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Chapter 25: America Moves to the City

By the year 1900, American population doubled while the number of cities tripled
compared to 1870. America is turning industrial and urbanized

I) The Urban Frontier

• Chicago architect Louis Sullivan designed many skyscrapers for cities to pack
people and offices in a small area
• More commuters in the city
• Urban lifestyle and industrial jobs attracted farmers
• New problems such as criminals, waste disposal, impure water became an issue
in the urban age
• The city were a place for the best and the worst people
• Bad-conditioned apartments were where the poor people lived
⇒ As people got richer, they usually moved out to an area of the same ethnicity
or religion
⇒ The wealthiest people left the city to live in the semi-rural areas
II) The New Immigration
• Since Industrialization, unskilled and illiterate people from Europe had come to
American for industrial jobs
• People began questioning if America is a dumping ground
III) Southern Europe Uprooted
• People came to America because there were no room for them in Europe
⇒ European population doubled since 1800
⇒ Abundant supplies of fish and crops from America were able to support the
growing European population
⇒ Growing industrialization in Europe also contributed to the growing
population
• Profit-seeking industrialists wanted more customers and more cheap labor
• Religious persecuted groups in Europe drove them into the U.S
⇒ Many worked in factories
• Immigrants worked hard to preserve their tradition
⇒ Children of immigrants spoke fluent English and usually rejected their
tradition
IV) Reactions to the New Immigration
• Federal and state governments remained ignorant about the immigration issue;
city governments proved to be too weak to concern about immigration
• Trading jobs and services for votes were a big business
• Walter Rauschenbusch became a pastor of a German Baptist Church in 1886
• Washington Gladden took over a congregational church in Columbus, Ohio in
1882
• Both agreed that the church should be tackling new social issues
• Many gospels believed that socialism would be the ultimate outcome of
Christianity

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• Jane Addams was among the 1st generation of college educated women
⇒ Established the Hull House in 1889, the most prominent American settlement
house
⇒ Addams is a reformer who condemned war and poverty
⇒ Won Nobel Peace Prize in 1931
• Settlement houses such as the Hull House offered help in English and counseling
with new immigrants; they also provided child-care services and cultural
activities
⇒ Impacted the government: Influenced Illinois to pass on an anti-sweatshop
law that protected women workers’ rights and prohibited child labor
• Florence Kelley was an advocate for women’s rights. She also took care of the
rights of African-Americans, children workers, and consumers
⇒ Served 3 decades as general secretary of the National Consumer’s League
• Urbanization was an opportunity for everyone, as new job positions are formed
• Working women were usually single
V) Narrowing the Welcome Mat
• Immigrants of the Old Immigration (England, Ireland, Germany) despised
immigrants of the New Immigration (Italy, Austria-Hungary, Russia)
⇒ Blamed them for urban issues and lowering wages
⇒ Blamed them for dangerous doctrines such as socialism, communism, and
anarchism
• Anti-foreign organizations formed
⇒ Descendants of the “Know-Nothing” party
⇒ American Protective Association formed in 1887 and soon claimed a million
members
• Unions of New Immigration immigrants were usually hard to form because of the
language barrier
• Congress closed the gate of immigrating paupers, criminals, and convicts in
1882
• Congress banned immigration of workers by contract, usually for substandard
wages, in 1885
• In later years prostitutes, insanity, polygamists, alcoholics, anarchists, and
people containing contagious diseases were also banned for immigration
⇒ A controversial literacy test were also proposed, which met great opposition;
it did not enact until 1917
⇒ A 1882 law banned Chinese immigrants
⇒ The Statue of Liberty was gifted by France in 1886. The words inscribed
below the statue was very pro-nativist
• The U.S needed immigrants to support industrialization
VI) Churches Confront the Urban Challenge
• Churches found it hard to adapt urban surroundings
• John D. Rockefeller was a pillar of the Baptist Church; J.P. Morgan of the
Episcopal church
• Liberal Protestants applied religious concepts to contemporary ideas

