigrants in the late nineteenth century led to successful efforts to curb immigration from China. A call for immigration restriction again arose in the 2000s following an economic slowdown. However, those in favor of immigration restrictions used noneconomic reasons to support their cause, such as crime, disease, and terrorist violence.

19.1.6 Urban Political Machines: The expansion of cities expanded opportunities for corruption as the need for city services grew and city governments became confusing. Political power in the cities was shared by various institutions, including party machines headed by “bosses.” Some of these men, like William Tweed of New York City, were notoriously corrupt, but most merely traded services for votes and improved conditions in their cities for immigrants and the urban poor.

19.2 Social and Cultural Change, 1877–1900

HOW DID GROWTH OF AMERICAN CITIES AFFECT SOCIAL, CULTURAL, AND POLITICAL LIFE?

American life seemed much the same in 1877 as it had been a century earlier. Most Americans lived on farms or in small towns and were white Anglo-Saxon Protestants. But urbanization and industrialization were changing all aspects of American life, including the food people ate. Life expectancy grew as medical science evolved.

19.2.1 Manners and Mores: The late nineteenth century was Victorian in its morals. Middle-class men and women dressed and behaved “properly.” Religious values were still strong and underlay many of the reform movements aimed against alcohol, pornography, and political corruption.

19.2.2 Leisure and Entertainment: In general, Americans spent their free time at home playing parlor games and enjoying time with their families. The general taste in music favored sentimental ballads, but ragtime was becoming popular. Outside the home, fairs, horse races, balloon ascensions, bicycle tournaments, and organized baseball, football, and basketball began to attract fans. Street lights and streetcars changed Americans’ leisure habits. With the addition of gas and electric lights, evenings became time for entertainment and pleasure.

19.2.3 Changes in Family Life: Industrialization and urbanization changed family relationships; family members no longer worked together as they had on farms. Among the poorly paid segments of society, where everyone had to work, family life virtually disappeared. In middle-class families, the move to suburbia meant that the father commuted to work in the morning and was gone all day. Middle-class women, seen as homebound consumers, saw their status decline. A reduction in fertility rates reflected decisions to postpone or limit families.

19.2.4 Changing Views: A Growing Assertiveness Among Women: Views about women slowly changed. The doctrine of femme couverte was removed in many states and divorce laws also recognized women’s rights. “New women,” those who established themselves in successful careers and who could support themselves, increasingly demanded rights, fighting for the vote, lobbying for equal pay, and seeking more self-fulfilling activities. Women spoke openly about such topics as menstruation, sex, and childbirth, which had long been considered forbidden subjects.

19.2.5 Educating the Masses: Even though the states required young people to attend school, few students reached the sixth grade. Until views of reformers like John Dewey were accepted, most teaching was unimaginative and routine, and students were not usually encouraged to be active in the classroom. Education was meant to train people to work in the new industrial society. The educational problems of the South were compounded by segregation and rural poverty. In 1896 the Supreme Court allowed “separate but equal” school systems, thus approving racial discrimination.

19.2.6 Higher Education: Colleges and universities flourished, thanks to aid from private sources and the federal government. There was greater emphasis on practical subjects such as science and engineering. Women found it easier to get a college education, but African Americans and other racial minorities were usually confined to institutions like Tuskegee, which was only for blacks. African American leaders debated the future of higher education in a segregated society. Booker T. Washington argued that African Americans had to accommodate themselves to racism and concentrate on practical, vocational education. W. E. B. Du Bois expressed views that were more aggressive than those of Washington, advocating immediate change. Attendance at colleges and universities grew rapidly as professional training in law and medicine became required. Higher education institutes were sources of new ideas that helped to transform American culture.

19.3 The Spread of Jim Crow

WHY DID JIM CROW LAWS SPREAD ACROSS THE SOUTH AFTER THE END OF RECONSTRUCTION?

A LEGAL REGIME OF SEPARATION AND EXCLUSION TOOK FIRM HOLD IN THE 1890S, AS THE GOVERNMENT DID LITTLE TO PROTECT BLACKS FROM POLITICAL AND SOCIAL DISCRIMINATION. JIM CROW LAWS LENT THE SANCTION OF LAW TO SOCIAL OSTRACISM IN ALMOST ALL ASPECTS OF SOUTHERN LIFE AND EVEN EXPANDED DURING THE 1920S AND 1930S. RACISM WAS NOT LIMITED TO THE SOUTH.

19.4 THE STIRRINGS OF REFORM

HOW DID LIFE IN THE GROWING CITIES LEAD TO IDEAS OF REFORM?

The dominant idea put forth by many intellectuals of the period was social Darwinism, which held that attempts at reform in society were useless and harmful. Nevertheless, some thoughtful people began to advocate reform.

19.4.1 Progress and Poverty: One of the most influential books of the era was Henry George’s Progress and Poverty. George convinced many Americans that the rich were getting richer and the poor, poorer. His solution was to tax land, which he believed was the source of all wealth, to equalize wealth and aid the poor.

