1. Urbanization
Mr. Turner

2. American Lives Change By 1900, around 30% of Americans lived in cities
City life was an improvement over rural life
There were many new factory jobs
Women could enter the workforce
Cities had better and far more schools

3. American Lives Change
Immigrants poured into these big cities to find work
Towns gained a lot of Immigrants from a particular region
Rural people (farmers) moved to the cities to find work as well
They moved to these cities because the Second Industrial revolution offered a better way to make a living

4. Technological Advancements
Cities started building skyscrapers and growing upward rather than outward
The safety elevator was created in the 1850s
Cities started using mass transit in the late 1880s-1890s
First subway was created in 1897
Upper and middle class people moved to the suburbs instead of the middle of the dirty, bustling cities

5. Urban Life All of the people moving to the cities created overcrowding
People who could not afford to move to suburbs HAD to live in the cities
They lived in tenement housing - cheap apartments designed to fit as many people as possible
Several families would share one apartment or one room
These became known as slums
Tenement housing was dirty, unsanitary, and dangerous

7. Urban life Cities had unpaved streets full of all kinds of trash
Alleys were dirty and nasty
The tenements that actually had indoor plumbing rarely worked
The housing was so close together fire could easily destroy many buildings
A fire in Chicago in 1871 left 100,000 homeless

8. Urban life Crime was rampant in the streets after dark
It is at this time that fire departments and police forces were created
Racial and neighborhood groups were violent with each other and gangs started to form

9. Political Machines
The problems in cities led to the rise of Political Machines
A “Political Boss” would control supporters and areas of cities for money and power
They would make promises to often ignorant immigrants in exchange for votes
They controlled elections, fire departments, police departments, and city services
They would give out city contracts to their supporters and friends for a kickback
In exchange for the contract part of the money was given back

10. Tammany Hall and Boss Tweed
The Tammany Hall political machine controlled the Democratic party for NYC for over fifty years
Tammany Hall was ran by William “Boss” Tweed
extremely corrupt
Gained a lot of power and money from his leadership
Defrauded NYC of over $30 million
He was arrested on fraud and embezzlement charges in 1873
He was exposed by a cartoonist named Thomas Nast