Chapter 18: The Growth of Cities and American Culture 1865-1900 Flashcards
“Old Immigrants”
Immigrants from Northern and Western Europe all throughout the 1800s
~From: the British Isles, Germany, and Scandinavia
~Mostly Protestant, a sizable minority were Irish and German Catholics
~Language (mostly English speaking) and high literacy level and occupational skills helped them blend into American society
“New Immigrants”
Immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe beginning in the 1890s
~From: Italy, Greece, Croatia, Slovakia, Poland, and Russia
~Manly Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, and Jewish
~Many were poor and illiterate peasants who left autocratic countries and were unaccustomed to democratic traditions
~Crowded into poor ethnic communities in New York, Chicago, and other major cities upon arrival
~Young men contracted for unskilled labor in factories, mines, and construction jobs. They would then return to their native lands once they had saved a fair sum of money to bring back to their families
Ellis Island
The major immigration center in New York opened in 1892
~New arrivals had to pass more rigorous medical and document examinations and pay an entry tax before being allowed into the United States
American Protective Association
A nativist society who advocated against immigration
~Opened prejudiced against Roman Catholics
Skyscrapers
Became popular after land values increased
~1885: William Le Baron Jenny built the 1st skyscraper (Home Insurance Company Building-10 stories)
~Possible due to innovations such as the Otis elevator and central steam heating
Ghettos
Created by different immigrant groups to maintain its own language, culture, church or temple, and social club
~Often crowded, unhealthy, and crime ridden neighborhoods
~Springboards for ambitious and hardworking immigrants and their version of the American dream
Suburbs
The way for upper and middle class Americans to escape the city problems
~The late 1860s: Frederick Law Olmsted designed a suburban community (began the world’s first suburban nation)
~Factors that promoted suburban growth:
1. Abundant land at low cost
2. Inexpensive transportation by rail
3. Low cost construction methods
4. Ethnic and racial prejudice
5. An American fondness for grass, privacy, and detached individual houses
Frederick Law Olmsted
Designed a suburban community in the late 1860s
~Had graceful curved roads and open spaces
~”a village in the park”
Political Machines
Political parties in major cities under the control of tightly organized groups of politicians
~Each machine had its boss, a top politician who gave orders to the rank and file and doled out government jobs to loyal supporters
Party Boss
A top politician who gave orders to the rank and file and doled out government jobs to loyal supporters
~In charge of political machines
Tammany Hall
Political machine in New York City
~Started out as social clubs and later developed into power centers to coordinate the needs of businesses, immigrants and the under privileged
~In return, they asked for people’s votes on election day
Boss Tweed
Boss of Tammany Hall political machine
~Stole taxpayer money through taking 65% of public building funds
Settlement Houses
Where young, well educated men and women settled to learn firsthand about the immigrant problems
~Provided the immigrants with social services to help relieve the effects of poverty
~Taught English to immigrants, pioneered early childhood education, taught industrial arts, and established neighborhood theaters and music schools
Jane Addams
The most famous settlement house, Hull House in Chicago
~Started it with a college classmate
Social Gospel
Preached by Protestant clergymen who explained the importance of applying Christian principles to social problems
Salvation Army
Imported from England in 1879 provided the basic necessities of life for the homeless and the poor while also preaching the Christian gospel
National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA)
Started in New York by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony
~Created to secure the vote for women
~Wyoming was the first state to grant FULL woman’s suffrage in 1869
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony
Two women from New York, pioneer feminists from the 1840s
~Created the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) in the 1890s
Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU)
Formed in 1874, advocated total abstinence from alcohol
~Under the leadership of Frances E. Willard (Illinois) it had 500,000 members by 1898
The Anti-Saloon League
Founded in 1893 became a powerful political force
~By 1916 had persuaded 21 states to close down all saloons and bars
Carry A. Nation
From Kansas. Created a sensation by raiding saloons and smashing barrels of beer with a hatchet
Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr
Taught that the law should evolve with the times in response to changing needs and not remain restricted by legal precedents and judicial decisions of the past
Clarence Darrow
A famous lawyer
~Argued that criminal behavior could be caused by a person’s environment of poverty, neglect, and abuse
W.E.B. Du Bois
The first African American to reserve a doctorate from Harvard
~Used statistical methods of sociology to study crime in an urban neighborhood
~Advocated full equal rights, for blacks, integrated schools, and equal access to higher education for the “talented tenth” of African American youth
Realism
Break with the romantic writers with regionalist writers
~Bret Harte: depicted life in the rough mining camps
~Mark Twain: the first great realist writer. “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”. He depicted the greed, violence, and racism of American society
~William Dean Howells: seriously considered the problems of industrialization and unequal wealth. “The Rise of Silas Lapham” and “A Hazard of New Fortunes”
Naturalism
Described ow emotions and experience shaped the human experience
~Stephan Crane: “Maggie: A Girl of the Street” told how a brutal urban environment could destroy the lives of young people
~Jack London: “The Call of the Wild” portrayed the conflict between nature and civilization
~Theodore Dreiser: “Sister Carrie” a novel about a poor working girl in Chicago
Frank Lloyd Wright
Developed an “organic” style of architecture that was in harmony with its natural surroundings
Joseph Pulitzer
First newspaper to exceed a million in circulation was his ‘New York World’
~Filled his newspaper with sensational news stories as well as economic and political corruption
William Randolph Hearst
Another New York publisher who pushed scandal and sensationalism to new highs (or lows)
Barnum and Bailey’s “Greatest Show on Earth”
A circus started by Phineas T. Barnum and James A. Bailey
Buffalo Bill
(William F. Cody) brought a Wild West show to urban cities
~Headlined such personalities as Sitting Bull and markswoman Annie Oakley