19.4.2 New Currents in Social Thought: Reformers developed different ideas about reform. Clarence Darrow tried to convince people that poverty was to blame for crime. Readers of Edward Bellamy’s Looking Backward stressed a redistribution of wealth. The Social Gospel movement combined social reform with religion.

19.4.3 The Settlement Houses: Stanton Coit introduced London’s settlement-house idea to New York in 1886. The idea caught on, and settlement houses, staffed mostly by women, spread around the nation. The best known, Jane Addams’s Hull House in Chicago, offered classical and practical education to those who lived in the slums. Some immigrants, however, resented the intrusion of people telling them how to live.

19.4.4 A Crisis in Social Welfare: The depression of 1893 taught reformers that private charity was not enough. A new professionalism came into social work; attempts were made to study the conditions that created poverty.

19.5 Charting the Past: The Settlement of the United States, 1900

How did the territory and demographics of the United States change in the second half of the nineteenth century?

By 1900 the territory of the United States reached from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. Urbanization grew toward the end of the nineteenth century.

19.5.1 Territorial Expansion, 1790–1900: By 1900, Americans had settled almost all areas of the nation, supporting Frederick Jackson Turner’s thesis that the frontier was officially closed. Settlers flocked westward on trails and eventually used the railroad.

19.5.2 Urban America, 1900: Fueled by industrialization, urbanization was strongest in the Northeast and Midwest. Both rural migrants and immigrants sought economic opportunities in cities. The movement toward cities also brought problems associated with large numbers of people living in smaller spaces, such as overcrowding and pollution.

19.5.3 Young America, 1900: The United States’ population at the turn of the century was mostly white, with significant numbers of American Indians and African Americans. The large number of immigrants entering the country also contributed to the ethnic mix.

19.5.4 Immigrants in the United States, 1900: Most immigrants, many of whom came from southern and eastern Europe, settled in the Northeast and West in ethnic enclaves. Many Chinese entered the country until a law was passed in 1882 that restricted Chinese immigration.

Conclusion: The Pluralistic Society

THE UNITED STATES WAS A SOCIETY IN CRISIS BETWEEN 1870 AND 1900. GREAT DISPARITIES IN WEALTH WERE DEVELOPING; RACIAL TENSION AND LABOR UNREST WERE RISING; AND AN ECONOMIC DEPRESSION STRAINED AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS.

Key Terms

19.1

o new immigrants: Starting in the 1880s, immigration into the United States began to shift from northern and western Europe to southern and eastern Europe. These new immigrants were mostly poor, non-Protestant, and unskilled; they tended to stay in close-knit communities and retain their language, customs, and religions. Between 1880 and 1910, approximately 8.4 million of these so-called new immigrants came to the United States.

19.2

o Mugwumps: Educated and upper-class reformers who crusaded for lower tariffs, limited federal government, and civil-service reform. They were best known for helping elect Grover Cleveland president in 1884.

o Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU): This organization campaigned to end drunkenness and the social ills that accompanied it. By 1898, it had 10,000 branches and 500,000 members. The WCTU illustrated the role women played in politics and reform long before they won the right to vote.

o National American Woman Suffrage Association: Founded by Susan B. Anthony in 1890, this organization worked to secure women the right to vote. It stressed careful organization and peaceful lobbying.

o Civil Rights Cases: A group of cases in 1883 in which the Supreme Court ruled that the Fourteenth Amendment barred state governments from discriminating on the basis of race but did not prevent private individuals or organizations from doing so. The ruling dealt a major blow to efforts to protect African Americans.

o Plessy v. Ferguson: A Supreme Court case in 1896 that established the doctrine of “separate but equal.” The Court applied it to schools in Cumming v. County Board of Education (1899). The doctrine was finally overturned in 1954, in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka.

19.4

o social Darwinism: Adapted by English social philosopher Herbert Spencer from Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution, this theory held that the “laws” of evolution applied to human life, that change or reform therefore took centuries, and that the “fittest” would succeed in business and social relationships. It promoted competition and individualism, saw government intervention into human affairs as futile, and was used by the economic and social elite to oppose reform.

o Social Gospel: Preached by urban Protestant ministers, the Social Gospel focused as much on improving the conditions of life on earth as on saving souls for the hereafter. Its adherents worked for child-labor laws and measures to alleviate poverty.

o settlement houses: Located in poor districts, these community centers tried to soften the impact of urban life for immigrant and other families. Often run by young, educated women, they provided social services and a political voice for their neighborhoods. Chicago’s Hull House, founded by Jane Addams in 1889, was the most famous of them.

Shared Writing and Journal Prompts

19.1 The Lure of the City

WHY DID CITIES IN THE UNITED STATES GROW BETWEEN 1880 AND 1900?

American cities grew by leaps and bounds between 1880 and 1900. Reasons for that growth included the needs of an industrializing society; technological change in the form of electricity, elevators, steel beams, and other advances; and the arrival of millions of immigrants.

Past and Present: The Never-Ending Battle Over Immigration

WHAT THEMES HAVE CHARACTERIZED THE DEBATE OVER IMMIGRATION SINCE THE NINETEENTH CENTURY?

