Chapter 25AP Notes

1880 – 72% of the population lived on farms

1910 – 54% lived on farms Today – 3% live on farms 1880-1920 population shifted in the

U.S. from primarily agrarian to urban This trend, coupled with increased

immigration, greatly affected the cities

Mechanization on the farms – men’s work

Factories produced more goods that women once produced

Rural women went to the cities to find work

Began to migrate to southern urban centers from rural South

Racial violenceSegregation policiesBoll weevil destroyed cotton crops

Floods in Mississippi and Alabama

Before the Civil War people lived at or near their work – “walking cities”

After the Civil War people began to use horse-drawn streetcars. Those who could afford to moved to the suburbs

Movement out of the cities was helped by cable cars, electric trolleys, elevated trains, automobiles, and subways

Before C.W. – no higher than 5 stories After C.W. – steam driven elevators and

steel girders permitted the construction of sky scrapers

Specialized areas – 1 area for banking, law offices, and government offices, 1 area for retail, and 1 area for industrial

Slums, overcrowded, rats Poor sanitation and disease, soot (coal furnaces), open sewers, backyard privies

CrimeNeighborhoods declined

Cholera, malaria, diphtheria, typhoid epidemics

NYC tenements 6 out of 10 infants died in their 1st year

Buildings closeCoal furnacesNo fire safetyChicago 1871Boston 1872

NY street gangsCrime flourishedPoverty

Sections of cities in which certain ethnic or racial groups lived

By choice: immigrants sought to live with others from their same country

Necessity: through threat or economic necessity – boundaries defined

Real estate restrictions – covenants – can’t sell property to anyone from a certain racial or ethnic group

People separated – widening gap

Wealthy suburbsPoor stayed behindWealthy were not aware of the poverty

As cities expanded there was a need for more services (fire, police, hospitals, sanitation, water, health dept., electric, transportation, schools).

Cities raised taxes and set up offices

Remaining middle and upper classes struggled with working class for control

Old immigrants vs. new immigrants

Machines – unofficial-designed to keep a particular group or party in office

Headed by a boss – who sometimes held public office – however, he usually picked others to run and helped them win.

Ward leaders – administered a district – assisted the boss by handing out city jobs and contracts – did favors for the residents

In return, residents supported the machine on election day

Machines controlled jobs and city contract work (gave the leaders access to graft money under the table in return for favors)

Immigrants voted for the boss and machine – made up for a lack of a welfare system

William Marcy Tweed – Tammany Hall in NYC – amassed huge amounts of money through graft and corruption

Some reformers felt that problems of the cities stemmed from the presence of immigrants – wanted to limit immigration

Others objected to certain habits or behaviors – wanted to change these behaviors

1865-1920 – 30 million came to U.S.

Dreams: make fortunes, free government lands, personal freedom, free public education, no conscription (draft), democratic government

Steamships made the voyage faster

$15 ticket Steerage – large

open area beneath the ship’s deck: no privacy, poor food, inadequate toilet facilities

Opened in 1892

Processing center for steerage passengers

Had to be “fit” Physical exams for

tuberculosis or trachoma, mental illness

Make sure that they wouldn’t become a public charge

Old immigration – 1865 – 1890 – From Northern Europe (England and Germany)

New immigration – 1890-1920 – From southern and eastern Europe and Middle East – Italians, Greeks, Slavs, Russian Jews, and Armenians

¼ million ChineseRecruited to work by RR companies

Worked as indentured servantsVictims of ethnic stereotyping and racism

Unions wanted them kept out – accepted low wages

Movement to restrict immigration

Chinese Exclusion ActAmerican Protection Society

Designed to keep Asians out of the U.S.

Did not prevent entry to those who had previously established residence or who had family living in U.S.

Angel Island: detention center off coast of San Francisco – 1910

Teach only American culture Only English language in schools Tighter rules for citizenship Fanned the fear of “aliens” Resent immigrants taking Am. Jobs Limit immigration – Keep “unfit” out

Pass literacy test Exclude new immigrants from S. and E. Europe

Temperance movement Opposed to drinking Drinking leads to personal tragedy Link between saloon, immigrants, and

political bosses Saloons – “social clubs” where

immigrants met and picked up information about jobs and socialized

As urban populations grew – vice became big business

Anthony Comstock – New York Society for the Suppression of Vice

Comstock Law – prohibited sending through the mails materials deemed to be obscene (including birth control info.) – slowed the distribution of info for decades

Attacked political machines- believed they controlled the police who profited from vice

Social conscience – religious idealism

Middle and upper classes – felt they had a responsibility for poverty and to improve social conditions

Charity organization movement Social Gospel Movement Settlement Movement

Kept files on those who received help Make sure those who accepted aid

were “worthy” Interfered in people’s lives Wanted immigrants to adopt American

standards

Sought to apply gospel of Jesus directly to society

Supported improved living conditions

Reform movementLive in poor neighborhoods to witness effects of poverty first hand

Jane Addams and Helen Gates Starr founded Hull House in Chicago

Jane Addams – Hull House

Cultural events Classes Child care center Clubs Summer camps Playgrounds Employment and

legal aid Healthcare

clinics

Investigated city conditions – economic, political and health

Foundation for future reform Workers – college educated women Contribution – widen people’s

perspectives on social conditions and close the gap between divisions in society

First social workers