Michael Chiu

AP US History
Period 2
1/4/09

Outline of Chapter 18: The Age of the City

The Urbanization of America

The Lure of the City
-In the half-century after the Civil War, the urban population of America increased
sevenfold – a majority of the American people lived in urban areas
-Natural increase accounted for only a little bit of the urban growth – mostly immigration
-Offered more and better-paying jobs than those in rural America
Migrations
-Late nineteenth century was an age of great geographical mobility – Americans left
agricultural regions at a dramatic rate – some moved to new farmlands in the West but
many moved to cities of the East and Midwest
-Factory jobs for blacks were rare – urban blacks tended to have low-paying jobs
-there were many substantial African-American communities in over thirty cities
The Ethnic City
-The immigrant populations that immigrated to the United States were very diverse – no
single national group dominated
-To ease the transition of moving into a city, many groups formed ethnic communities –
offered newcomers familiar things such as newspapers in their native languages and
stores selling their native foods
Assimilation
-Many immigrants wanted to assimilate and become true “Americans”
-This urge to assimilate put a particular strain on relations between men and women in
immigrant communities – many immigrant women began working outside the home
Exclusion
-The huge arrival of immigrants to the U.S provoked fear among native-born Americans
– through general prejudices and economic concerns
-Henry Bowers founded the American Protective Association in 1887 – group committed
to stopping immigrant tide
-In the same year the Immigration Restriction League was founded by 5 Harvard alumni
– believed that immigrants should be screened through tests
-More ambitious restriction proposals made little progress because many native-born
Americans actually welcomed immigration because it provided the growing economy
with a cheap and plentiful labor supply
The Urban Landscape
The Creation of Public Space
-One of the most important innovations of cities were urban parks – antidote to
congestion
-Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux designed New York’s Central Park in 1850s
-As cities increased, urban leaders launched huge projects to remake the look of cities
-The “city beautiful” movement led by architect Daniel Burham was aimed to impose a
similar order and symmetry on disorder ed life of cities
-Sometimes, the effort to remake cities created new landscapes – in Boston, a region of
marshy tidal land was used to create a neighborhood known as “Back Bay”
Housing the Well-to-Do
-the moderately well-to-do and wealthy settled in new suburbs
-Chicago boasted nearly 100 residential suburbs in the 1870s
-Developers tried to make these communities appeal to people from the countryside
Housing Workers and the Poor
-Most people could not afford to live in the suburbs
-Many urban residents lived in “tenements”, rental buildings – soon became “miserable
abodes” – tenements became synonymous with slum dwellings only
-Jacob Riis, a Danish immigrant described tenement life in How the Other Half Lives
Urban Transportation
-Urban growth posed transportation challenges – old streets too narrow for heavy traffic
and most were not paved
-In 1870, New York opened its first elevated railway – moved rapidly above streets on
iron structures
-Other cities experimented with cable cars – Richmond, Virginia, introduced first electric
trolley line – Boston opened first American subway
The “Skyscraper”
-Taller buildings were made possible by steel girder construction – first tall building to
use this technique appeared in Chicago – Louis Sullivan was the greatest figure in the
early development of the skyscraper
Strains of Urban Life
Fire and Disease
-Since many buildings were made out of wood, fire was a serious problem in cities
-Although terrible, fires encouraged building of fireproof buildings and development of
professional fire departments
Environment Degradation
-the air quality in many cities was very poor – from factories and from furnaces in homes
-Incidence of respiratory infection much higher in urban areas than in rural areas
-Alice Hamilton was a physician who was a pioneer in identification of pollution in the
workplace – brought problems to public attention
-In 1912, government created the Public Health Service – prevented diseases
Urban Poverty
-Some charitable societies such as the Salvation Army concentrated on religious
revivalism rather than relieving the homeless and hungry
Crime and Violence
-Poverty and crowding increased crime and violence – American murder rate rose rapidly
in late 19th century – caused development of more professional police forces
The Machine and the Boss
-Urban machine was one of America’s most distinctive political institutions – product of
the potential voting power of large immigrant communities
-A group of urban “bosses” of foreign birth emerged – function was to win votes for their
organization – had to win loyalty of companions
-Machines were vehicles for making money
-Politicians enriched themselves through graft and corruption
-Reasons for boss rule: power of immigrant voters, link between the political
organizations and prominent citizens who profited from their dealings, and the structural
weaknesses of city governments
The Rise of Mass Consumption
-During the last decades of the 19th century, a distinctive middle-class culture began to
have a powerful influence over the whole of American life
Patterns of Income and Consumption
-Incomes in the industrial ear were rising for almost everyone although at uneven rates
