Chapter 6
American Society in Transition
Between 1860 & 1910 the urban
population mushroomed from 6
million to 44 million
America’s Move to Town
• It was the prospect of good
jobs & social excitement
that lured workers from
the countryside & overseas
to the U.S. cities
• One thing that allowed
cities to get bigger was
vertical expansion
• By 1900, subways, elevated
trains, electric trolleys, &
cable cars had helped
transform mass transit
Philadelphia, 1897
The Allure of the Cities
• Cities had many wonders in
the late 19th century like:
• Electric lights
• Streetcars
• Telephones
• Department stores
• Vaudeville shows
• Newspapers & Magazines
Problems of the Cities
• Tenement houses in New
York City had higher
mortality rates than among
the general population
• Urban political bosses
often were the biggest
source of assistance for city
dwellers
• Cholera, typhoid, & yellow
fever are all water-related
diseases
Paradoxical Politics
• Local politics were almost
always controlled by “rings”
• Each ring was controlled by a
powerful “boss” that used
activists & officials of
“machine” to run the town
• One of these corrupt Bosses
was William “Boss” Tweed
who controlled New York City
through the Tammany hall
ring
William “Boss” Tweed
The New Immigration
• At this time in U.S.
History 1 out of seven
Americans were foreign
born
• These people gave
much needed labor but
also sparked ugly racial
& ethnic tensions
• After 1890, most
immigrants were Jews
& Catholics
Ellis Island
• Ellis Island was used
mainly to process
immigrants not to
comfort or assist
immigrants
• In 1907, more than 1
million new arrivals
• Most crammed into the
steerage which is deep
in the hull of the ship
Immigrants waiting in the Registry Room
for further inspections in NY
Making Their Way &
The Nativist Response
• Immigrants naturally
gravitated to
neighborhoods populated
by their own kind
• Many native-born
Americans saw immigrants
as a threat to their way of
life
• American Protective
Association (APA)
Immigration Restriction
• In the 1890s the U.S.
Congress tried to excluded
illiterate foreigners from
becoming citizens
• The Chinese were
restricted from citizenship
• In 1910, all Asian
immigrants came through
Angel Island – 6 miles
offshore from San
Francisco
Popular Culture
• The sheer number of
city dwellers also
helped generate new
forms of mass
entertainment
• Vaudeville provided a
variety of shows for
men, women, & kids
across classes
Saloon Culture
• This was the male
urban working classes
most popular
destination
• Saloons were more
often then not aligned
w/ local political
machines and/or labor
unions
Outdoor Recreation &
Spectator Sports
• After 1858 city park
movement
• In these parks people
enjoyed croquet, tennis, &
cycling
• Also people during this
period enjoyed boxing,
amusement parks, &
American Football became a
college sport
• Dr. Naismith invented
basketball
The Spread of Public Education
• The spread of education
during this period
reflected the desire to
Americanize immigrant
children
• After the Civil War the
German University
system became the
basis for the modern
American University
George Washington Carver at
Tuskegee Institute
Reform Darwinism
• Social Darwinism
provoked strong criticism
• In response to this
criticism Lester Frank
Ward started Reform
Darwinism
• Reform Darwinism’s main
idea was that
cooperation, not
competition would best
promote progress
Lester Frank Ward
The Social Gospel
• This took shape in response to
the dislocations produced by
urbanization, industrialization,
& mass immigration during
this period.
• Advocates of the Social Gospel
believed Christians should
love their neighbor & address
social problems as well
• Examples: Salvation Army &
the YMCA
Salvation Army group in Flint, Michigan, 1894
Early Efforts at Urban Reform
• The Settlement House
Movement was where
reformers addressed
the problems of the
slums
• The best known being
Jane Addams’ Hull
House in Chicago
• She received the Nobel
Peace Prize in 1931
Jane Addams
Women’s Employment & Activism
• The number of women in
the labor force grew from
over 2.6 million in 1880 to
7.8 million in 1910
• The National American
Women Suffrage
Association 1st got
several states, all in the
West to adopt women’s
suffrage by the turn of the
century
Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Susan B. Anthony
The New West
• Between 1870 & 1890
Americans settled more
land in the West than had
been occupied by all
Americans up to 1870.
• In 1866, Congress
establish 2 “colored”
cavalry units that were
sent to the west that
became known as Buffalo
Soldiers
Mining & the Environment
• In the landmark case
Woodruff v. North
Bloomfield Gravel
Mining Company the
judge ruled on the
legality of dumping
mining debris in water
sources
Hydraulic Mining in Idaho
The
Indian Wars
Congress decided
after the 1867
“Report on the
Condition of Indian
Tribes” that the
best way to end
the Indian Wars
was to persuade
the Indians to live
on out-of-the-way
reservations.
Farmers & the Land
• During the Civil War
Congress passed the
Homestead Act
• The export crop that
spurred growth in
agriculture in the late
nineteenth century
was wheat
Sodhouse on American Prairie
Pioneer Women
• In much of the
nineteenth century,
women in the West
were a minority and
they faced legal barriers
& social prejudice
• In Texas they couldn’t
work outside the home
The End of the Frontier
• After 1890 the U.S. Census
reported that there was no
where in the U.S. that
population was fewer than
2 people per square mile
• Historian Frederick Jackson
Turner wrote about this
but ignored the role of
women blacks, American
Indians, Mormons,
Hispanics, & Asians.
Frederick Jackson Turner