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⇒ Sought to mediate between labor and capital, science and faith, religious and
secular values
• Catholic and Jewish faiths gained power from the New Immigration
⇒ Cardinal James Gibbons was an urban Catholic leader devoted to American
unity. Was immensely popular with Roman Catholics and Protestants
• By 1890 Americans have 150 religious denominations to choose from
⇒ There were 2 newcomer religions: The Salvation Army and Christian Science
• A new organization called the Young Men’s and women’s Christian Associations
combined physical and other kinds of education with religious instruction
VII)Darwin Disrupts the Churches
• English naturalist Charles Darwin published a highly controversial volume named
On the Origin of Species in 1859
⇒ Darwin believed that species evolved due to natural selection
⇒ By 1875, the majority of scientists in around the world had embraced the
theory of evolution, though not all believed that the cause was natural
selection
• Darwin’s theory would become scientific orthodoxy in the 1920s
• At first the religious people sided with the scientists that rejected evolution, but
as time went on, when most scientists accepted evolution, the religious
community split into two groups, and the conservative minority considered
evolution as a “bestial hypothesis”
• Over time, liberal thinkers accepted Darwinism as a newer and grander
revelation of the way God created things
• Darwinism loosened religion in the American community and provided
skepticism in churches
VIII)The Lust for Learning
• People continued to urge for public education since Civil War times
• More and more states are making education compulsory until at least the end of
grade-school
• Tax supported high schools increased dramatically by 1900. There were also
more tax supported textbooks in 1880 to 1900
• New immigrants from late 19th century gave more power to religious schools
• Adult education was also not excluded. Organizers of the Chautauqua
movement, which was launched in 1874 in Chautauqua, NY, achieved success
educating the public through public lectures usually held in tents. Well-known
speakers such as Mark Twain were presented
• Crowded cities provided better education
IX) Booker T. Washington and Education for Black People
• 44% of non-whites were illiterate in 1900
• Booker T. Washington, a former slave and a black educational leader, slept
under a board sidewalk to save for schooling. Later on, he was called to head an
industrial school at Tuskegee, Alabama for black children
⇒ Booker T believed that economic independence would be the key to black
civil rights and political leadership

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⇒ One of the Booker T’s students, George Washington Carver, was an

internationally famous agricultural scientist who discovered hundreds of new
uses for cheap crops
• Another black leader was W.E.B. Du Bois, who is the first African-American Ph.D.
He demanded full equality of African Americans socially, politically, and
economically
X) The Hallowed Halts of Ivy
• As the number of colleges grew, there were also more college education for
women and blacks
• The Morrill Act of 1862 provided land grants for state colleges
• Private owners of million-dollar corporations donated a significant amount for
education to build their social consciences
• Colleges were receiving modern laboratories; graduate schools had more
technology
XI) The March of the Mind
• Antebellum colleges had stressed the “unity of truth”, which is the coerced
coexistence of science and religion. They believed success came through
knowledge and morality
• Specialization became a primary goal for university education
• As medical schools prosper, new scientific gains improved public health
• William James was one of the most brilliant American intellectuals. Being the
author of many influential pieces of literature on philosophy, psychology, and
human behavior, he made a deep mark on many fields
XII)The Appeal of the Press
• Books continued to be an enjoyment for juveniles and adults
• The Library of Congress building was the largest and most costly library.
Opened in 1897, it is well stocked with books
• By 1900 there were 9,000 public libraries in the country, each containing at least
300 books
• Newspapers fed the word-hungry public although most presses did not publish
controversial issues or take sides
• Two new leaders emerged from the newspaper industry:
⇒ Joseph Pulitzer, born in Hungary and near blind sighted, published New York
World
⇒ William Randolph Hearst, a ruthless competitor that had been expelled from
Harvard College for a crude prank
⇒ They are going to go on to be yellow-journalist leaders
XIII)Apostles of Reform
• Magazines also satisfied the public appetite. The most liberal, influential, and
intellectual magazine was the Nation
• Journalist Henry George left an enduring mark
⇒ Poor schooling did not adulterate his rich ideas and milk in human kindness
⇒ After witnessing poverty, he took his pen and wrote his classical treatise
Progress and Poverty. He also attempted to solve these problems