FROM THE NINETEENTH CENTURY TO THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY, IMMIGRATION HAS BEEN A POLARIZING TOPIC. ADVOCATES POINT TO AMERICA’S HISTORY AS A NATION OF IMMIGRANTS, BUT CRITICS USE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL ARGUMENTS TO RESTRICT IMMIGRATION.

SHARED WRITING

WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT HOW YOUR ANCESTORS GOT TO AMERICA? WHAT CAN YOU SAY ABOUT HOW YOU GOT THERE?

ANSWERS WILL VARY, BUT HERE IS ONE POSSIBLE RESPONSE: IMMIGRANTS FROM THE PAST ARRIVED IN AMERICA AND, AFTER PROCESSING THROUGH PLACES LIKE ELLIS ISLAND, SOUGHT LOCATIONS TO ESTABLISH THEIR NEW LIVES. ALTHOUGH MOST IMMIGRANTS STAYED CLOSE TO LARGE CITIES ON THE COASTS WHERE JOBS WOULD BE EASIER TO FIND, SOME IMMIGRANTS MOVED TOWARD THE INTERIOR OF THE NATION.

19.2 SOCIAL AND CULTURAL CHANGE, 1877–1900

HOW DID THE GROWTH OF AMERICAN CITIES AFFECT SOCIAL, CULTURAL, AND POLITICAL LIFE?

The rapid growth of cities changed how Americans thought and acted. The advent of big cities opened new areas of entertainment, employment, and behavior. Their growth contributed to a reshaping of the family, provided opportunities for more women to enter the workforce, and highlighted a need for standard education.

19.3 The Spread of Jim Crow

WHY DID JIM CROW LAWS SPREAD ACROSS THE SOUTH AFTER THE END OF RECONSTRUCTION?

After Reconstruction ended in 1877, northern weariness with Civil War issues, a series of Supreme Court decisions, and growing racism led the federal government to stop trying to uphold civil rights legislation in the South. This enabled southern states and cities to pass and enforce Jim Crow laws that mandated rigid separation between blacks and whites.

19.4 The Stirrings of Reform

HOW DID LIFE IN THE GROWING CITIES LEAD TO IDEAS OF REFORM?

Urban life, which forced many people close together, made social problems unprecedentedly visible. The city could not hide the contrasts between rich and poor, the dirtiness and dangers of factory life, and the woeful lot of millions of immigrants. Reformers argued for change. Some of them, like Jane Addams, opened urban settlement houses, where they lived among the poor.

19.5 Charting the Past: The Settlement of the United States, 1900

How did the territory and demographics of the United States change in the second half of the nineteenth century?

Americans moved to fill all areas of America as territory opened up in the West. In addition, as more and more immigrants entered the country toward the end of the nineteenth century, cities grew to accommodate the new arrivals, causing problems in cities associated with the expansion, such as overcrowding.

CLASS ACTIVITIES

1. PICTURING THE PROBLEMS OF THE CITY: HAVE STUDENTS MOVE INTO SMALL GROUPS AND THEN ASSIGN EACH GROUP ONE OF THE PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH URBANIZATION, SUCH AS OVERCROWDING, HOMELESSNESS, POLITICAL CORRUPTION, UNSANITARY CONDITIONS, OR CRIME. HAVE GROUPS LOOK ON THE INTERNET FOR RELEVANT IMAGES FROM THE TIME PERIOD TO CREATE PICTURE COLLAGES OF THEIR ASSIGNED ISSUES. CONDUCT A GALLERY WALK TO SHOWCASE EACH COLLECTION OF IMAGES.

2. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH: HAVE EACH STUDENT CHOOSE ONE OF THE PEOPLE MENTIONED IN THE CHAPTER AND WRITE A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. INFORMATION SHOULD INCLUDE THE PERSON’S BACKGROUND, AS WELL AS WHY THE PERSON WAS WELL KNOWN AND HOW HE OR SHE IMPACTED SOCIETY AT THE TIME.

3. IMMIGRATION DEMOGRAPHICS: DIVIDE STUDENTS INTO GROUPS OF TWO TO THREE AND ASSIGN EACH GROUP A SPECIFIC IMMIGRANT GROUP TO RESEARCH, SUCH AS ITALIANS, IRISH, GERMANS, RUSSIANS, MEXICANS, CHINESE, POLISH, GREEKS, HUNGARIANS, AND SO ON. EACH STUDENT GROUP WILL CREATE AN INFOGRAPHIC—EITHER ON PAPER OR IN A COMPUTER GRAPHICS PROGRAM—ABOUT THE IMMIGRANT GROUP BY DETERMINING DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION, INCLUDING PUSH FACTORS, PULL FACTORS, MAJOR AREAS OF SETTLEMENT, TREATMENT ON ARRIVAL, CUSTOMS, AND ANY OTHER RELEVANT INFORMATION THAT WOULD HELP OTHERS UNDERSTAND THEIR SPECIFIC IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCE.

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