1. Political Stalemate and Rural Revolt 1865-1900
Chapter 19
Political Stalemate and Rural Revolt

2. Urban America

3. The Emergence of Cities, 1880
Which states had the largest urban population in 1880? What drove the growth of western cities? How were western cities different from eastern cities?

4. The Emergence of Cities, 1920
How did technology change urban life in the early twentieth century? What was the role of mass transit in expanding the urban population? How did the demographics of the new cities change between 1880 and 1920?

5. Figure 17.1: Urban and Rural Population of the United States, 1860–1910.
Although much of the population increase between 1860 and 1910 came in urban areas, the number of people living in rural areas increased as well. Notice, too, that the largest increase was in towns and cities that had between 2,500 and 500,000 people.
Fig. 17-1, p. 454

6. Rural migration to cities
New immigrants

7. Elevators with electric motors Steel frame buildings
Technology
Steam radiators eliminated fireplaces & chimneys in apartment buildings
Elevators with electric motors
Steel frame buildings
Streetcars & commuter railways led to suburbs

8. Louis Sullivan, one of the Chicago architects who first created skyscrapers, designed the Wainwright Building (St. Louis, 1890) with the intention of creating what he called a “proud and soaring thing.” He also tried to design exteriors that reflected the interior functions, in keeping to his rule that “form follows function.” The building was widely acclaimed and often imitated.
p. 456

9. Chicago streetcars, Streetcars made it possible for cities to expand dramatically. By 1900, Chicago took in 190 square miles, up from 17 square miles in “Streetcar suburbs” took in even more territory.
p. 457

10. As streetcars and commuter railway lines permitted some Americans to move to the suburbs, developers and contractors depicted houses in the midst of green trees and wide lawns where children could play. This house featured a kitchen and living room on the ground floor and three bedrooms on the upper floor. Twelve hundred dollars, the cost to build this house in 1887, did not include the cost of the land. Such a house was far beyond the reach of an average blue-collar worker. This illustration appeared in Scientific American, Architects and Builders Edition, June 1887.
p. 458

11. Working Poor Could not afford to buy houses in suburbs
Population surged
Congested inner cities
Fires, violent crimes and disease
One toilet per 20 people
Streets covered with horse urine & manure (500,000 horses in NYC)

12. Mulberry Street, 1900 This photograph captures the many Italian immigrants who made Mulberry Street in downtown New York City their home at the turn of the century. Horse-drawn carts weave through people shopping, socializing, and people-gazing.

13. New Immigration 1900 – 30% of major cities were foreign-born
New York City – 80% foreign-born
“Old” immigrants before 1880: Protestants & Catholics from northern and western Europe
“New” immigrants: southern & eastern Europe

14. Ellis Island The Registry Room at Ellis Island
Inspectors asked arriving passengers twenty-nine probing questions, including “Are you a polygamist?”

15. Map 17.1: Cities, Industry, and Immigration.
This map presents major U.S. cities, areas where immigrants lived, and the urban-industrial core region that included most cities and manufacturing. Western counties are much larger than eastern counties and were much more sparsely populated, so the western counties that show large proportions of immigrants did not necessarily have numbers of immigrants comparable to eastern cities.
Map 17-1, p. 455

16. New languages & cultural backgrounds: largely Jews, Eastern Orthodox & Roman Catholics
Nativist response: claimed Anglo-Saxon (British or German) Protestant superiority

18. Chinese Americans 1880 – 75,000 in California (12% of population)
First non-European & non-African group to migrate in large numbers
Not white, not Christian
1882 – Chinese Exclusion Act against unskilled Chinese workers (revoked in 1943)

19. Chinese Exclusion Act (iron, opium pipe) Exclusion Act
The Chinese caricature “John Chinaman” is escorted out of America by Lady Liberty with his ironing board and opium pipe, while the other accepted minorities look on.

20. Asian Americans Today Wealthiest racial group in United States
2014 median household income
- Asian American $74,100
- White $57,300
- Native American $37,000
- African American $35,400
(Note: US Government does NOT consider hispanic a race but an ethnicity)

21. Darwinism On the Origin of Species (1859)
Didn’t “discover” evolution, BUT “natural selection” and “survival of the fittest”
Most Christians eventually accepted evolution as God’s doing.

22. Charles Darwin
Darwin’s theories influenced more than a century of political debate.

23. Social Darwinism
Herbert Spencer: Human society & institutions also evolved through natural selection.
“Survival of the Fittest” is engine of social progress
Supported laissez-faire government; charity was bad since helped the less fit survive (extreme became eugenics and German Nazis)

24. Reform Darwinism
Cooperation, not competition, would promote social progress
Government should alleviate poverty &
educate the masses
Basis of reform and “progressive” movement

25. Social Reformers Jacob Riis - photographer Camera = new technology
“How the Other Half Lives” book

32. Gilded Age Politics = Corruption
Much public participation
Corrupt alliance between business and government at all levels of government

33. By 1900, new movements focused on reforming corrupt political system that supported special interests of big business
Focus on state & local, not federal, level
Intense political loyalty to two major parties

34. Cities – “Political Machines” got services for poor immigrants and then their vote
Patronage system to reward party loyalists with jobs, especially Post Office

35. National Politics
Close division between Republicans & Democrats in Congress
The North & blacks supported Republicans, party of Abraham Lincoln
The South & “white supremacy” whites supported Democrats

36. Thomas Nast, the most influential cartoonist of the 1870s and most talented cartoonist of his age, began using an elephant to symbolize the Republicans and a donkey for the Democrats. At the time, however, Republicans often preferred an eagle, and Democrats usually chose a rooster.
p. 491

37. Initial Struggle for “Clean Government”
Civil service reform to reduce patronage
Civil Service Commission
Resulted from President Garfield’s assassination from disgruntled applicant for a federal job by patronage

38. Railroad Regulation
Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) – first federal regulatory agency
(Now: FDA, SEC, FCC, etc)
Rates were “reasonable and just”
Used federal government’s Constitutional authority to regulate interstate commerce

39. Sherman Anti-Trust Act
Prohibited monopolistic business practices
U.S. first country to do so
Not enforced in 1890s but became powerful law later and helped restrain abusive business practices

40. Rural Revolt & Populism

41. Urban versus Rural Also industry versus agricultural
Industrialists & large commercial farmers prospered, but small farmers struggled
Falling crop prices (overproduction & more international competition in world food markets)
Growing debt to banks & railroads

42. “I Feed You All!”
This 1875 Granger-inspired poster shows the farmer at the center of society.

43. The Grange tries to awaken the public to the approaching locomotive (a symbol of monopoly power) that is bringing consolidation (mergers), extortion (high prices), bribery, and other evils. Railroad ties (the wooden pieces on which the rails rested) are sometimes called sleepers.
p. 498

44. Populists
Farmers formed local alliances to urge political action (Farmers’ Alliances) to regulate railroads, tax the wealthy and currency inflation by issuing more money.
Panic of 1893 – worst depression in US history. Led to climate of class warfare
Favored coinage of silver, not just gold

45. 1896 - Populist William Jennings Bryan was Democratic candidate
“You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold” speech
1896 election – one of most dramatic ever. Bryan championed the poor & favored expansion of federal government to help.

46. The Election of 1896
How did Bryan’s “Cross of Gold” speech divide the Democratic party? How did McKinley’s strategy differ from Bryan’s? Why was Bryan able to carry the West and the South but unable to win in cities and the Northeast?

47. Populist Legacy Populist movement quickly faded away
Most of the Populist ideas are implemented over next 20 years by Progressive Movement (income tax, etc)