369 AP US HISTORY
AMERICA: PAST AND PRESENT
EIGHTH EDITION
CHAPTER 19: TOWARD AN URBAN SOCIETY 1867-1890
LEARNING TARGETS
1. Trace the journeys of the new immigrants from their places of origin to America, and
explain their adaptation to urban stresses and their effect on American cities
2. Specify the role of skyscrapers, suburbs and tenements in the rise of the city.
3. Identify and describe the major problems of American central cities in the Victorian era
4. Explain and evaluate the operation of the early political “machines.”
5. Describe the most common form of food, housing and medical care in the 1877
6. Identify and describe the principal moral values and issues of Victorian America
7. Describe the most popular forms of pastimes and entertainments in Victorian America
8. Delineate the changing roles of both women and the family in America from 1877-1900
9. Describe the changes taking place in public education between 1877 & 1890
10. Describe the major changes taking place in American higher education, 1877-1900
11. Compare and contrast the educational and civil rights policies of Booker T. Washington
and W.E.B. Dubois
12. Describe the principal tenets of Social Darwinism and the opposing reform theory,
including some of the specific arguments of major proponents of each view.
13. Trace the rise of professional social workers in the settlement houses and the depression
of 1893.
TERMS/PEOPLE TO KNOW
Tammany Hall (1850s to 1930s)
William Tweed / Tweed ring / Tammany
Hall (1860s-1871)
Mugwumps (1880)
Women’s Christian temperance Union
(1874)
Comstock Law (1873)
New Woman (1880s)
Morrill Land Grant (1862)
Booker T. Washington / Tuskegee Institute /
Atlanta Compromise (1881)
W.E.B. DuBois / ”Talented Tenth” (1905)
Social Darwinism / Herbert Spencer (1876)
William Graham Sumner (1883)
Henry George Progress and Poverty (1879)
Clarence Darrow (1885)
Edward Bellamy Looking Backward (1887)
Social Gospel (1886)
Jane Addams (1889)
CHAPTER 19 ID’S
1850’s-1930’s
Tammany Hall
Pgs. 548-549
As cities grew, the number of services that the city government had to supply grew as well.
New streets had to be built. Sanitation had to be improved. City government became hopelessly
entangled and confused. To solve this problem, part machines made their appearance and dominated
city government. The party machines were led by bosses. One of the most prominent party
machines was Tammany Hall which dominated New York City politics from the 1850’s to the
1930’s. Tammany Hall was started by “Honest” John Kelly, Richard Crocker, and Charles F.
Murphy. Tammany Hall stayed in power so long because, like other party machines and their bosses
because it paid attention to the needs of the least privileged voters. They also used immigrants.
1860’s-1872
William Tweed/Tweed Ring
Pgs. 548-49
One of the most famous bosses of the party machines was William Tweed, head of Tammany
Hall from the 1860’s to 1872. Tweed rose to the top of Tammany Hall quickly. He held several
political offices from city alderman to Congressman. Tweed led the Tweed Ring of New York that
robbed the city of millions of dollars. When he became the head of Tammany Hall, he built the New
York County Courthouse that became his masterpiece.
1880
Mugwumps
Pg. 552
During the late 1800’s, there was somewhat of a religious revival as people found they had
more leisure time due to new inventions. This led to a spirit of reform. Since slavery was no longer
an issue, people looked at other problems. One group called the Mugwumps tries to fix corruption in
the government. It was composed of the educated upper class.
Women’s Christian Temperance Union
Pg. 552
With the reform movement, there was another push for temperance. The Women’s Christian
Temperance Union pushed for total abstinence from alcohol. They hoped that it would end
drunkenness and all social evils. It became a huge organization by 1898 with 10,000 branches and
over 500,000 members.
1874
1873
Comstock Law
Pg. 552
In New York City, Anthony Comstock organized the Society for the Suppression of Vice
which worked for increased public morality. The society got congress to pass the Comstock Law in
1873. The law prohibited the mailing or transporting of obscene or vulgar articles. The law wasn’t
successful.
1880’s
New Woman
Pgs. 554-555
During the late 1800’s, woman achieved new recognition in the work force. Women were
starting to work in factories, telephone exchanges, and business offices. Also, more women were
starting to work in general. The idea of “New Woman” was that a woman was the highest good.
