Laura Gill HN US History 1 Mr. Kann Unit 9 Notes Rapid Urban Growth (p. 490) ● The urban population in America was seven times larger a half­century after the Civil War than before it Geographic Mobility (p. 491) ● Young rural women travelled to urban places for more economic opportunities ● Farms became more commercial and mechanized ○ manned mostly by unskilled workers ● Urban blacks worked mostly as cooks, janitors, or domestic servants African­American Communities (p. 492) ● Black communities formed in New York City, Chicago, Washington, Baltimore, and many Southern cities ● New urban communities formed of immigrants ○ largely Italians, Greeks, Slavs, Slovaks, Russian Jews, Armenians, and other Europeans The Ethnic City (p. 492) ● New York had more Irish people than Dublin and more Germans than Hamburg by 1890 Benefits of Ethnic Communities (p. 494) ● Ethnic communities formed ○ ethnic groups gained political advantage in their community Changing Gender Roles (p. 495) ● Many immigrant women began working and establishing a social presence outside the home Nativism (p. 496) ● Native­born Americans feared the new immigrants ○ immigrants took over for striking workers for lower wages Immigration Restriction League (p. 496) ● The ​
American Protective Association​
was founded by Henry Bowers​
to stop the inflow of immigrants ● The ​
Immigration Restriction League​
was later founded in Boston by Harvard graduates ● Congress restricted Chinese immigration to California in 1882 ○ a tax was placed on each person admitted Advantages of Cheap Labor ● President ​
Grover Cleveland​
vetoed Congress’s bill to implement a literacy test for immigrants (p. 496) Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux (p. 497) ● Parks began to be developed in urban areas ● Frederick Law Olmsted ​
and ​
Calvert Vaux​
designed Central Park in NY ○ designed other parks in Brooklyn, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, and DC ● Libraries, art galleries, natural history museums, theaters, concert halls, and opera halls were also growing in numbers ○ wealthy philanthropists sponsored these projects “City Beautiful” Movement (p. 498) ● Grand avenues were modeled after European cities ● The Columbian Exposition ​
in Chicago in 1893 debuted new neoclassical buildings ○ became the inspiration for the “City Beautiful” movement The Back Bay (p. 498) ● A forty­year landfill project in Boston to create the Back Bay neighborhood was one of the largest public works projects ever undertaken in America at the time ○ marshy areas were developed in many urban areas Growth of the Suburbs (p. 498) ● The wealthiest urban citizens created fashionable districts at the heart of the city ● The moderately wealthy settled on the outskirts of cities ○ connected by trains or streetcars Tenements (p. 499) ● Multiple family rental buildings became exclusively slum dwellings Jacob Riis (p. 499) ● Jacob Riis ​
published a book of pictures and descriptions of tenement life called ​
How the Other Half Lives​
in 1890 Transportation Problems (p. 500) ● Old downtown streets were too narrow for heavy traffic ● More streets were paved with wooden blocks, bricks, or asphalt ● Streetcars were originally drawn by horses Mass Transit (p. 501) ● Cities began to experiment with mass transit systems ○ New York’s first elevated railway opened in 1870 ­ NYC, Chicago, San Francisco, and other cities used cable cars ○ Richmond developed an electric trolley in 1888 ­ became widespread by 1895 ○ Boston opened the first subway in the US in 1897 The “Skyscraper” (p. 501) ● Buildings more than 4 or 5 stories could not be constructed until the mid 19th century ● Elevators were invented in the 1850s to make high floors accessible ● Cast­iron and steel beams made it easier to build tall buildings Development of Professional Fire Departments (p. 501) ● Great fires encouraged the development of fire­proof buildings and fire departments Environmental Degradation (p. 501) ● Human and industrial waste was disposed of improperly in large cities ○ poor plumbing Air Pollution (p. 502) ● Pollution in cities caused respiratory infections and related diseases Public Health Service (p. 502) ● Alice Hamilton​
investigated the danger of lead poisoning for the ​
US Bureau of Labor High Crime Rates (p. 503) ● Native­born Americans believed that crime increased because of immigrant population growth Boss Rule (p. 503) ● A power vacuum existed in city politics ○ urban “bosses” had tremendous influence Reasons for Boss Rule (p. 504) ● Immigrant voters allowed for boss rule ● Wealthy citizens gave bosses power ● The government structure was weak Rising Income (p. 504) ● The salaries of “white collar” workers rose New Merchandising Techniques (p. 505) ● Americans shifted from making their own clothing it buying it from stores ● Food also started to be bought from stores Social Consequences of Mail­Order Catalogues ● Rural areas needed mail­order catalogues to buy clothes from chains Impact of the Department ● Macy’s, Abraham and Straus, Jordan Marsh, Filene’s, Store (p. 505) and Wanamaker’s National Consumer League (p. 506) ● The National Consumer League​
mobilized women to pressure retailers to develop better working conditions Simon Patten (p. 507) ● Simon Patten ​
developed ideas on leisure Public Leisure (p. 507) ● More recreational activities were created Spectator Sports (p. 507) ● Cricket inspired a game called “rounders” that spread to the United States in the early 1830s ○ Alexander Cartwright defined many of the rules of what became modern baseball Major League Baseball (p. 507) ● Baseball rose up as a popular past time following the end of the civil war Crash Course 24 ● Frederick Jackson Turner wrote the lecture ​
The Significance of the Frontier in American History ○ glorified the “Wild West” ● Railroads brought goods to West ● The federal government helped the West by leading military expeditions against the Native Americans ○ buffalo were nearly driven to extinction ● Ghost Dance Movement ​
believed that dancing would drive out the white men and bring back the buffalo ● The Treaty System treated the tribes as independent nations ○ the new ​
Dawes Act​
gave land to individual families that adopted American ideals ● Boarding schools were set up to “civilize” Indian children ● Irrigation projects was needed for agriculture in the West ○ more commercial Crash Course 26 ● The Gilded Age​
was written by ​
Mark Twain​
and Charles Dudley Warner ● Western farmers started the ​
Grange Movement ​
to standardize shipping prices ● Populists​
held a convention in Omaha for western farmers ● William Jennings Bryan​
was nominated as the Democratic candidate for president ○ lost to William McKinley Crash Course 27 ● Muckrakers were journalists who stirred up trouble ● Child labor was limited ● Wobblies​
wanted socialism