The Middle Class Family

• Less moral fervor• Smaller families due to late

marriage and abstinence• Introduction of contraceptives

and abortion• Children treasured and carefully

supervised• Family could afford servants• Family defined by tangible

goods

Skilled and Unskilled Workers

• Increased production resulted in increased standards of living

• Shorter working hours (11 -10 - 8)• Skilled workers usually well off compared

to unskilled• Mechanization made workers less

important• Time clock drove production• Management became more ruthless

towards workers• Mechanization accentuated business

cycles – emergence of unemployment

Working Women

• More women working outside the home

• Paid lower wages than men• Jobs as salespersons and

cashiers, clerks and secretaries• Middle-class women nurses and

teachers• Higher wages than unskilled

factory laborers• Little to no opportunity for

advancement

Farmers

• Urban population increasing at faster rate than rural

• Decline in social status (hicks)• Granger movement sought greater

protection and social & economic experimentation

• Farms in East and Mid-West secure versus West and South

• Crop-Lien system in South• Harsh environment on Plains• Life for farm women particularly

hard

Working-Class Family Life

• Standards of living differed due to several factorsHealth IntelligenceWife’s ability as homemakerValuesLuck

I hate kids

Working-Class Attitudes

• Varied response from content to extremely dissatisfied

• Wealth gap widening – but poor better off as well

Working Your Way Up

• Rags to Riches (Horatio Alger stories) – Carnegie

• The way to move up was to move on – mobility often accompanied by economic and social improvement

• Movement generational

• Unskilled immigrants to skilled later generations

Working Your Way Up

• Growth of education Horace Mann By 1860’s half of all children receiving

some formal education School often seasonal and teachers

untrained Industrialization increased demand for

educated worker Very few attended past 8th grade Very few real rags to riches stories

Bueller…Bueller…Bueller

The “New” Immigration

• Pull FactorsIndustrial expansion increased need for labor and stimulated

immigrationNew steamships increased ability to carry large numbers of

immigrants quickly and safelyCompetition between lines brought down pricesFamily networking

The “New” Immigration

• Push factorsIndustrialization and cheap products from America and Russia

helped cause collapse of European agriculturePolitical and religious persecutionDemocratic institutions versus European monarchies

The “New” Immigration

• Ellis Island

• Angel island

• Before 1882, immigration was relatively unrestricted – state governments exercised whatever controls were present

• Only restrictions were: criminal, mental deficiency, health risks

• Private agencies- philanthropic and commercial- were links between immigrants and employers looking for labor

Inspecting immigrants at Ellis Island

The “New” Immigration

• Until Foran Act 1885 outlawed the practice, some companies recruited skilled laborers advanced travel costs that were later recouped from wages (quasi indentured servants)

• Nationality groups organized “immigrant banks” that provided money for immigrants from selected regions

• The Padrone System - supplied employers with gangs of laborers for a lump sum

• Immigrants in late 1800’s tended to be from Southern Europe and Eastern Europe (Russia / Jews)

New Nativism

• Some new immigrants more clannish – less willing to assimilate• Some were sojourners and not concerned with becoming

“American”• Most, however, eager to become Americans• Problems adjusting due to cultural differences• Religious differences between immigrant religions and between

immigrant-native religions

New Nativism

• Conflicts caused many natives to believe new immigrants unable to become good citizens

• Charities burdened by numbers of immigrants believed immigrants too many

• Racial purists believed new immigrants racially inferior and should be kept out

• Workers feared competition in labor• Employers feared influx of radicals

New Nativism

• Nativism re-emerged- Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) denounced “long-haired radicals”

• American Protective Association 1887 – organized against the “Catholic menace”

• Other than the Exclusion Act 1882, no laws were enacted limiting immigration

• Nativists pushed for a literacy test to restrict immigration – bill vetoed by President Cleveland

The Expanding City

• Urban populations rising for both native-born and immigrants

• Ethnic neighborhoods (comfort) and lack of money to settle in West resulted in large urban immigrant concentrations

• Most immigrants became citizens but retained “national” ties through newspapers, churches, schools, and social organizations

Little Italy – New York City

History of US: Cities: 8:09 – 11:18

The Expanding City

• The American “Melting Pot”• The American “Ghetto”

