CHAPTER 18



Chapter 18

The Age of the City

Chapter Summary

In the years after the Civil War, America’s cities boomed as people left the rural areas of Europe and the United States to seek jobs and other attractions offered by American cities. The rapid growth of cities caused many problems in housing, transportation, and health. Technological attacks on these problems barely kept pace, and city governments often resorted to boss rule to cope. The booming cities were places of intellectual ferment and cultural change. Urban dwellers found many ways to enjoy increased leisure time. Many Americans wanted to prove to skeptical Europeans that the nation had cultural as well as economic accomplishments to admire. American culture became more uniform through free public education, mass-market journalism, and standardized sports. Higher education, especially new state universities, reached out to a wider market. More and more women attended college in coeducational and single-sex institutions.

Objectives

A thorough study of Chapter 18 should enable the student to understand

1. The patterns and processes of urbanization in late-nineteenth-century America.

2. The changes in the pattern of immigration in the late nineteenth century and the impact of global migration.

3. The new economic and social problems created by urbanization.

4. The relationship of both urbanization and immigration to the rise of boss rule.

5. The early rise of mass consumption and its impact on American life, especially for women.

6. The changes in leisure and entertainment opportunities, including organized sports, vaudeville, movies, and other activities.

7. The main trends in literature and art during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.

8. The impact of Darwinian evolution on the intellectual life of America.

9. The profound new developments in American educational opportunities.

Main Themes

1. How the social and economic lure of the city attracted foreign and domestic migrants, and how these newcomers adjusted to urban life.

2. How rapid urban growth forced adaptations to severe problems of government mismanagement, poverty, inadequate housing, and precarious health and safety conditions.

3. How the urban environment served as the locus for new philosophical ideas, fresh approaches to education, rapid expansion in journalism, and a new consumerism.

4. How the new order of urban culture inspired serious writers and artists to render realistic portrayals of the seamy side of city life, while many middle- and upper-class Americans were engaging in expanded forms of leisure and entertainment.

Points for Discussion

1. What factors combined to attract the great masses of people to the cities of America? What were the characteristics of these migrants?

2. Describe the problems created by the stunning pace at which American cities were growing. How well did the institutions of urban life respond to these problems? (See Document number 1 in the Study Guide)

3. How did traditional patterns of immigration to the United States change in the late nineteenth century? What problems were created by these changes, and how were they handled, both by the immigrant groups and by the larger American society?

4. What problems were created by overcrowding in American cities in the latter half of the nineteenth century? Discuss the various technological and social "solutions" to urban problems devised at this time. (See Document number 1 in the Study Guide)

5. There were strong demands for humanitarian and political reforms to solve the cities' great problems, and sincere efforts at reform were mounted. Why were these efforts generally unsuccessful?

6. Explain the rise and persistence of political machines and boss rule in American cities. Offer specific examples in your discussion.

7. Discuss the causes and consequences of the rise of mass consumption in American society during the Gilded Age. (See Document number 2 in the Study Guide)

8. Describe and account for the rise of organized spectator sports and other popular forms of entertainment in the United States during the Gilded Age and early twentieth century.

9. Much of the serious art and literature of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries functioned as social criticism. Was the supposedly realistic criticism based on a balanced view of America's new urban culture?

10. Analyze the impact of Darwinism on American scientific and social thought.

11. Analyze the impact of industrialization and urbanization on shifting trends in American art, literature, and education in the latter nineteenth century.

12. Explain how Coney Island offered New Yorkers an escape from the noise, smells, heat, and stress of the urban world and from the genteel standards of behavior that governed so much of American life at the time.

Interpretive Questions Based on Maps and Text

1. What were the main sources of the great population increases experienced by urban America?

2. Using the map of America in 1900 in this chapter of the text and the railroad map in Chapter 17, explain the relationships among railroads, industry, and large cities.

3. In what part of the nation and specifically in what large cities did the bulk of the post-1880 foreign immigrants settle?

4. Within the area indicated by the map as settled, which well-populated region of the country was most lacking in large cities of 100,000 or more? Why?

5. Note that all the major urban areas of the late twentieth century were already established by 1900. What does this indicate about the maturity of the national economic and transportation systems by the turn of the century?

6. Note how the German and native populations in Milwaukee moved progressively farther north and west over the decades covered by the map. What forces probably caused this outward immigration?

7. What factors encouraged newer immigrant groups, such as the Poles, to concentrate in particular enclaves in the city?

8. Why was Milwaukee industry concentrated in the areas indicated?

9. In many cities, the streetcar lines radiated out from the central business district in a

hub-and-spoke pattern. How did New Orleans deviate from that pattern, yet retain the system’s essential purpose?

10. Notice the scale of the map of New Orleans. Why was some sort of transit system so necessary for the portion of the city built up between 1878 and 1900?

Essay Questions

These essays are based on the map exercises. They are designed to test students' knowledge of the geography of the area discussed in this chapter and to test their knowledge of its historical development. Careful reading of the text will help them answer these questions.

1. What long-term impact on American culture derived from the changing nature of the

late-nineteenth-century city?

2. Consider the social, economic, and intellectual life of the large cities of this era. How might rural native Americans have regarded the city? How did the large cities have an impact on those who remained on the farms and in the smaller cities and towns?

Internet Resources

For Internet quizzes, resources, references to additional books and films, and more, consult the text's Online Learning Center at brinkley12.

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