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Immigration, Urban, Culture and Politics

  • Ward politics: race & ethnicity oftentimes divided newcomers & this led to a system of urban political machines (organizations that rendered services that communities would not otherwise receive) like Tammany Hall in NY. The “machines” were led by “bosses.”
  • Increase in suburbanization during the late 19th century: the farther from the city, the finer the house & larger the lot
  • Working-class culture and entertainment: amusement parks, vaudeville theaters, baseball, newspapers
  • For upper-class Americans, they invested in and enjoyed various art galleries and symphony orchestras that were founded
  • Immigrants enter via Ellis Island in NYC where majority of immigrants arrived from 1892 on; govt clerks asked a series of questions & did health checks; by 1924, estimated about 17 million passed through EIlis Island
  • “Old” and “New” Immigrants: huge migration from the Old World that started in 1840s: Irish (potato famine,) Germans & Swedes, & then later Austrians, Hungarians, and other Slavic peoples in the late 1890s into the early 20th century
  • Exclusionary acts such as Chinese excluded – Chinese Exclusion Act (1882) barred workers from entering country; was not repealed until 1943; Korean and Japanese immigrants began arriving at the turn of the century; 1906 ruling stated that these new immigrants were not eligible for citizenship; Chinese were nation’s first “illegal immigrants.”
  • Various “push and pull” factors that bring people to the U.S.: religious, economic, political reasons

Immigration, Urban, Culture and Politics


  • Intro 0:00
  • Overview 0:07
  • Ward Politics and Political Bosses 0:56
    • Urban Political Machines
    • Tammany Hall in New York
    • Grassroots Constituency
    • Boss Tweed
  • The Political Machine and Corruption 5:34
  • George Plunkitt 7:13
    • Regular System
    • Honest Graft
  • Social Changes 10:54
    • Class Society
    • Increase in Suburbanization
    • American Woman's Home Journal
  • A Clash of Values 12:51
    • The Victorian Ideal of Domesticity
    • Clash of Victorian Ideas
    • Comstock Law
  • Religion and Secularism in the City 15:26
    • Orthodox Judaism
    • Catholic Church
    • Protestant Churches
  • Working-Class Culture and Journalism 19:10
    • Working-Class Culture
    • Joseph Pulitzer
    • Heart's New York Journal
  • The Higher Culture 21:58
    • The Corcoran Gallery of Art
    • Symphony Orchestras
    • Increase in Public Libraries
    • The Gilded Age
  • Ellis Island and Angel Island 25:31
    • Ellis Island
    • Angel Island
    • Paper Sons and Paper Daughters
  • The Immigrant Experience 28:36
  • “Old” and “New” Immigrants 31:12
  • Immigrant Challenges and Opportunities 32:06
    • Fraternal Organizations
    • Labor Force in Factories
    • Backlash Against Immigrants
  • The “Land of Milk and Honey” 37:18
    • Old Immigrants
    • Push and Pull
  • Immigration Cartoons 38:25
  • Urban Life: Technology Improves Life 39:49
    • New Forms of Transportation
    • Suburbs
    • Public-Works Programs
    • Skyscrapers and Subways
  • Frederick Law Olmsted's Central Park 41:18
    • Designed in 1860s
    • Inspired Other Parks
  • Urban Problems 42:29
    • Tenements
    • Poor Conditions
  • Example 1 43:32
  • Example 2 44:42
  • Example 3 45:57

Transcription: Immigration, Urban, Culture and Politics

Welcome back to

This lesson is on immigration, urban culture, and politics.0003

In this lesson, we are going to focus on the importance of the political machine in the city, particularly in New York.0009

Some of the most famous political bosses, party bosses sometimes they are called as well, Boss Tweed and George Plunkitt.0017

We are also going to talk about social trends and increased urbanization,0026

and how industrialization is going to very much influence how cities are being shaped.0031

We will also talk about the continuing expansion of cities that will grow into the suburbs, 0039

talk about some of the class differences as well, in those different regions.0045

And then, we are going to focus on various topics related to immigration during the Gilded Age, in particular.0050

First, let us talk about ward politics and political bosses.0058

In many ways, we are going to see that politics is going to be very much influenced by these different ethnic groups throughout the Gilded Age.0065

It is going to be very important.0075

In many ways, this is what is going to have a huge influence over party identification.0077

We will actually expand upon this more in one of the next lessons, stay tuned.0084

Within cities, as well, because they were the most diverse areas, we are going to see little cultural enclaves being established.0092

Race, as well as ethnicity, will oftentimes divide newcomers and this led to a system of urban political machines.0101

These are organizations that rendered services that communities would not otherwise receive.0111

The most famous one being Tammany Hall in New York.0117

These political machines were led by, they were called bosses at the time.0122

I want to build up the point I made in the last lesson, that many of the cities during the Gilded Age did not various services.0128

The political machine made sure that those jobs were done, like putting out fires, and actually helping list services for schools even,0138

and helping people get jobs, and this type of thing.0149

Even in construction types of jobs and so forth, different contracts.0155

We are going to see that the political machine is going to be very much involved in that process and very influential.0162

If you wanted to be someone, if you needed something to be addressed, you wanted to befriend the party boss and the political machine.0170

There was an expectation that if you vote for them, they will take care of you.0182

