1. The Antebellum City

2. Astor Opera House Riot: May 7, 1849 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92126509

3. The Murder of Helen Jewett  10 April 1836: hatchet, fire to cover tracks  Richard Robinson  Judge orders jury disregard prostitutes’ evidence  acquittal (double standard)

4. I. City Life  Big growth of cities, especially in Northeast (35% of its populace urban, 1860)  Largest city was NYC, but Chicago, Baltimore, San Francisco, etc. also large  As major immigrant port, NYC ever changing w/ many short-term residents  Mass transit allows explosive growth (NYC)

5. A. Urban Problems  Rapid expansion cause numerous problems  Lack safe water and waste removal (disease)  Slowly city governments increase activity  Led efforts at public education; H. Mann: prepare children for citizenship + work (end misery and crime)  Education racialized (few blacks), stressed obedience, and reflected Protestant influence

6. Urban Riots (1830s–50s)  Numerous mob attacks on religious groups (Mormons, Catholics), new immigrants (Irish, Germans), and free African Americans  Competition is a key factor as separate groups vie for scarce jobs, housing, and street space  Cities form professional police forces  Laws are passed to restrict blacks and immigrants

7. B. Urban Leisure  Unlike farms (play and work mix in home), urban leisure is separate from home and work; a commodity w/ its own space  Taverns and churches still social centers  Urbanites read more, and printing presses produce extensive popular literature  Newspapers, magazines, novels, and autobiographies (some anti-slavery)

8.  Many theaters develop as a major business, same w/ circuses and minstrel shows  Minstrels criticize market economy as well as reinforce white racism w/ stereotypes  Spectator sports grow as a major business, especially boxing and baseball  Leisure divided by class, race, and ethnicity

9. C. City Culture  Wealthy form private clubs; others create their own groups (socialize, save traditions)  Irish (Hibernians), Germans (Turnvereine), Jews (B’nai B’rith), blacks (Prince Masons)  Age fragmentation emerges w/ youth culture of Bowery (NYC)  Streets reflect class, race, and ethnic divisions

10. D. Extremes of Wealth  Some (Tocquville) assert equality exists for white males w/ geographic mobility  Widening gap between rich and poor (top 10% own 75% of US wealth, 1860)  For urban workers, poverty is a constant fear  Crowding in emerging slums (Five Points, NYC), poor live a world apart from elite

11.  Contrast homeless orphans w/ mansions  A few rich rose from poverty, but most inherited or married wealth, and then invested that money in commerce/manufacturing  Small middle class of professionals emerge w/ specialized market economy  Middle class envision home/family as key to their world and values

12. II. Women & Families  Men dominate families: own all property and all family members earn  Most women marry, and marriage limits their legal and property rights (some reform on this)  In New England farm families, many daughters work a few years before marriage  Number of urban working-class women, mainly servants, grows (work whole lives)

13. A. Idealizing the Family  As home ceases to be a source of production, middle class creates a cult of domesticity  Social importance of unpaid female labor at home (house upkeep and child rearing)  Unlike men’s world of paid labor, women’s sphere stresses virtue, selflessness, morality  Restrict paid jobs open to women; by 1850 teaching is a women’s job (usually unmarried)

14. B. Decline in Family Size  1830: average number of children per woman was 5–6; 1860: number is down to 5  Decline sharpest among urban, native- born  In cities, children more an economic burden than an asset; so limit births by traditional means or new methods (condoms, abortion)  More women live to see children become adults; childhood seen as distinct period

15. C. Single Men & Women  In cities and w/ market economy, number of people who never marry increases  MA, 1850: 17% of native-born females never marry (much higher than before)  Alcott (author): example of financially independent white female, but difficult life

16. III. Immigrants  1830–60: 5 million enter US, majority from Europe (especially Irish, Germans)  1860: 15% of whites are foreign born  Leave native countries because of violence and famine; drawn by opportunities of US market economy  States and companies recruit immigrants, and newcomers help family members emigrate

17. A. Settling In  Journey is difficult (crowded, disease), and hard to adapt to new country (many return home)  Because land is expensive, many stay in cities  Germans, Dutch, Scandinavians are able to farm  Celtic Irish are largest group of immigrants; remain in cities as laborers and experience discrimination from Protestant majority

18. B. Racial Ideas & Anti-Catholicism  Native-born Protestants of British descent view Celtic Irish as inferior non-white race, same w/ blacks, Indians, and Hispanics  Science classifies races by their alleged physical, intellectual, and moral traits  Nativist riots are common (Philadelphia, 1844)  Besides race and religion, rioters are motivated by economic competition for low-skill jobs

19. C. German Immigrants & Hispanics  Protestant Germans (the majority) accepted as white; non-Protestant Germans (Jews, Catholics) encounter discrimination  With expansion, many Hispanics fall within US, and for most, economic status (land) declines  Tejanos (TX) and californios (CA)  Like Irish, blacks, and Indians, second-class citizens who struggle to save their culture

20. IV. Free People of Color  Numbers increase (1860: total = 500,000); 50% live in North, most in cities  Ex-slaves contribute to increase; either escape or released when elderly  Because of discrimination, free African Americans forge cohesive communities  Churches are central; also a base for benevolent associations and schools

21. A. Racial Exclusion  Negro Conventions (1830s): protest for equal rights (vote) and against slavery  Freedom’s Journal (1827) is first weekly black newspaper, circulated in North  Free blacks are denied US citizenship; only “free whites” could be citizens  Most northern and western states pass laws to exclude/restrict free African Americans

22. B. Segregation & Black Nationalism  Political/legal exclusion expands w/ early social/economic segregation (blacks barred from public places, stuck in servile jobs)  Mothers continue to work even w/ children; face racial and gender discrimination  By 1850s, many freed blacks consider abandoning US for Canada or Africa; first time blacks, not whites, support idea