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⇒ Believed that high taxation of the higher class would be a simple method to
solve unfair inequalities and stimulate economic growth
⇒ When his book finally published, it soon broke the best sellers list, after being
rejected by many publishers because of the content of his book
⇒ He also made a significant mark in Britain on English Fabian socialism
• Edward Bellamy was another journalist-reformer
⇒ In his socialist novel Looking Backward, he portrayed a hero who woke up in
the year 2000 and “looked backward” to the evil of trusts and torture of
proletariats which no longer existed in the current utopian socialist society.
This book heavily influenced future American reform
XIV)Postwar Writing
• “Dime novels”, which were paperbacks depicting the wild west, became a
fantasy for young people and were frowned upon by parents
⇒ Harlan F. Halsey was the king of “Dime novels”, who dashed off about 650
novels
• General Lewis Wallace, a lawyer, soldier, and author, sought to combat
Darwinian skepticism with his novel, Ben Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1880), which
came in success as it sold 2 million copies in many languages
• A more popular writer named Horatio Alger wrote more than 100 juvenile fiction
that concentrated on success of the straight edge youths
• Walt Whitman dominated the field of poetry as he wrote two of the most moving
poems inspired by Lincoln’s assassination
XV)Literary Landmarks
• As the rugged realism lies in materialism and poverty, American authors turned
to human comedy and drama
• Feminist author Kate Chopin wrote candidly about adultery, suicide, and
women’s ambitions in The Awakening (1899)
• Renowned author Mark Twain’s book co-authored by Charles Dudley Warner in
1873 The Gilded Age gave a name to an era, the 3-decade long corrupt post-Civil
War era
• Bret Harte achieved temporary fame and fortune with his gold rush stories
• William Dean Howells, a printer’s son from Ohio, became the editor-in-chief of
Atlantic Monthly. He wrote about social, contemporary, and controversial issues
and were presented with honorary degrees in 6 different universities
• Stephen Crane wrote about life in urban cities. He died of tuberculosis in the
age of 29
• Henry Adams, grandson of John Quincy Adams and great-grandson of John
Adams, turned his family history into a career successfully as a historian,
novelist, and critic
• Henry James from New York turned from law to literature. Being a master of
“psychological realism”, he often used women as his central characters
• Jack London was a famous nature writer
• Frank Norris wrote about corruption of the politicians

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• African-American writers Pau Laurence Dunbar and Charles W. Chesnutt brought

realism to their literature by describing low-class life and capturing southern
black culture
• Theodore Dreiser was a social novelist who became famous by her narrative
Sister Carrie
XVI)The New Morality
• Victoria Woodhull was a believer in free love in 1871
⇒ Published a periodical named Woodhull and Claflin’s Weekly with her sister
Tennessee Claflin
⇒ Charged the most famous preacher of his day, Henry Ward Beecher, with
adultery
• Pure-minded Americans rejected this new morality; amongst them the most
foremost rejector is Anthony Comstock
⇒ Confiscated abortion pills and obscene pictures
⇒ Driven 15 people to suicide
• These two concepts continued to clash as Americans started to change their
sexual attitudes and attitudes about women
XVII)Families and Women in the City
• The new urban environment forced families to be brocken and along with the
new morality view, divorce rate went up every eyar
• More children meant more hands to help in rural areas but it meant more mouth
to feed in urban areas
• Women grows to be more independent
⇒ Charlotte Perkins Gilman was a female prophet. She published Women and
Economics, a classic feminist literature. In her masterwork of 1898, Gilman
called for women to be independent and contribute to the community
⇒ The National American Woman Suffrage Association formed in 1890
organized conventions for women’s suffrage
⇒ By 1900 a new generation of women, led by Carrie Chapman Catt, a
pragmatic and businesslike reformer of relentless dedication, took command
of the suffrage battle, and argued that rightfully they are in all respects equal
to men
• As women moved to the city, separate spheres do not fit them anymore as they
became part of a voice. Catt argued that this is why women needs the right to
vote
⇒ Wyoming was the first state to grant unrestricted suffrage rights to women,
as early as 1869
• Women’s suffrage movement only regarded white women; black women were
excluded from the women organizations for suffrage
⇒ Black women formed their own National Association of Colored Women in
1896
XVIII)Prohibition of Alcohol and Social Progress
• Drinking make poor families poorer, and the saloons are usually filled with poor
men; therefore it became an issue

