1. Urbanization

2. Immigration Europeans Flood into the United States
By late 1890s eastern and southern Europeans made up more than half of all immigrants
America offered:
Employment
Few immigration restrictions
Avoidance of military service
Religious freedom
Chance to move up the social ladder

3. Ellis Island

4. Coming into the U.S. Ellis Island = a small island in New York Harbor
Processing center for most immigrants coming from Europe
Some were separated from families and sent back to Europe due to health problems
Once through Ellis Island – most settled in cities with their ethnic group

5. Mulberry Street – “Little Italy”

6. Processing at Angel Island

7. Immigration from Asia
Came due to severe unemployment, poverty and famine in China
Railroad work brought many
Processed through Angel Island
In western cities worked as laborers, servants, skilled tradesmen and merchants esp. laundries

8. Pell St. - Chinatown, NYC

9. Nativism
Extreme dislike for foreigners by native-born people and the desire to limit immigration
American Protective Association disliked Catholics and immigrants
Workingman’s Party of California – organized by an Irish immigrant to stop Chinese immigration
1882 – Chinese Exclusion Act
barred Chinese immigration for 10 years and prevented the Chinese already in America from becoming citizens
Renewed in 1892 and made permanent in 1902
Repealed in 1943

10. Review Reasons for Chinese Immigration
Reasons for European Immigration

11. Americans Migrate to Cities
Better paying jobs
Electricity
Running water
Plumbing
entertainment

12. contributed to the design of skyscrapers
Price of land increased
Form follows function
Louis Sullivan

13. Rise of Mass Transit Electric trolleys Elevated railroads
Had to move large numbers of people around cities quickly

14. Jacob Riis'
How the Other
Half Lives (1890)

15. 5-Cent Lodgings

16. Immigrant Family Lodgings

17. Tenement Slum Living

18. “Dumbell “ Tenement, NYC

19. Dumbbell Tenement Plan
Tenement House Act of 1879, NYC

20. The Street Was Their Playground

21. Separation by Class
Wealthy families lived in the heart of the city in elaborate homes
Middle-class lived away from the city
Majority of people lived in city tenements or dark and crowded multi-family apartments

22. Characteristics of Urbanization During the Gilded Age
Megalopolis.
Mass Transit.
Magnet for economic and social opportunities.
Pronounced class distinctions Inner & outer core
New frontier of opportunity for women.
Squalid living conditions for many.
Political machines.
Ethnic neighborhoods.

23. Urban Growth:

24. Urban Problems Increase in crime, fire, disease and pollution
Native-born Americans blamed immigrants for the increase in crime
Contaminated drinking water from improper sewage disposal resulted in disease

25. Urban Politics Rise of the Political Machine Party Bosses Tammany Hall
Political group designed to gain and keep power
Used bribery to get votes
Graft and fraud
Provided essentials to city dwellers in exchange for votes
Party Bosses
Tammany Hall
William “Boss” Tweed = party boss
Arrested for corruption and sent to prison in 1872

26. Well-Defined Voting Blocs
Democratic Bloc
Republican Bloc
White southerners (preservation of white supremacy)
Catholics
Recent immigrants (esp. Jews)
Urban working poor (pro-labor)
Most farmers
Northern whites (pro-business)
African Americans
Northern Protestants
Old WASPs (support for anti-immigrant laws)
Most of the middle class

27. Homework
Write a news article about life in the city during this time period.
Include ALL of the following topics
A description of immigration (those who immigrated, where they settled etc)
The response to immigrants
The move by Americans to cities and what that caused
Problems caused by the rise of cities
The New Politics

28. Responses to Industrialism
Response to Industrialism

29. Social Darwinism British economist. Advocate of laissez-faire.
Adapted Darwin’s ideas from the “Origin of Species” to humans.
Notion of “Survival of the Fittest.”
Herbert Spencer

30. Social Darwinism in America
Individuals must have absolute freedom to struggle, succeed or fail.
Therefore, state intervention to reward society and the economy is futile!
William Graham Sumner Folkways (1906)

31. The Gospel of Wealth: Religion in the Era of Industrialization
Wealth no longer looked upon as bad.
Viewed as a sign of God’s approval.
Christian duty to accumulate wealth.
Should not help the poor.
Russell H. Conwell

32. “On Wealth” The Anglo-Saxon race is superior.
“Gospel of Wealth” (1901).
Inequality is inevitable and good.
Wealthy should act as “trustees” for their “poorer brethren.”
Andrew Carnegie

33. Naturalism
The idea that people failed in life because they were simply caught up in circumstances they could not control
Jack London
Theodore Dreiser

34. Social Gospel
Worked to better conditions in cities according to the biblical ideals of charity and justice

35. YMCA and the Salvation Army combined faith and an interest in reform
YMCA organized Bible studies, citizenship training, and group activities
Salvation Army offered practical aid and religious counseling

36. The Settlement House Movement
A community center where reformers resided and offered everything from medical care, English classes, kindergartens, and
recreational programs
Jane Adams opened
Hull House in Chicago
in 1889