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Bell Assignment. What are some problems we face in Phoenix because we are a large urban area?. Gilded Age Overview. Mark Twain Charles Dudley Warner 1873. What is Urbanization?. Growth of cities.
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Bell Assignment • What are some problems we face in Phoenix because we are a large urban area?
Gilded Age Overview Mark Twain Charles Dudley Warner 1873
What is Urbanization? • Growth of cities. • America underwent a tremendous growth in its cities in the Northeast and Midwest between 1890 – 1920. • By 1910, immigrant families made up more than half the total population of 18 major American cities.
Cheapest and most convenient places to live. Offered steady jobs in factories and mills Many farms failed and people had to move to the cities for jobs. Why did people move to the cities?
City Dwelling • Row houses: single-family dwellings that shared side walls with other similar houses – packed many single-family residences into a single block • Tenements: multi-family urban dwellings – overcrowded and unsanitary • Dumbbell Tenements: http://ci.columbia.edu/0240s/0243_2/0243_2_s1_2.html
An average of twelve families lived on each flat of a tenement building (usually designed to house one family. As many as five members of a family lived in a 12x12 area Many parts of the flat contained areas that did not have proper ventilation and where no light could penetrate. Conditions in the Tenements
These dwellings were breeding grounds for disease. The rent being charged for this type of dwelling was in many cases 25-30% higher than the rent charged in the uptown areas.
The death rate among children in the tenements was significantly higher than that of the general population. “death due to suffocation in the foul air of an unventilated apartment.” Conditions in the Tenements
Be a little careful, please! The hall is dark and you might stumble over the children pitching pennies back there. Not that it would hurt them; kicks and cuffs are their daily diet. They have little else. Here where the hall turns and dives into utter darkness is a step , and another. A flight of stairs. You can feel your way, if you cannot see it…All the fresh air that enters these stairs comes from the hall door that is constantly slamming, …their sole supply of the elements God meant to be free, but man deals out with such an ungenerous hand.
The sinks are in the hallway, that all the tenants may have access and all be poisoned alike by their summer stenches. Hear the pump squeak, it is the lullaby of tenement babes. In summer, when a thousands thirsty throats pant for a cooling drink in this block; it is worked in vain. But the saloon, whose open door you passed in the hall, is always there.
Here is a door. Listen! The short hacking cough, that tiny, helpless wail – what do they mean? They mean that the soiled bow of white you saw on the floor downstairs will have another story to tell. Oh! A sadly familiar story – before the day is at an end. That dark bedroom killed it.
Some of the Worst Tenements “Hell’s Kitchen” “The Bowery” “The Bend” “Jewtown” “Blind Man’s Alley” “Rag-Picker’s Row” “Bandit’s Roost” “Chinatown” “Africa” “The Italian Quarter”
Urban Problems • Water – cities had a problem with supplying safe drinking water • Few areas with indoor plumbing – had to cart buckets of water from the street • No filtration systems – unsafe drinking water led to spread of disease • Children who were lucky enough to attend public school were taught the following; • “I must keep my skin clean, wear clean clothes, breathe pure air and live in the sunlight.” • Teachers had to demonstrate to many of them how to wash with water and soap.
Urban Problems • Sanitation – keeping the cities clean was a major problem • Horse manure piled in streets, sewage flowed in open gutters, factories polluted the air, people dumped their garbage in the streets.
Urban Problems • Crime – pickpockets and thieves flourished – law enforcement units were too small to have an impact on crime • Fire – limited water supply contributed to the spread of fire • Use of candles and kerosene heaters in mostly wooden buildings was hazardous • Most cities had fire departments by 1900 • 1900 began to build dwellings with concrete and brick
Wrote How The Other Half Lives, published in 1890. Used the newly discovered medium of photography to graphically display the conditions he brilliantly exposed in his text. His book spurred a movement of social reform as his photographs were hard to ignore. Jacob Riis
Social Gospel Movement: preached salvation through service to the poor. Settlement Houses: community centers in slum neighborhoods that provided assistance to people in the area (especially immigrants). Reformers Mobilize
Jane Addams • Founded Hull House • Provided educational, social and cultural services. • one of the most influential members of the Social Gospel movement.
Jigsaw Activity • You will read one of five short articles on tenement living and answer the corresponding questions. • #1: History of Tenement Houses • #2: Fire • #3: The Mixed Crowd • #4: Sanitation & Crime • #5: Children/The Street Arab • #6: The Reign of Rum
Jigsaw Activity • Get out your “History of the Tenements” worksheet and finish collecting the information from your classmates.
What is a Political Machine? • An organized group that controlled the activities of a political party in a city. • Offered services to voters and businesses in exchange for political or financial support. • Gained control of local government in major cities like; Baltimore, New York, San Francisco.
How were the “machines” organized? All three worked together to elect their candidates and guarantee success of the machine Controlled the activities of the political party throughout the city. City Boss Goal: to secure the vote in all the precincts in the ward. Did this by helping the poor and doing favors or providing services. Ward Bosses Tried to gain voters’ support on a city block or in a neighborhood – represented the ward boss Local Precinct Workers
NY political boss Senator Roscoe Conklin Controlled access to jobs and business licenses Influenced the courts Built parks, sewer systems, waterworks, schools, hospitals, orphanages – by solving urban problems they reinforced voters’ loyalty Helped immigrants with assimilation; housing, jobs, citizenship, etc… Role of the Political Boss .
The Graft • Although the well-oiled political machines provided city dwellers with vital services, many political bosses fell victim to greed and corruption as their power grew. • Graft: illegal use of political influence for personal gain.
More Examples of Fraud • Election fraud: example - padded the lists of eligible voters with the names of dogs, children and dead people. • Kickbacks: Illegal payments – example – a boss would ask a worker to turn in a bill for a government job that was higher than the actual cost and then pocket the difference. • Bribes: some bosses accepted bribes to allow illegal activities like gambling to flourish
New York’s most powerful machine His ring pocketed as much as $200 million from the city in kickbacks and payoffs. An example of a graft under Tweed was the building of the New York County Courthouse – it cost taxpayers $11million but the actual cost was $3 million – Tweed pocketed the difference. Boss Tweed – Tammany Hall
Tweed was eventually indicted on 120 counts of fraud and sentenced to 12 years in prison. He managed to escape after serving two years. He was captured by Spanish officials who recognized him from his depiction in political cartoons. Boss Tweed “Let us Prey” Political Cartoon by Thomas Nast
You Decide… • You and the members of your group will read a list of actions of political bosses at the turn of the twentieth century. • Your group will complete a t-chart that records their positive and negative contributions. • Your group will come to a consensus about whether political bosses had an overall positive or negative impact. • Please be prepared to share your group’s findings with the class.
