Chapter 25 - America Moves to the City

The Urban Frontier

• New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia had populations greater than 1 million by 1890
• City limits were extended by electric trolleys
  • People were attracted to cities due to amenities such as electricity, indoor plumbing, and telephones
• ==Trash== ==became a large issues in cities due to throwaway bottles, boxes, bags, and cans==

The New Immigration

• New immigrants of the 1880s were from southern and eastern Europe with them coming from countries with little history of democratic government, where people had grown accustomed to harsh living conditions
• Some Americans feared that New Immigrants wouldn’t be able to assimilate into American culture

Southern Europe Uprooted

• Immigrants left their native countries because Europe was running out of room
  • Population in Europe had nearly doubled due to abundant supplies of fish and grain from the U.S. and the widespread cultivation of Europe
• Many Europeans caught “America fever” due to the U.S. being portrayed as a land of opportunity
• The persecution of minorities in Europe caused many to immigrate to the U.S.
• Most immigrants didn’t intend to stay in the U.S. forever, with a large number of them returning to Europe with money
• The immigrants that stayed in the U.S. struggled to preserve their traditional culture

Reactions to the New Immigration

• Federal government wasn’t very involved in helping immigrants assimilate into American society
• ==Community “bosses”== ==provided immigrants with jobs, housing, schools, parks, and hospitals== and in return, immigrants voted for these bosses
• Americans slowly became aware of the troubles of cities
• A ==settlement house== ==was a house located in a poor, urban area where middle-class people could live and take care of the local community by providing services like healthcare and daycare==
  • Settlement Houses became centers of women’s activism and social reform
• ==Jane Addams== ==established the Hull House, which was the most prominent American settlement house==
  • The Hull House offered instruction in English, counseling to help immigrants become accustomed with American big-city life, childcare services for working mothers, and cultural activities for neighborhood residents

Narrowing the Welcome Mat

• ==Nativism== ==arose in the 1880s with Nativists being worried that the original Anglo-Saxon population would soon be outnumbered and outvoted==
• Nativists blamed immigrants for problems with the society
• The ==American Protective Association== ==was a nativist organization, created in 1887==
• Congress passed the first restrictive law against immigrants in 1882 which forced criminals and convicts to return to their home countries
• Congress banned the importation of foreign workers under contract in 1885
• Literacy tests began in 1917
• ==Congress== ==passed the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882, with it banning the Chinese from immigrating to the U.S.==

Churches Confront the Urban Challenge

• Protestant churches suffered due to people moving to the cities
• Roman Catholic and Jewish faiths gained a lot of strength from the New Immigration
• There were over 150 religious denomination in the U.S. by 1890

Darwin Disrupts the Churches

• ==Charles Darwin== ==published, “On the Origin of the Species” in 1859== which stated that humans had slowly evolved from the lower forms of life
  • Theory of evolution brought forth serious doubt on the idea of religion
• Conservatives stood by their beliefs of God and religion
• Modernists refused to accept the Bible in its entirety

The Lust for Learning

• Public education and the idea of tax-supported elementary schools were popular and gained support
  • “Normal Schools” were teacher-training schools and experienced great expansion after the Civil War
• New Immigration in 1880s & 1890s brought strength to private Catholic parochial schools
• Public schools excluded millions of adults
• Crowded cities generally had better educational facilities compared to old one-room rural schoolhouses

Booker T. Washington and Education for Black People

• South was behind, in terms of public education, compared to other regions
• ==Booker T. Washington== ==(ex-slave) was a leader in black education== with his self-help approach to solving country’s racial issues was called “accommodationist”
  • Washington avoided issue of social equality and instead focused on economic equality
• ==Du Bois== ==helped form National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in 1910==

The Hallowed Halls of Ivy

• Black and female colleges became a thing after the Civil War
• ==Morrill Act of 1862== ==granted public land to states in order to support education==
• ==Hatch Act of 1887== ==extended Morrill Act and provided federal funds for establishment of agricultural experiment stations that were connected to land-grant colleges==
• Tycoons and millionaires donated to the educational system
• John Hopkins University was the nation’s first high-grade graduate school with it being founded in 1876

The March of the Mind

• Scientific advancements caused public health to improve
• ==William James== ==made a large impact in psychology through his writings==

The Appeal of the Press

• ==Library of Congress== ==was founded in 1897==
• ==Linotype== ==was invented in 1885 which increased printing of newspapers==
• Joseph Pulitzer was a leader in techniques of new sensationalism such as yellow journalism
• The Associated Press was starting to gain strength and wealth with it being founded in the 1840s

Apostles of Reform

• ==New York Nation== ==was an influential magazine with it pushing for civil-service reform, honesty in government, and a moderate tariff==
• ==Henry George== ==wrote, “Progress and Poverty” in 1879 with him proposing a 100% tax on profits due to increased land value==
• Edward Bellamy wrote, “Looking Backward” with it portraying a time in the future in which big businesses were nationalized to serve the public interest

The New Morality

• Victoria Woodhull wrote Woodhull and Clafin’s Weekly in 1872 which proclaimed her belief in free love
• Comstock Law censored “immoral” material from the public

Families and Women in the City

• Divorce rates increased with family sizes decreasing starting the late 1880s
• Women started to become more independent in the urban environment
• ==Charlotte Gilman== ==called upon women to leave their status of being dependent and end up contributing to the larger life of the community through productive involvement in the economy==
• National American Woman Suffrage Association was founded in 1890
  • Re-born suffrage movement and such excluded black women
  • Ida B. Wells helped in launching the black women’s club movement which led to the establishment of National Association of Colored Women in 1896

Prohibiting Alcohol and Promoting Reform

• In the late 1800s, liquor consumption increased
• ==National Prohibition Party== ==was created in 1869==
• ==Woman’s Christian Temperance Union== ==was created in 1874==
• Anti-Saloon League convinced states to band sale of alcoholic beverages
• 18th Amendment banned alcohol in America in 1919

Postwar Popular Fiction

• Reading of books increased as literacy increased
  • ==“Dime novels”== ==were short books that were about the Wild West==
• General Wallace wrote the novel, Ben Hur: A Tale of the Christ in order to combat Darwinism

Literary Landmarks

• Authors began writing about realism, naturalism, and regionalism
  • With realism, authors wrote about coarse human comedy and drama in the world such as ==Mark Twain== ==who was a journalist and an opponent of social injustice==
  • With naturalism, writers applied detached scientific objectivity to the study of human beings such as ==Stephen Crane== ==who wrote about the unpleasant side of what life was like in urban, industrial America==
  • With regionalism authors wrote about local ways of life prior to industrialization

Artistic Triumphs

• Music and portrait painting gained more popularity
• The ==reproduction of music== ==(mechanically) was made possible by the phonograph which was invented by Thomas Edison==

The Business of Amusement

• The circus emerged in the 1880s
• Baseball emerged as the national pastime
  • A professional league was created in the 1870s
• ==James Naismith== ==invented basketball in 1891==