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⇒ Immigrants were used to liquor in their old countries

⇒ The National Prohibition Party, organized in 1869, worked to make the
consumption of liquor illegal. They also sang songs as slogans to prohibit
alcoholism
⇒ The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, organized in 1874, made white
ribbons as symbols of purity
⇒ Frances E. Willard was a leading spirit
⇒ Carrie A. Nation was inspired to support the temperance movement because
her husband died of alcoholism
⇒ The Anti-Saloon League was formed in 1893. It made statewide prohibition of
alcohol more popular
• Finally the 18th Amendment was added to the Constitution which prohibited the
use of alcohol (temporarily)
• After this amendment, banners of other social crusaders are aloft
⇒ The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in 1866 was
created
⇒ The American Red Cross was launched in 1881
XIX)Artistic Triumphs
• America’s fines painters made their living abroad
⇒ James Whistler did much of his work in England, including the celebrated
portrait of his mother
⇒ John Singer Sargent, another gifted portrait painter who was self-exiled in
England, was known for his interest in the British nobility
⇒ Mary Cassatt, an American exile in Paris, painted sensitive portrayals of
women and children
• George Inness was self-taught and he became America’s leading landscapist
• Thomas Eakins used realism in his paintings
• Winslow Homer, born in Boston, revealed rugged realism and boldness of
conception, specializing in drawing ocean
• Augustus Saint-Gaudens was perhaps the most gifted American sculptor. Born
in Ireland, he became an adopted American. His most moving work was the
Robert Gould Shaw memorial
• Music gained significant popularity as numerous high-quality symphony
orchestras formed in the 1880s, and 1890s, notably in Boston and Chicago
⇒ The famous Metropolitan Opera House of New York was built in 1883
⇒ Symphonies and operas are devoted to bringing European traditional music
into America
⇒ Black folk traditions evolved into the blues, ragtime, and jazz, and became
the American popular music in the 20th century
⇒ A phonograph, invented by Thomas Edison, could reproduce music
mechanically
• Henry H. Richardson from Louisiana was a famous architect of the age other
than the skyscraper builder Louis Sullivan
⇒ High-vaulted arches were his trademark

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⇒ Marshall Field Building (1885) were his most famous work

⇒ Richardson was also noted for his capacity of champagne, and his love of
laughter
• A revival of classical architectural forms came as there were a setback on
realism came with the great Columbian Exposition
⇒ Held in Chicago in 1893, it was the 400th anniversary of Columbus discovering
America
XX)The Business of Amusement
• “The pursuit of happiness”, as the Declaration of Independence states, were not
left out of the hardworking American’s lives
⇒ Stages flourished, and comedy and acrobatics
⇒ Shows in the South are now performed by black singers and dancers
⇒ Circus finally emerged; Phineas T. Barnum and James A. Bailey staged “The
Greatest Show on Earth” in 1881
⇒ Colorful “Wild West” shows were first performed in 1883 and headed by
William F. Cody. Among the performers who acted as Indians was Annie
Oakley, known for her rifle aiming skills
⇒ Baseball, which were already played before the Civil War, got nationwide
popularity as a league of professional players was formed in the 1870s
⇒ Basketball was invented by James Naismith, a YMCA instructor in Springfield,
Massachusetts. Basketball gained significant popularity over the next
century until now
⇒ Football was seen as a gladiatorial trend for its physicality, and it became
popular well before 1889. The game between Yale and Princeton in 1893
drew 50,000 fans
⇒ Boxing and wrestling also gained respectability in 1892, as Agile Corbett
wrestled the World championship from John L. Sullivan
• Two crazes swept the century in the closing decades of the century
⇒ Croquet were condemned by moralists for promoting flirtation
⇒ bicycles were used by women as an offering for freedom
• Skyscrapers were becoming more standardized. Although race and ethnicity still
kept urban citizens from different job positions and working places, they all
shared a common interest in popular culture, which were playing, reading,
shopping, and socializing

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