Chapter25: America Moves to the City

Overview: The United States moved from the country to the city in the post–Civil War decades. Mushrooming urban development was exciting but also created severe social problems, including overcrowding and slums.

After the 1880s the cities were flooded with the New Immigrants from southern and eastern Europe. With their strange customs and non-Protestant religions, the newcomers sometimes met with nativist hostility and discrimination.

Religion had to adjust to social and cultural changes. Roman Catholicism and Judaism gained strength, while conflicts over evolution and biblical interpretation divided Protestant churches.

American education expanded rapidly, especially at the secondary and graduate levels. Blacks and immigrants tried, with limited success, to use education as a path to upward mobility.

Significant conflicts over moral values, especially relating to sexuality and the role of women, began to appear. The new urban environment provided expanded opportunities for women but also created difficulties for the family. Families grew more isolated from society, the divorce rate rose, and average family size shrank.

American literature and art reflected a new realism, while popular amusement became a big business.

Vocabulary Terms:

Skyscraper Louis Sullivan“Sister Carrie”“dumbbell” tenement

New Immigrants“social gospel”Jane AddamsSettlement Houses

“nativism”American Protective AssociationChinese Exclusion ActBTW*

Tuskegee Institute*W.E.B. Du Bois*NAACP*Henry George

Edward Bellamy“Comstock Law”National American Woman Suffrage Association

Carrie Chapman CattIda B. WellsWomen’s Christian Temperance Union

Carrie Nation18th Amendment

Reading Notes

(Vocabulary terms should be highlighted throughout outline AND you should write AT LEAST 5 important facts for EACH topic listed in the left.)

The Urban Frontier
THIS IS A BIG BUT IMPORTANT SECTION – ANSWER INFO IN COLUMNS BULLETED / REASONS TO COME TO CITIES PROBLEMS CITIES FACED
  • SKYSCRAPERS ALLOW MORE PEOPLE CRIME

The New Immigrants
Southern Europe Uprooted / AGAIN BULLET: REASONS TO COME TO AMERICA
  • OVERPOPULATION

Reactions to the New Immigration
Narrowing the Welcome Mat
Churches Confront the Urban Challenge / READ BUT DO NOT DO
Darwin Disrupts the Churches / READ BUT DO NOT DO
The Lust for Learning / READ BUT DO NOT DO
Booker T. Washington and Education for Black People / READ BUT DO NOT DO – TERMS FROM THIS ARE LISTED IN THE VOCABULARY SECTION BUT YOU DO NOT HAVE TO DO THEM. WE HAVE ALREADY TALKED ABOUT THIS
The Hallowed Halls of Ivy / READ BUT DO NOT DO
The March of the Mind / READ BUT DO NOT DO
The Appeal of the Press / READ BUT DO NOT DO
Apostles of Reform
Post War Writing / READ BUT DO NOT DO
Literary Landmarks / READ BUT DO NOT DO
The New Morality
*3 sentences only
Families and Women in the City
Prohibition of Alcohol and Social Progress
Artistic Triumph / READ BUT DO NOT DO
The Business of Amusement / READ BUT DO NOT DO