Life in the Mid 1800’s
A. Waves of Immigrants
1. More than 4 million immigrants
settled in US between 1840-60
Life in the Mid 1800’s
a. Most immigrants were Irish
or German escaping troubles
Life in the Mid 1800’s
1. Irish immigrants poor and
settled in cities
Life in the Mid 1800’s
2. Germans arrived with
money and became
farmers
Life in the Mid 1800’s
B. The Growth of Cities
1. Industrial and Transportation
Revolutions led to growth of
cities
Life in the Mid 1800’s
a. Middle class created – level
between wealthy and poor
b. In cities people found new
entertainment – libraries, clubs,
theaters, bowling, playing cards
Life in the Mid 1800’s
2. Cities extremely crowded
Life in the Mid 1800’s
C. Urban Problems
1. Lack of safe housing
a. Dirty, overcrowded
buildings called tenements
Life in the Mid 1800’s
2. No clean water or safe
ways to get rid of garbage
and human waste
3. Disease spreads quickly
Life in the Mid 1800’s
4. Become centers of criminal
activity
5. Poor fire protection
Life in the Mid 1800’s
D. Prison Reform
1. Dorthea Dix – helped create
separate facilities for mentally ill
a. previously jailed with
criminals
Life in the Mid 1800’s
“To call your attention to the present state of
insane persons confined within this
Commonwealth, in cages, closets, cellars,
stalls, pens! Chained, naked, beaten with
rods and lashed into obedience.”
Life in the Mid 1800’s
"If I am cold, they are cold; if I am weary, they are distressed; if
I am alone, they are abandoned."
- Dorothea Dix
Life in the Mid 1800’s
2. Reform schools set up for children
who committed crimes
a. previously treated same as
adult criminals
Life in the Mid 1800’s
E. Alcohol Abuse
1. Some believed Americans
drinking liquor at “alarming rates”
a. Believed to cause social
problems like family violence,
poverty and criminal behavior
Life in the Mid 1800’s
2. Temperance Movement – urged
people to stop drinking hard
liquor and limit beer and wine to
small quantities
Life in the Mid 1800’s
F. Education in America
1. Education varies throughout US
a. New England has most
schools, West and South have
least
Life in the Mid 1800’s
b. People from different
backgrounds receive different
educations
1. Rich – private schools or tutors
2. Poor – public schools
3. Girls – usually stayed home
Life in the Mid 1800’s
2. Common school movement – all
children educated in common place
regardless of class or race
a. Created by Horace Mann who
becomes first secretary of educa.
Life in the Mid 1800’s
G. Women’s Education
1. Few women could attend classes
beyond grade school
2. Catherine Beecher starts first all
female academy
Life in the Mid 1800’s
“Let every women become so refined in intellect that
her taste and judgment will be respected…”
~Catharine Beecher
Life in the Mid 1800’s
3. 1830’s – women’s colleges open
Life in the Mid 1800’s
H. African American Schools
1. Most African Americans went to
separate schools
Life in the Mid 1800’s
2. Philadelphia supported
development of African American
education
a. 7 schools for African
Americans in 1800
Life in the Mid 1800’s
3. African Americans rarely attend
college
4. Most slaves did not receive
education
Life in the Mid 1800’s
I. Teaching People with Disabilities
1. Schools opened for visually
impaired
a. created by Samuel Gridley Howe
Life in the Mid 1800’s
2. Schools for hearing impaired
opened by Thomas Hopkins
Galladet