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CHAPTER 16 THE TRANSFORMATION OF AMERICAN SOCIETY

CHAPTER 16 THE TRANSFORMATION OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. Section 1 The New Immigrants. The Lure of America. Old Immigrants (1800-1880) More than 10 million, mostly Protestants from northwestern Europe New Immigrants (1891-1910)

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CHAPTER 16 THE TRANSFORMATION OF AMERICAN SOCIETY

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  1. CHAPTER 16THE TRANSFORMATION OF AMERICAN SOCIETY Section 1 The New Immigrants

  2. The Lure of America • Old Immigrants (1800-1880) • More than 10 million, mostly Protestants from northwestern Europe • New Immigrants (1891-1910) • More than 12 million, mostly Catholics, Orthodox or Jewish from southern or eastern Europe • What were two major reasons for moving to the U.S.? • Some people made enough $$ to go back home while others stayed • By early 1900s, over 60 percent of people living in 12 largest U.S. cities were immigrants

  3. Arriving in America • First steps in U.S. for new immigrants – Angel Island (SF Bay) or Ellis Island (NY Harbor) • Ellis Island • Opened in 1892, near the Statue of Liberty • Order of events • Physical exam, interview with immigration inspector • Reasons why people could be sent back • Mental disorders or other contagious diseases; criminal records; no means to support themselves • Most were allowed to stay

  4. New Life in America • An improvement but most still struggled • Typical Immigrant Life – • Worked low-paying unskilled jobs • Small apartments in crowded neighborhoods or slums • Immigrant Communities – • Lived with their own people, made the transition easier financially and culturally

  5. New Life in America • Assimilation – • Giving up the practices of your homeland to blend into American culture • Many names were Americanized • Done more by children. Why?

  6. Nativist Response • Many saw immigrants as a threat • Therefore, they were blamed for… • Social problems – crime, poverty, violence, radical political ideas • Economic problems – many argued their willingness to work cheaply took away jobs and lowered pay • Chinese Exclusion Act (1882) – • Denied citizenship to people born in China • Prohibited immigration of Chinese laborers • Led to increased violence against Chinese • Why were the Chinese excluded and not other ethnicities?

  7. Nativist Response • Immigration Restriction League – • Wanted to impose a literacy test on all immigrants • Legislation was passed by Congress but vetoed by President Grover Cleveland • Benefits of immigration – • Rapid industrialization would have been impossible without help of immigrant workers • Added aspects of new cultures to American life

  8. CHAPTER 16THE TRANSFORMATION OF AMERICAN SOCIETY Section 2 The Urban World

  9. The Changing City • Cities before 1860 – compact, few buildings taller than four or five stories • Between 1865 and 1900, percentage doubled • Skyscrapers – multi-story buildings built to allow more people in cities • Steel frames • Brought more workers to city business districts • Elisha Otis – • Invented the elevator in 1852 that allowed people and materials to be moved easily

  10. The Changing City • Mass transit – • Public transportation such as electric commuter trains, subways and trolley cars • Allowed people to travel longer distances to get to work • Suburbs – • Residential neighborhoods on the outskirts of a city

  11. Upper Class Life • Urban upper class took on a new look in late 1800s • Nouveau riche – French for “newly rich” • Examples – Carnegie, Rockefeller and Vanderbilt • What is conspicuous consumption?

  12. Middle Class Life • Rise of modern corporations brought accountants, clerks, engineers, managers and salespeople into the middle class • Professionalization – set standards for professions, brought more respect to these jobs • Middle Class Women

  13. Life in the Cities • Living conditions for working-class city-dwellers became worse • Tenements – • Poorly-built apartment buildings, home to many immigrants in large cities like New York City • As many as 12 families lived on a single floor of a tenement • Raw sewage and garbage • African Americans faced worst discrimination

  14. Drive for Reform • Settlement houses • Community-service centers in poor neighborhoods • Jane Addams • Started Hull House in a Chicago immigrant neighborhood • Goals – provide opportunities to poor, improve living conditions

  15. CHAPTER 16THE TRANSFORMATION OF AMERICAN SOCIETY Section 3 Daily Life in the Cities

  16. Education/Publishing • Education • Compulsory education laws – required parents to send children to school • Publishing • Large increase in literacy and newspapers • Circulation wars – • Battles between newspapers in the same city for readers • Example – Pulitzer’s World against Hearst’s New York Journal • Yellow journalism • Use of sensational news stories, fancy graphics, photos and cartoons

  17. Leisure Time • Frederick Law Olmsted – • Designed Central Park in NYC and helped start the City Beautiful movement • Entertainment • Vaudeville “light play” – • Variety show that featured wide selection of short performances • Ragtime – • New type of music that was radically different from anything else • Scott Joplin – the King of Ragtime

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