| Urbanization and Machine Politics (1851-1906) |
|
Sections:- Machine Politics
- The Haymarket Affair
- Mass Transportation
- The Great Chicago Fire
- Immigrant Experience: Ethnic Communities
- Tenements
- Orphans
|
| Historical Context
Machine politics surreptitiously controlled every urban center of the late 19th century. Based on the traditional system of patronage and usually controlled by a boss, the driving force behind a political machine is the ability of elected public officials to do favors for constituents typically in the form of employment and contracts in exchange for votes.Attached Documents
Election fraud was rampant and usually ordained by the bosses themselves. In fact, "Big Tim" Sullivan, a New York City ward boss who reportedly rewarded "repeat voters" by giving them a new pair of shoes was quoted as saying, "When you’ve voted ‘em with their whiskers on, you take ‘em to a barber and scrape off the chin fringe. Then you vote ‘em again… Then to a barber again, off comes the sides and you vote ‘em a third time with the mustache… [Then] clean off the mustache and vote ‘em plain face. That makes every one of ‘em for four votes.” Mary Beth Norton, et al. In A People and a Nation: A History of the United States, 6th ed. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2001), 537.
By far, Boss Tweed of Tammany Hall was the most notorious city boss of the era and of all American history for that matter. He is depicted in, literally, thousands of cartoons; most of which are concerned with his corruption and indulgence.
Questions to Consider
1. According to Theodore Roosevelt, what is the most important aspect of machine politics and why do they work? Does he see the current system as the most efficient or does he call for change?
2. What does the author of the article from San Francisco think about the functioning of political machines in relation to the recent election reform?
3. What does the cover of Harper’s Weekly suggest about the political bosses in New York and Brooklyn? How can you relate this to more modern politics?
|
| | | | | | | | | Citations: | |
|
| Historical Context
The Haymarket Affair occurred on May 4, 1886 in Chicago Illinois, following days of labor mobilization and strikes. On May 1, an organized strike and march in support of an eight-hour workday took place, over the next 2 days the strike spread nationwide. On May 3, a fight broke out among some strikers and the Chicago police interceded killing two laborers and inciting fury. Local anarchists issued posters calling for a rally at the Haymarket to take action against the injustice.
Attached Documents
A timeline is included to better follow the course of events.The report issued by the General Superintendent of Police provides a detailed account of the events from the officers’ perspective and an editorial from a Chicago German language newspaper shows the response of the working class. The poster below shows the campaign for an eight-hour work day that began the chain of events at the Haymarket.
A copy of the flyer below distributed by the anarchists.
Provided below are the renditions of the Haymarket before the bombing.
Questions to Consider
1. What are the most marked differences between the account of events from the police department and those from supporters?
2. Did the event’s relationship with the campaign for eight-hour workdays affect the cause, or did it have no effect? Why?
3. How did the prominence of German language newspapers and German speaking laborers in the incident affect its outcome? How did their presence effect the perception of Germans in Chicago? |
| | | | | | | | | Citations: | |
|
| Historical Context
The rise of mass transportation in the cities allowed people to have greater control over where they lived, within the city and in the growing suburbs. Cities began to grow out along transit lines causing a greater rift between where the rich and poor lived. Also, ethnic groups, despite profession, could now live in closer proximity to those more like themselves giving rise to the ethnic communities so often associated with big city living.
Attached Documents
Thomas C Clark's article addresses the rise of public transportation and the resulting effect on the urban population and the problems associated with it.
The article from Scientific American explains how the new subway systems actually work and provides a detailed description of their appearance.
Questions to Consider
1. According to Clarke, how did the rise of public transportation change urban life? List and discuss several examples. |
| | | | | | | Citations: | |
|
| Historical Context
The city of Chicago caught fire on October 8, 1871 and burned for nearly three days before it was contained and extinguished. Fire was a common threat to nineteenth century cities that had little means to combat them. The fire nearly destroyed the city, but brought the people of Chicago to each other’s aide at a previously unprecedented rate and the recovery of the city played a considerable role in catapulting Chicago to the forefront as an industrial city.
Attached Documents
The materials below chronicle the city's efforts to cope with the devastating aftermath of the blaze.
Questions to Consider
1. How did the city government organize the population after the fire?
2. What was the attitude in Chicago following the fire? What did citizens intend to do?
|
| | | | | | | | Citations: | |
|
| Historical Context
The United States was essentially flooded with immigrants at the end of the 19th century. Many of these men, women, and children had never been to America before, were unaccustomed to the traditions, and new relatively no one in their mythical adopted home. For this reason, they tended to gravitate towards others from the same country or region.
Attached Documents
A contemporary, albeit fictional, account of immigrants looking for and forming expatriate communities in America is found in the excerpt from Chapter Two of Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle."
Questions to Consider
1. How do you think the resulting ethnically homogenous neighborhoods helped immigrants? How do you think they hindered them?
2. What do you think was the most beneficial aspect of finding people from one’s home country for the immigrants of the late 19th century? |
| | | Citations: | |
|
| Historical Context
One of the most visible aspects of daily life for the masses of urban poor was the tenement house.
Attached Documents
Jacob Riis, the word famous photographer documented the lives of many tenement inhabitants in his book "How the Other Half Lives".
Questions to Consider
1. For what reasons do you think immigrant families continued to live in the tenement style housing?
2. What problems could have arisen from so many people living in such close proximity?
|
| | | Citations: | |
|
| Historical Context
As the rural poor and immigrants flooded cities in search of employment, many children were orphaned when their parents died due to the horrible living conditions or abandoned when they simply could not support them any longer. The Children’s Aid Society was established in 1853 in New York City to care for the indigent youth and many cities followed suit with similar institutions. The same year saw the beginnings of the Orphan Train Movement that moved children, whose parents had died, from East Coast cities westward where they found families and often times work.
Attached Documents
The excerpt from Reverend Hastings H. Hart’s address, "Placing Out Children in the West" shows the intentions of the Orphan Train movement in the late 19th century."An Act to Provide for the Adoption of Children" gives an example of the legislation adopted around the country concerned with the care of indigent children.
Questions to Consider
1. What do you think caused the shift in the treatment of orphans during the late 19th century?
2. What provisions in the Act Providing for the Adoption of Children seem most marked to you? Do any of the articles seem unique to the time?
|
| | | | | | | | Citations: | |
|
| Back To Module List Back to Sections |
