Life in the Mid 1800’s

1. Life in the Mid 1800’s • Waves of Immigrants 1. More than 4 million immigrants settled in US between 1840-60

2. Life in the Mid 1800’s a. Most immigrants were Irish or German escaping troubles

3. Life in the Mid 1800’s 1. Irish immigrants poor and settled in cities

4. Life in the Mid 1800’s 2. Germans arrived with money and became farmers

5. Life in the Mid 1800’s B. The Growth of Cities 1. Industrial and Transportation Revolutions led to growth of cities

6. Life in the Mid 1800’s a. Middle class created – level between wealthy and poor b. In cities people found new entertainment – libraries, clubs, theaters, bowling, playing cards

7. Life in the Mid 1800’s 2. Cities extremely crowded

8. Life in the Mid 1800’s • Urban Problems 1. Lack of safe housing a. Dirty, overcrowded buildings called tenements

9. Life in the Mid 1800’s 2. No clean water or safe ways to get rid of garbage and human waste 3. Disease spreads quickly

10. Life in the Mid 1800’s 4. Become centers of criminal activity 5. Poor fire protection

11. Life in the Mid 1800’s D. Prison Reform 1. Dorthea Dix – helped create separate facilities for mentally ill a. previously jailed with criminals

12. Life in the Mid 1800’s “To call your attention to the present state of insane persons confined within this Commonwealth, in cages, closets, cellars, stalls, pens! Chained, naked, beaten with rods and lashed into obedience.”

13. Life in the Mid 1800’s "If I am cold, they are cold; if I am weary, they are distressed; if I am alone, they are abandoned." - Dorothea Dix

14. Life in the Mid 1800’s • Reform schools set up for children who committed crimes a. previously treated same as adult criminals

15. Life in the Mid 1800’s E. Alcohol Abuse 1. Some believed Americans drinking liquor at “alarming rates” a. Believed to cause social problems like family violence, poverty and criminal behavior

16. Life in the Mid 1800’s 2. Temperance Movement – urged people to stop drinking hard liquor and limit beer and wine to small quantities

17. Life in the Mid 1800’s F. Education in America 1. Education varies throughout US a. New England has most schools, West and South have least

18. Life in the Mid 1800’s b. People from different backgrounds receive different educations 1. Rich – private schools or tutors 2. Poor – public schools 3. Girls – usually stayed home

19. Life in the Mid 1800’s 2. Common school movement – all children educated in common place regardless of class or race a. Created by Horace Mann who becomes first secretary of educa.

20. Life in the Mid 1800’s G. Women’s Education 1. Few women could attend classes beyond grade school 2. Catherine Beecher starts first all female academy

21. Life in the Mid 1800’s “Let every women become so refined in intellect that her taste and judgment will be respected…” ~Catharine Beecher

22. Life in the Mid 1800’s 3. 1830’s – women’s colleges open

23. Life in the Mid 1800’s H. African American Schools 1. Most African Americans went to separate schools

24. Life in the Mid 1800’s 2. Philadelphia supported development of African American education a. 7 schools for African Americans in 1800

25. Life in the Mid 1800’s 3. African Americans rarely attend college 4. Most slaves did not receive education

26. Life in the Mid 1800’s I. Teaching People with Disabilities 1. Schools opened for visually impaired a. created by Samuel Gridley Howe

27. Life in the Mid 1800’s 2. Schools for hearing impaired opened by Thomas Hopkins Galladet