-also important to new mass market was development of new merchandising techniques,
making many consumer goods available to a broader market for the first time – example
of one was ready made clothing and the buying and preparing of food
Chain Stores and Mail-Order Houses
-Small local stores faced competition from new “chain stores” – network of stores
-The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company (A&P) created a national network of
grocery stores as early as the 1850s
-these stores were slow to reach remote areas – rural people eventually gained access to
the new consumer world through mail-order houses – In 1872, Montgomery Ward
distributed a catalog of goods in association with the farmers’ organization the Grange
Department Stores
-Large department stores opened in larger cities – turned shopping into a more glamorous
activity
-Marshall Field created one of the first American department stores – had things that
were once sold in different stores in one store
Women as Consumers
-Women were generally the primary consumers in families
-Consumer economy also produced new jobs for women as sales clerks and waitresses
-the consumer economy spawned the consumer protection movement
-the National Consumers League formed by Florence Kelley, wanted to use the power of
women to force retailers to improve wages and working conditions for women workers
Leisure in the Consumer Society
Redefining Leisure
-In earlier eras, leisure was associated with laziness
-“Rest” was valued as a time for spiritual reflection and a time to prepare for work
-Economist Simon Patten was one of the first intellectuals to say that leisure time was
both a right and an important contribution to an individual’s health
-Simon Patten believed that the principal goal of the current economy should be an
abundance of goods and the pursuit of pleasure
-One of the distinctive characteristics of urban leisure during the time was intensity of
public character – entertainment meant “going out”
Spectator Sports
-By the end of the civil war, interest in baseball had grown rapidly – many teams existed
– first salaried team was the Cincinnati Red Stockings
-Football also became popular
-There was elaborate betting associated with spectator sports – one of the most famous
incidents of baseball was the “throwing” of the 1919 World Series by the Chicago White
Sox (known as the “Black Sox Scandal”
Music and Theater
-Another form of popular entertainment was ethnic theater – ethnic communities
maintained their own theaters, where immigrants listened to music of their homelands
-Vaudeville was a form of theater adapted from French models – consisted of a variety of
acts and inexpensive to produce
The Movies
-the first movies were plotless films designed to show off the technology
-D.W. carried the motion picture into a new era with his silent epics which had plots
Working-Class Leisure
-An important setting for the leisure time of working-class men was the neighborhood
saloon – a place where a worker could encounter a regular circle of friends – often
ethnically specific – became political centers
The Fourth of July
-The Fourth of July was one of the few full days of leisure for many workers –
celebrations on this day were one of the highlights of the year in many ethnic, working-
class communities
Private Pursuits
-Many Americans entertained themselves privately be reading novels and poetry – dime
novels were cheaply bound and widely circulated – very popular after civil war
Mass Communications
-Urban industrial society created vast market for ways for transmitting information
-Many newspaper chains emerged by the turn of the century – most powerful was
William Randolph Hearst
-Hearst and rival Joseph Pulitzer helped popularize “yellow journalism” – deliberately
sensational style of reporting presented in bold graphics and designed to reach mass
audience
High Culture in the Age of the City
The Literature of Urban America
-One of the strongest impulses in the time period of American literature was to recreate
urban social reality – found voice in Stephen Crane
Art in the Age of the City
-During the new century, some American artists turned away from traditional academic
style – many painters explored grim aspects of modern life
-Members of the Ashcan School produced realist work startling in its naturalism
The Impact of Darwinism
-The most profound intellectual development of the late 19th century was acceptance of
theory of evolution associated with Charles Darwin – humans evolved from earlier forms
of life through “natural selection”
-Darwinism helped spawn other new intellectual ideas including Social Darwinism
-“Pragmatism” was a doctrine developed by William James – said that modern society
should not rely on moral principles for guidance but rather on test of scientific inquiry
-Darwinism promoted growth of anthropology and study of different cultures
Toward Universal Schooling
-Because the society depended on specialized skills and scientific knowledge, American
schools underwent rapid expansion
-there was a spread of free public primary and secondary education
-However, rural areas lagged far behind urban ones in funding public education
-Colleges and universities also grew in number during the late 19th century – benefited
from the Morrill Land Grant Act – federal government donated land to states for colleges
Education for Women
-Most public high schools accepted women but opportunities for higher education were
few
-After the war, many land-grant created colleges and universities in began to admit
women
-The creation of a network of women’s colleges played a crucial role in womens’
education – first was Mount Holyoke