They were pure, innocent, and incapable of wrongdoing.
1862
Morrill Land Grant Act
Pg. 557
The Morrill Land Grant Act gave large grants of land to the states so that they could create
universities to teach agriculture and the mechanical arts.
1881
Booker T. Washington/Tuskegee Institute/Atlanta Compromise
Pgs. 558-59
Although, higher education increased during this time period, blacks were still excluded from
most colleges. To alleviate this, Booker T. Washington started the Tuskegee Institute that became
one of the best industrial and agricultural schools in the country. Washington founded Tuskegee
because of this philosophy that blacks should become economically equal to whites before they
demanded more social and political equality. He stated these ideas most expressively in Atlanta so
his philosophy is called the Atlanta Compromise.
W.E.B. DuBois / “Talented Tenth”
Pgs. 559
DuBois was the first black man to graduate from Harvard. He was brilliant sociologist and
civil rights leader. Contrary to Washington, DuBois felt that blacks needed to demand more social
and political rights before economic because otherwise they would just become the labor force of
white managers. DuBois felt that the blacks should educate their talented tenth to lead them and gain
them more rights.
1905
1876
Social Darwinism/Herbert Spencer
Pgs. 560
After Darwin came up with his theory of evolution, that man had developed into the creature he
was over millions of years, people started to apply his theory to society and life in general. Herbert
Spencer, an English social philosopher, came up with Social Darwinism. He said that society
adapted to the environment. Spencer coined the phrase “survival of the fittest” and said that in
thousands of years, society would evolve and become a better place. He thought that reform was
useless because the poor were the least fit, and that they were doomed to die out. Helping them was
interfering with evolution. Social Darwinism didn’t gain a widespread following, but it did raise
some questions.
1883
William Graham Sumner
Pg. 560
William Graham Sumner was one of the most influential Social Darwinists in the U.S. He
wrote What Social Classes Owe to Each Other and “The Absurd Effort to Make the World Over.” In
each of these two writings he put down reform and said that it interfered with evolution.
1879
Henry George-Process and Poverty
Pg. 560
Henry George was a poor, self-educated economist who studied American life from San
Francisco. He held odd jobs his whole life and came to the conclusion that society was seriously
flawed. In his book, Progress and Poverty, George presented a solution to end poverty. He said that
land was the basis of wealth. If there were a single tax imposed on land, the money could be used to
help the poor, and everything would be okay.
1885
Clarence Darrow
Pgs. 560-62
Clarence Darrow was a lawyer in Ashtaburton, Ohio. He read George’s work and began to
think about it. He came to the conclusion that criminals were made and not born. He went against
Social Darwinism. He said that poverty bred criminals, and if poverty were ended, crime would end.
1887
Edward Bellamy-Looking Backward
Pg. 561-62
Edward Bellamy was a lawyer from Massachusetts who somewhat agreed with Darrow and
pushed for reform. His book, Looking Backward, was about a person of 1887 who falls asleep and
wakes up in a utopian, socialist 2000. The society of 2000 has flaws, but readers of Looking
Backward started a new socialist movement in the U.S.
1886
Social Gospel
Pg. 562
With the reform movement going on, religious organizations got involved and some started
setting up missions in the city slums. Along with these, a new religious philosophy known as Social
Gospel emerged. Social Gospel looked at society and the individual rather they just the individual.
Sermons in these churches called adults to action to help the poor, and adults met before and after
services to discuss social problems. Children missed the sermon, were organized by age groups, and
did other activities in the church. The most famous Social Gospel leader was Washington Gladden
who worked his whole life for social salvation.
1889
Jane Addams
Pgs. 52-63
One of the arms of the reform movement was the building of settlement houses. Settlement houses
were places that were there in order to bring a sense of community to the city and the poor. One of the
most famous settlement houses was Hull House in Chicago. Jane Addams started Hull House because
she wanted to share the lives of the poor, and help end poverty. Education was stressed at Hull House and
there were lectures in every subject imaginable as well as classes that gave college credit. Addams
studied the area around Hull House and taught the immigrants living there English language and
American history. She also encouraged them to keep their ethnic identity.