History Final Notes - PDF

Growing Pains: Boom and Bust for Cities, Farmers, and Politicians o Age of the City- expanding to a majority by 1915 o A change of 70% farmers to 7% Age of the City o The urban population triples; Why? ▪ National population growth; greater than previous generat...

Growing Pains: Boom and Bust for Cities, Farmers, and Politicians o Age of the City- expanding to a majority by 1915 o A change of 70% farmers to 7% Age of the City o The urban population triples; Why? ▪ National population growth; greater than previous generations ▪ Foreign Migration; era of the biggest foreign born will move in to the US ▪ Internal Migration; people will move from the country to the city for work ▪ Great Migration (black migrants); internal migration of black people o Population doubles due in 40 years due to childbirth, higher survival rates, and immigration o Urban = 2,500 people per square mile o Urban population had accelerating growth; but rural population was growing steadily ▪ Rural America doesn’t die; urban America just passes it The Ethnic City; "Ghetto" o Where a large portion of the population is foreign born o Lower East Side New York; "Little Italy", "China Town" o Ellis Island: 1892-1954 ▪ 12,000,000 processed ▪ Average 2 1/2 hours to get through ▪ Quarantine and Infirmary The Urban Nation o By 1900 we had three cities in the top ten of the world (New York, Chicago, Philadelphia) o University of Manhattan by 1885 equal to 60,000 people in Harding's campus ▪ The cities got so packed and disgusting o The "Vertical" City; Otis Safety Elevator ▪ A solution to the population density; build up to house more people "How the Other Half Lives" o Jacob Riis documented life in the slums of New York in 1890 using photography o Was trying to show that the slum community still was apart of the city and deserved better Escape to the Inland Great Cities  o Grand Central Station, New York o "Cathedrals of the Industrial Age" the idea that we built these huge beautiful buildings to showcase the power of the city The Most Mobile Society in the World o The rise of inland transportation and communication hubs ▪ Chicago, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Omaha, Kansas City, New Orleans, Atlanta, San Francisco Americans love to make their own choices; American by Choice; "Americans will always act like Americans" o 15% foreign born threshold spawns national immigration debate ▪ 1850-60; Irish and Germans ▪ 1900-1920's; Eastern and Southern Europe ▪ 1990's; Hispanic o E Pluribus Unum; Out of Many, One o Hyphenated-America ▪ The idea that you are two things; Irish-American; competing identities/loyalties The Three Generation American Model; Melt, Mix and Marriage o Assimilation- Melting Pot Idea ▪ Coming into a society and absorbing that into your everyday life o Acculturation- Salad Bowl Idea ▪ You adopt certain things of the culture but stay apart from each other o Stagnation ▪ Coming in lost and staying lost and by themselves (sometimes by choice or by not being allowed) First Generation Immigrants o Off the boat, on the train, and off to the largest Polish city in the world (Polish ghetto); a lot of times without his family ▪ Not necessarily rags to riches; but at least rags to clothes o 1/3 of immigrants remigrate to where they came from (purpose was to make a living in US but make a life back home) Second Generation Immigrants o "Natural Born" and Naturalized American ▪ Children of Immigrants are really the "First" Generation Americans because they are born on American soil ▪ Father will usually become a citizen in order to vote; Mother will rarely become citizens because they don’t need to  o Embraced Public Education ▪ Become bilingual and assimilated into American society o Embracing across Ethnic lines ▪ Marries other races Third Generation Immigrants o "Americanized"; Blended Families o These children blur ethnicities and bridge the gap between groups The American Dream; Assimilation and the Suburbs o Inexpensive Public Transportation ▪ Trolley cars, railroad lines, a few subways; connected suburbs to downtown cities o Individual Home Ownership Myths and Exceptionalism o America is the most successful multi-ethnic national identity Setbacks by Nature and Man o Many setbacks in the Age of the City ▪ The Great Chicago Fire in 1871 $200 million in damages; 3.77 billion in 2016 300 fatalities; 17,450 buildings destroyed; 100,000 people left homeless Rebuilt with improved health codes put in place ▪ Schwenk Bank Failure No real money is invested; a ponzi scheme o Political Machines ▪ Patronage- "father" When someone is supporting you as a father supports his children Handing out jobs, food, and anything you need ▪ William "Boss" Tweed- Tammany Hall The head of a political machine; not in office but ran the democratic party behind the scenes ▪ Ethnic "Bloc" Voting Ethnic groups vote as a block to get what they want and unite ▪ "Honest Graft"- corruption, embezzlement, misuse of funds also inside trading Using the power of the office for personal gain without breaking a law  ▪ "Kickback"- bribes as a way to be picked for something o The New Industrial Workforce; Specialization ▪ White Collar vs Blue Collar White Collar- makes living based on knowledge and memory (on average pays more) o Clerks, supervisors, managers, accountants, lawyers, bankers, engineers Blue Collar- makes living based on muscle memory (makes good money as well) o Plumbers, electricians, boilermakers, railroad engineers, ditch diggers, manure haulers Pink Collar Jobs- Female Laborers (Ghetto) o Low end: packers and sorters o High end: typists and secretaries ▪ High school graduates ▪ Sex-Typed Professions Within the Same Industry Telephone Industry; where will women fit? Do they fit at all o Blue collar linemen- men dominated, telephone operators- both sexes Classroom Teacher; overwhelming female Medical Assistant/Nursing; female dominated o Ready-Made-Clothes; "hierarchy of needs" ▪ Tailors and Female Relatives with Custom Fit ▪ Garment Factories and Standardized Sizes Lowers the cost of basic needs ▪ Tin Can Industry Mass consumption society helps this industry grow; shelf stable, processed, and "fresh" food Helps to have food all year wrong even when harvest isn't ready o The Rise of Chain and Department Stores ▪ Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company (A&P); the first big national chain store to get everything Stability in a rapidly changing world o Consistent, predictable, reliable ▪ F.W. Woolworth (Dollar General) Five and Dime Store; items that were five or ten cents  ▪ The Sears Catalog From retailer to suppling houses 1896 Rural Free Delivery Act o Congress passes this to require the postal service to deliver to a post box in rural towns o The New "Social Influencers" ▪ The New Newspaper Age Product of the age of the city Cost of Entry of being an influencer ▪ Pulpwood Paper and High-Speed Presses Makes paper cheap ▪ Yellow Journalism Designed for clickbait basically- designed to get your attention o Uses colored print o "Little Yellow Jack" cartoon that became popular Tabloids and Broadsheets High vs Popular (Low) Culture o William Hurst- America's Newspaper Robber Baron ▪ The William R Hurst Syndicate of Newspapers 500 Daily Papers Personal New worth of 3 Billion (30 Billion now) ▪ Hearst Castle, San Luis Obispo County, California o Jospeh Pulitzer ▪ Advocacy Journalism: to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comforted Wanted to "get the story right"; ▪ Pulitzer Prize; for excellence in Journalism o The Farmer Populism/The Agrarian Revolt ▪ What is populism? An appeal that is popular Having an idea that a lot of people want to embrace; bottom up revolution Takes place in the American west and south ▪ Specie: metallic money is all of its form Intrinsic value Secure from political change Stable in availability Consistent in its relative availability between form  ▪ Deflation, Inflation, Debasement Debasement is when you mix a precious metal and basic metal and pretend its all precious metal Inflation; prices rise so the value of money drops Deflation; prices lower so the value of money rises ▪ Bimetallism Issue Made increasingly unstable due to surging U.S. silver supply due to Comstock Lode ▪ Production doubles as population grows 50% and prices plummet ▪ The Jeffersonian Ideal "Republicanism" built on foundations of: o Independent o Landowning o Farmers Crisis of existence: we lose these things so can we be great without this group o The Wizard of OZ and the Populist Movement ▪ L Frank Baum- author of the Wizard of OZ; populist advocate ▪ Dorthy Gale- "Everyman" character An ordinary individual that the audience or reader easily identifies with; no outstanding abilities An everyman hero has hope ▪ Scarecrow- American Farmer Problem: "no brain"; farmer must compete in multiple areas o Agricultural problem, mechanization, distribution, marketing of product, required to develop multiple talents in an increasingly specialized economy ▪ Tin Man (woodsman)- American Industrial Worker Problem: "no heart" o Soullessness of industrial work, heatless urbanism, flesh and blood machine o Finding happiness, community, and meaning in the city ▪ The Cowardly Lion- Populist Political Leaders Problem: "no courage" o Post civil war political legacy, party patronage, two- party-tradition  o All roar and no delivery; tells people what they want to hear (demagogue) ▪ Wicked Witch of the West- Foe of the Farmer Problem: "dead sister" and missing shoes o Railroads & Banks; stealing money that should go to the farmer o Brokerage companies, commodity exchanges, maintaining the commercial interests ▪ Tornados- Market Cycles Causes of farmer distress and bankruptcy; farmers, bankers, and railroads all blame each other o A force beyond control and prediction; that occurs with regularity and destructive force Panics of 1873 & 1893 ▪ The Goal of the Populist is to stay on the family farm; understandable but completely impossible ▪ The Great and Powerful Wizard of OZ- has ALL the answers Problem: he really doesn’t; refuses to help when accomplished ▪ Populists believe that silver will be the solution; needed more currency (not solution because overproduction) o Break the "Money Power" ▪ Western railroads and eastern banks o The Turn to Politics ▪ Associations and Cooperative Groups ▪ New Independent Political Party The People's Party/ Populist Party o 1892 "Honey Bee" Election ▪ Third parties sting, alerting, then die ▪ A third party hurts one of the parties; they wont win but they could keep a candidate from winning o The Divided Democratic Party ▪ "Free Silver" vs "Sound Money" Free silver- put silver back into circulation and start inflation o William Jennings Bryan ▪ Nebraska "Farmer" Democrat  ▪ The Cross of Gold Speech- argued in favor of allowing silver to be a part of the American economy as well as gold. ▪ Gets the nomination for the democratic party o Election of 1896 ▪ Rural-Agricultural-Domestic vs Urban-Industrial-International Which way will America go? ▪ William McKinley and Urban Industrial, Commercial, International, America wins