Teeming Tenements

• Growing urban populations resulted in suffering

• Sewer and water systems could not keep up

• Garbage piled up faster than it could be removed

• Fire protection was overwhelmed• More streets were created than

could be paved

Teeming Tenements

• Housing could not meet demand• People were packed into

substandard slums with little light and air

• Attempts at regulating housing construction were weak

• Jacob Riis, a reporter, exposed the horrors of the slums

History of US: Cities: 27:50 – 31:27

Teeming Tenements

• Overcrowding impacted public morals

• Proliferation of gangs

• Number of prison inmates increased by 50 percent in the 1880’s

• Well-to-do residents retreated to exclusive city sections or the suburbs

Cities Modernize

• The social problems brought about by poor conditions in cities caused cities to solve the underlying conditions

• When the connection between polluted water and disease was realized, efforts were made to create decent water and sewage systems

• Citizens began to form public-spirited groups to clean up their cities

Cities Modernize

• Streets were paved with cobblestone and asphalt

• Gas and, later, electric lights were used to light streets and cut down on crime

• Electric trolleys replaced horse-cars• Trolley lines (streetcars) extending

into the suburbs allowed commuters and shoppers to access the downtown areas

Cities Modernize

• Trolleys extended the radius of big-city life from 2 ½ miles (walking distance) to more than 6 miles

• Even greater population shift occurred resulting in economic segregation

• Low fares allowed working poor to access the countryside on holidays

Cities Modernize

• Advances in bridge design• John Roebling – Brooklyn Bridge• High cost of land in cities caused

architects to build “up”• Introduction of iron-skeleton frame

allowed taller buildings• Louis Sullivan – new ideas in

architecture• Introduction of words: skyscraper

and skyline

History of US: Cities: 11:18 – 22:36

Cities Modernize

• The “White City” built for 1893 World’s Fair led to a national “city beautiful” movement including establishment of city parks – Central Park leading example

• Little changes in slums despite new ideas and technologies

Leisure

• Cities were centers of artistic and cultural life with museums, symphonies, and theaters

• Saloons were the refuge of the male working-class

• Sports became popular- bicycling became a fad

• Picnic grounds and amusement parks were constructed at the edges of cities

Leisure

• Spectator sports developed – large populations needed to support them

• Wealthy and working classes mixed at horse races and boxing matches

• Sports was a “man” thing - few women involved as players or spectators

• Team games emerged:BaseballFootballBasketball

Leisure

• BaseballFirst emerged in 1840’sBecame popular during Civil War

when played in military campsNational League formed in 1876American League formed in1901First World Series in 1903Baseball evolved- not invented

Leisure

• FootballEvolved out of English rugbyFor many decades it was a

game of the privileged played at college

First inter-college game 1869Much of modern football was

work of Yale coach Walter Camp

Leisure

• Basketball Invented by James Naismith

1891First basketball was a soccer

ball- baskets were peach baskets

Did not become a major spectator sport for many decades

Christianity and Social Gospel

• Social problems of the slums still lingered despite modernization of the cities

• Traditional churches lost influence in poorer sections

• Protestant churches withdrew and catered to better-off

• Poor tended to be Catholics – parishes helped in some ways but not effective

Christianity and Social Gospel

• Christian evangelists established missions in the slums – YMCA and Salvation Army

• Social Gospelers advocated civil service reform, child labor legislation, regulation of big corporations, and income taxes

• Washington Gladden

• Many Gospelers advocated socialism / welfare states

Settlement Houses

• Community centers located in poor districts that provided guidance and services

• Most famous was Hull House founded by Jane Addams in Chicago

• Most important settlement house workers were women• Workers advocated for labor regulation for women and

children and schools

Settlement Houses

• Settlement Houses established playgrounds, libraries, social clubs, day-care centers and classes in everything from home management to art

• Though helpful, settlement houses were too few to significantly aid the masses

Hull House – Jane Addams’ Settlement House

Hayes Garfield Arthur

Cleveland Harrison Cleveland

1.List four reasons middle-class families were smaller

2.How did mechanization affect unskilled workers?

3.What two occupations were considered proper for middle-class women?

4.What movement developed as a means to protect the farmer?

5.Who was most responsible for the establishment of public schools?

6. What are push and pull factors as they apply to immigration?

7. Where did most immigrants enter the United States?

8. What were “immigration banks”?

9. What was the Padrone system?

10. Americans against immigration were called what?

11. What religion did Nativists most dislike?

12. The assimilation of immigrants into American society was called…?

13. Who was Jacob Riis?

14. What allowed the growth of suburbs?

15. What was Roebling’s accomplishment?

16. What two new words were added to the American vocabulary due to new forms of architecture?

17. What athletic activity became an American fad?

18. What team sport was invented?

19. What were social gospelers?

20. What was the purpose of settlement houses?