Ch 10 Notes

 

New Immigration- late 1800s, eastern Europe, Jews, Catholics (Poles, Greeks, Italians)

Old Immigration- earlier, western and northern Europe, Protestants (Eng, Germany, Scandinavia)

 

Trip- in steerage- cheapest, below decks

Arrive- Ellis Island (NYC)

-         examined for disease, mental illness, could be turned back

 

Settling- in cities, in ethnic neighborhoods- Jewish, Italian etc

-         live w/ people/culture familiar with, help each other survive

 

Asian immigrants- Chinese- gold rush, famine

-         Japanese- rapid shift to industrialization causes upheaval

 

Nativism- anti-immigrant feelings

-         generally b/c of job competition

-         easier to hate b/c different (language, religion, appearance)

 

Gov’t- banned convicts, debtors, mentally ill

-         Chinese immigration limited

 

Sec 2

 

Cities- exploded

-         immigrants- stayed in cities, lacked education for better jobs, not enough $ to buy a farm

-         rural- move to cities for better jobs, more excitement, luxuries

 

Changes- skyscrapers- run out of room, build up not out

-         mass transit- more large #’s of people across city to work, business

§         horse car, cable cars, trolleys, subway

 

Divisions- high class- city center, mansions

-         middle class- could afford to live a little farther away (suburbs)

-         working class- city, close to factories

o       tenements- multi-family apartments

·        sometimes more than one family per apt.

 

Problems- crime- blamed on immigrants (easy to pick out)

-         sanitation- bad, water contaminated

 

Politics- political machine- group whose goal is to keep power

-         bosses- head of party, provided jobs, food, etc in exchange for votes

-         good- people get services

-         bad- politicians get power, profit

-         Tammany Hall- NYC Democrats led by “Boss” Tweed, other cities similar

 

 

Sec 3

 

Guilded Age- gold covered

-         things looked great on the outside (tall buildings, inventions, conveniences) but underneath was rotten (corruption, poverty, division of wealth) JD Rockefeller worth $1.4 billion in 1937 at death ($190 billion today, Bill Gates = $60 billion)

 

Individualism- a person can rise to greatness, just takes hard work/dedication

-         Horatio Alger- wrote stories “Rags to Riches”, poor could make it big

 

Social Darwinism- Darwin- animals evolve, those that best adapt are strong, those that can’t are weak and die

-         “Survival of the Fittest”- applied Darwin’s ideas to society

·        society improved over time because only the strongest survive

·        would mean, no government intervention (don’t let the weak businesses survive, bad for everyone)

·        supported by Rockefeller, Carnegie

 

Gospel of wealth- Carnegie believes “strong” should work to help society progress

-         gave $ away, esp to schools/libraries

 

Realism- in art and literature, attempted to portray real life

-         before- romanticism- fantasy, idealized world

-         Twain- Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

-         Henry James- Portrait of a Lady

-         Before- Edgar Allan Poe- dark romanticism (gothic)

 

Culture- industry = more time/$ to spend on leisure activities

-         saloons, parks, sports, theatre (Vaudville- variety acts on stage), ragtime music

 

Sec 4

 

Some not satisfied w/ Social Darwinism/individualism. They want citizens/gov’t to be more active to help needy/regulate the economy.

 

Reform Darwinism- humans can think ahead and solve problems before they happen

 

Naturalism- some people caught in circumstances, can’t get out of situations no matter how hard they try

-         in literature by Jack London, Stephen Craine

 

help- Social Gospel, Salvation Army, YMCA- religion organizations

-         activities/emergency rooms (you can get yourself fed, you can have a good meal…)

 

Settlement houses- improve living conditions, Hull House- Jane Addams/Chicago

-         middle class helps the poor

-         teach English, hot lunches, medical care, teach job skills

 

Education- Americanization- teach children American culture

-         forget where they came from?

-         Teach job skills, good attendance, neatness

-         Many blacks forced to start their own schools (Tuskegee Inst.)

-         Colleges- land grants expaned colleges (U of I and other state schools)

-         Black colleges open, also women’