Unit 2: The Gilded Age and the Industrialization of the United States

PowerPoint #2

Daily Essential Questions:

#1: How did American urban (city) life change between 1875-1914?

• With regard toimmigrants?

• With regard to cities?

#2: How did politics change

during the Gilded Age?

Old Immigrants (pre-1870s)

• 1600-1830s - Protestants from North West Europe

• 1840-50s, German & Irish Catholics

• Families to settle farms

• Had money, a skill, or an education

• Children blended into society.

“New” Immigrants (post-1870s)

• Mainly Catholics or Jews from Southern and Eastern Europe (Italy, Poland) – make up 70% of immigrants after 1900.

• Attracted to cities (vs. farms)

• Poor & unskilled

• There was a fear these new immigrants would destroy American culture.

• Sought ways to participate in the democratic process.

How were immigrants different in the late 1800’s?

Old Immigrants (pre-1870s)

• 1600-1830s - Protestants from North West Europe

• 1840-50s, German & Irish Catholics

• Families to settle farms

• Had money, a skill, or an education

• Children blended into society.

“New” Immigrants (post-1870s)

• Mainly Catholics or Jews from Southern and Eastern Europe (Italy, Poland) – make up 70% of immigrants after 1900.

• Attracted to cities (vs. farms)

• Poor & unskilled

• There was a fear these new immigrants would destroy American culture.

• Sought ways to participate in the democratic process.

How were immigrants different in the late 1800’s?

The foreign-born population of the U.S. nearly doubled between 1870 and 1900.

1. Processed at stations, - Ellis Island in NY Harbor or

Angel Island in San Francisco Bay.

a. Europeans – primarily at Ellis Island

b. Chinese and other Asians – Angel Island

2. Lived in cities in Ethnic ghettos. (Little Italy,

Chinatown)

3. Nativism - hostility from native-born white Americans

4. People voted for those who helped them find jobs

such as neighborhood and ward bosses!

What was it like when a new immigrant arrived?

How did Congress start to restrict immigration to the US?

• In 1882, the Chinese Exclusion Act prohibited immigration and limited the rights of Chinese immigrants. Did not allow the naturalization of Chinese residents.

• Another law prohibited the immigration of criminals, paupers, anyone likely to need public assistance.

What is urbanization?

The movement to cities!

In 1860 - only 16 % live in towns/cities

By 1900, 32 %—15 million Americans—lived in cities of more than 50,000

Today: Approximately 80%

NAME OF CITYPOPULATION IN

1870POPULATION IN

1900POPULATION IN

1920

Boston 250,525 560,892 748,060

Chicago 298,977 1,698,575 2,701,705

Los Angeles 5,728 102,479 576,673

New York 1,478,103 3,437,202 5,620,048

Philadelphia 1,293,687 1,350,000 1,823,779

Pittsburgh 86,075 321,616 588,343

San Francisco 149,473 342,782 506,676

Seattle 1,107 237,194 315,312

1. Neighborhoods -

overcrowded.

2. Poor workers lived in

crowded tenements –

little sanitation, often

dangerous, crime.

3. Unpaved streets.

4. Disease.

What problems did rapid population growth cause in cities?

This leads to….

1. City sanitation – garbage men!

2. Firefighters and more police.

3. Electric streetlights for safety.

4. New transportation – streetcars, trolleys

What advantages did cities offer to the middle class?

More money for some led to an increase in the standard of

living which led to…

1. conspicuous consumerism and mass culturea. Shopping in department stores

b. Wearing fashionable clothing

c. Amusement Parks – Coney Island

d. Circuses and Buffalo Bill’s Wild Wild West Show

e. Vaudeville shows and Ragtime bands

f. Baseball, Boxing, Horse Racing and other sports

2. More public education – literacy rates increased to

almost 90% by 1900.

3. Better sanitation and health

The literacy rate climbed to nearly 90 percent by 1900.

EQ #2. How did politics change during the Gilded Age?

1. Congress passed few laws between 1877 and 1900.

2. Corruption plagued national politics as many officials accepted bribes. Examples:

• 1872-3 - Credit Mobilier Scandal – Railroad company sold shares to politicians who then approved government funds to build more railroads – which made the politicians money.

• 1875 - Whiskey Ring – Whiskey Makers around the country bribed govt. officials so they would not have to pay whiskey taxes.

3. The spoils system – in which party supporters received government jobs regardless of their qualifications, shifted power to a few.

What are examples of political corruption?

4. President James Garfield was assassinated by a man who believed the Republican Party owed him a job SO….

In 1883, President Chester A.

Arthur signed into law the

Pendleton Civil Service Act,

which established a merit-

based system for government

employment. (To try to put an

end to the Spoils System)

President Garfield20th PresidentMarch 1881 – Sept. 1881

President Arthur21st PresidentSept. 1881 – March 1885

5. Local Politics – Political

Machines – organizations that

provided social services and

jobs in exchange for votes.

Most Famous - Tammany Hall

led by Boss Tweed – use fraud

and corruption to gain power

and make money.

6

In his 1873 novel, The GildedAge, Mark Twain satirically

depicted American society as

gilded, or having a rotten core

covered with gold paint.

Historians call the late 19th

century (the late 1800s) the

Gilded Age.

What do you think?

What does Gilded Age mean?