Chap.17 Challenge of the Cities
Growth of an urban nation
Pouring InPeople are flocking to cities
• from farms/Europe
• 1865-1920: 25 Million immigrants
“ By 1890, New York city held as many Germans as Hamburg, twice as many Irish as Dublin, and half as many Italians as Naples.” Boorstin and Kelley
Although the crowds of immigrants brought comfort for each other, the result was
C R O W D I N G.
America’s Latest Innovation: Tenement house
•Had a “dumbbell” design
•Many crammed into small spaces
•56” between
•Flue / garbage
•shared plumbing
•Slums became notorious :
•Misery Lane, Murderer’s Alley
Who’s In Charge Here?
•Who’s thumb is this?
Urban Conditions
• streets• sewer
• garbage• corruption• “machine”
•“Immigrants to Blame?”
Politicians and Immigrants
• Corruption in the form of Bosses
• Councilmen, Aldermen
• Supplied government jobs, money, and advice to immigrants
• Political “machine”
• Oiled by generosity of Boss, and rewarded by patronage of immigrant (vote)
Look at your worksheet
Boss offers
jobs
Conditionally
Immigrant
Expected to
vote for boss
Boss
maintains
power
Immigrants
report to Boss
Why were our cities so trashed?
• Frederick Jackson Turner’s theory• “Lost Frontier”• People had:
–No space to start over–On Frontier or “safety valve”–No escape
Waves of Immigration: Old and New
• First wave v. second wave– Oldcomers looked down upon newcomers
• Immigration Restriction LeagueHall, Warren, and Ward
Prejudicial education from Harvard Keep out newcomers
Literacy test1. over 142. own language OK3. Italian and Greek immigrants from poor
rural settings
Sorry,
we’re
closed
• U.S. Tries to stop immigration
Many Presidents declared law un-American, under-handed
Yet in 1917, it passes through Congress with veto override
Superior v. Inferior ideology
Shut the Door, We’re Closed…
Our West Coast and Chinese Immigration
West Coast• Asian immigrants becoming
a “concern”- Why? Chinese Exclusion Act of
1882• 1907- President Roosevelt
persuades Japan to stop allowing people to flee to US-
• “Gentlemen’s Agreement” which becomes the term for unspoken
discrimination
Has the Immigration Policy changed today?
2006
United States in the Gilded Age.
1. What are some concerns in America nearing the turn of the century?
2. How are many people becoming Americanized?
3. What is the difference between the “oldcomer” and “newcomer” immigrants?
4. What are conditions like in the biggest cities of the United States during this time?
5. What is one theory about the condition of American cities?
6. What are politics like in the late 19th century?
Section 2: Reformers
• Jane Addams
• Frances Willard
• Ida B. Wells-Barnett
Jane Addams• From a wealthy family- went to London for
education
• Witnessed college students there living and giving in the slums
• Idea! Settlement Houses
• Benefit immigrants: refuge, club, and school
• Hull House-Chicago for Newcomers: Old and very young--Becomes cultural center
Frances Willard
• Hunter/ Teacher from Wisconsin wilderness
• Leads temperance movement– no alcohol, corruption of Christian home,
lifestyle– President, Women’s Christian
Temperance Movement– Right to vote becomes her new emphasis• Wyoming 1890 Utah 1896
• Colorado 1893 Idaho 1896
Ida B. Wells- Barnett
•Born a slave•Became writer who exposed lynching in South
•Founded National Association for the Advancement of Colored People NYC 1909
•1913- settlement house in Chicago to help black newcomers f/ South
17.3 Learning• A. Schools producing
Americans– Kids teaching parents
English and customs– Free school (American
invention)– Literate nation
(emphasized education)– More cultural exchange
than parents
B. Colleges– Old colleges run by oldcomers, elite
membership of oldcomers Anglo-Saxons
– Morrill Act 1862
• Congressman Justin S. Morrill -Vermont
• Get govt to issue public lands to state with the purpose of building colleges
• Farming, engineering, science, and literature
1880- Philanthropy
• Johns Hopkins
• Stanford
• Univ. of Chicago
– William Vassar
• Publicize importance of women’s education
– More Philanthropy
• Millions given to educate Black Americans
• Rockefeller: 50 Million to teachers of Black Americans
• South segregated and under-funded Black education
Booker T. Washington» Tuskegee Institute in
Alabama» Machine» Farmers, mechanics» “step by step”» accomodationist» Believed the vote
could wait» Jobs were more
important
W.E.B. DuBois
» College education» Studied in Germany» PhD Harvard» believed Blacks
needed all rights and now!
» vote now» equality
17.4 Bridges
• Cities mostly on rivers realizing need for Railroads and more transportation
• James Buchanan Eads– During the Civil War, suggested heavy (iron) gunboats to protect
Miss. R– St. Louis needed RR– Eads had experience in diving bells for recovery– Walked the floor of the Mississippi
• Realized a bridge would require a foundation at 86’ and 123’ below the water’s surface
• 50 ft above• caissons
– 75’ stations for underwater work– 10 stories below water– “caisson disease” pressure, bends
• 1874 finished
Brooklyn• Lower Manhattan to
Brooklyn over East River
• Winter of 1866, frozen ferries
• John Roebling
• Germany
• Innovation-wire rope
• Spurred the creation of suspension bridge
• Niagara
• Allegheny
• Ohio
• (East?) 1595 ft wide, 271 ft tall WOW!
Brooklyn (cont)•J. Roebling hurt on dock and dies
•Son, Washington Roebling takes over
•at age 32.
•Fire
•In caisson for 7 hrs
•Caisson disease
•Wheelchair for rest of life
•Commanded from his apartment
•wife send messages from WR to crew
•Bridge finished in 1883
•Observers saluted the bridge’s “saint and hero” (wife, W.R.)
17.5 Elevators and Skyscrapers
•Bogardus•Iron skeleton
•Steel changesarchitecture,
rigidity perfect
• Bessemer– Mass production of
steel (furnace)– Blowing air into
molten iron to burn out carbon= steel
– 100 tons in 12 hours– United States
becomes a world leader
Bigger buildings taller
than 4-5 stories
Structure- Bogardus
Elevators- Elisha Graves Otis
17. 6 New Towns in the CountryRailroads made it possible to establish factories anywhere along the RR,
not just in cities• Avoiding the slums.• Company towns
– Give employees nice place to live close to work
– Carnegie, 1881, Homestead PA• Provided houses, library,
and bowling alley– George Pullman
• Pullman IL, town square, churches, parks
– Result: feudal serfdom• Company controls prices
on everything• Homestead
– 1892, violent strikes
• Frederick Olmsted and Calvert Vaux– Garden-cities– Exclusive suburbs