This idea that one hand washes the other.0186

Anyway, we are going to see that this is a very dependent relationship.0191

As the bosses will depend on the grassroots constituency.0195

They recruited captains, ward bosses, and alderman to serve the needs of the party faithful.0200

And the boodle or the money, in other words, could be very corrupting.0208

Many of these bosses, people who are involved in these rings, as they were known, received kickbacks by contractors.0212

The idea is that, I will give you the job but you need to charge more for your service and give us a kickback.0222

Give us some profit from getting that job and for taking on a contract.0232

Protection money from gamblers, saloon keepers, and prostitutes.0241

People who were involved in organized crime and some of these other unsavory activities,0246

they could carry on if they would pay off the political machine.0257

There were payoffs from gas and toll way companies.0261

Everyone was very much wrought up in the system and it became increasingly corrupt.0264

Boss Tweed was the quintessential corrupt political boss of the era.0271

He was extremely dishonest.0278

He had various offices in New York City.0281

It came to a head when he actually was brought down in 1871 because of graft in 0288

the building of a courthouse that was named the Tweed Courthouse.0295

He actually asked all of the contractors who were building the courthouse to add on a 100%, 0299

basically pad the cost by 100%, and that he would get some of that kickback from padding those costs.0309

He ends up making big bucks here.0319

Eventually, he is going to be exposed.0322

He ends up pocketing about 65% of the building funds.0326

And eventually, he will flee and try to escape from the law.0330

Here is a picture of the famous Boss Tweed.0337

There were a lot of political cartoons that were quite critical of Boss Tweed.0342

Here you will probably be able to pick him out, here he is.0346

Oftentimes, the cartoonist exaggerate people's weight, and I believe that that is supposed to emphasize they are fat cats, fat capitalists.0353

In this case, this corrupt boss.0366

This is supposed to be a jewel that is shining, showing how he is living high on the hog at the poor peoples expense.0369

Within this ring, you will see everyone who is tied in, again, who stole the people's money, do tell.0379

It was him, they are all kind of, but they are all involved, even the poor people in the neighborhood.0386

Many of the political machines, in fact, for instance, were Irish.0395

A lot of early Irish immigrants who had hard time finding jobs had to befriend people within the political machines.0400

Here you can see under the thumb, the boss, well, what are you going to do about it?0410

Which is indicative of how much power these political bosses had over their neighborhoods and the city.0416

Here is another example of another key important political boss, and his name was George Plunkitt.0426

He was not quite as corrupt as Tweed. We will see that ward politics will shift somewhat, 0436

when he develops what is known as the regular system.0444

When fires broke out in his district, he declared that he had no reason for kickbacks or bribes.0447

He had a moral element to his approach to taking care of people in the neighborhood.0454

Plunkitt did preach the values of hard work, sobriety, and even what he called honest graft.0463

I have a little excerpt that I will read to you, just so you can get a sense of his perspective and what a character he was.0473

There are some similar themes that we could see with his system, 0483

yet perhaps a little more good natured and a little bit more practical for the people that were being affected.0489

We will see these political machines reward their supporters.0500

You vote for me, I will take care of you, this type of thing.0503

But Plunkitt played no favorites and was much more inclusive, in terms of different ethnic groups, for instance.0507

He reached out to different peoples of the increasingly diverse 50th District.0513

He will reach out to people not just the Irish, he will stay within his own group.0521

Even though he was actually Irish himself, he was open to helping out people from all different types of backgrounds.0529

His idea of honest graft, that profits came to those who are savvy insiders.0538

He made most of his money building wards on Manhattan's waterfront.0547

He has a very famous view of what he called honest graft, unlike dishonest graft.0553

Everybody is talking these days about Tammany man going rich on graft, 0562

but nobody thinks of drawing the distinction between honest graft and dishonest graft.0566

There is all the difference in the world between the two.0572

Yes, many of our men had grown rich in politics. I have myself, I have made a fortune out of the game and I'm getting richer everyday.0574

But I have not gone in for dishonest graft, blackmail and gamblers, saloon keepers, disorderly people, etc.0583

And neither has any of the men who have made big fortunes in politics bears an honest graft.0590

I’m an example of how it works.0597

It might sum up the whole thing by saying, I see many opportunities and I took them.0599

Just let me explain by examples, my party is empowering the city and it is going to undertake a lot of public improvements.0607

Well, I’m tipped off say, that they are going to lay out a new park at a certain place.0616

I see my opportunity and I take it.0622

I go to that place, and I buy up all the land that I can in the neighborhood, then the board of this or that makes its plan public,0624

and there is a rush to get my land which nobody cared particularly for before.0634

In a perfectly honest, charged a good price and make a profit on my investment in foresight, of course it is.0638

Well, that is honest graft.0645

Just to give you a little insight into George Plunkitt's perspective on graft.0648

Other things that were changing during the Gilded Age.0657

We know that it was very much class society made up of urban elite, as well as middle class.0661

And this will be very much reflected in the neighborhoods.0668

Many will leave the city center to the suburbs, for many preferred the heart of the city, for instance, 0671

5th Avenue in New York City that became extremely popular, especially for the well to do.0678

We do see an increase in suburbanization during the late 19th century, and generally speaking, 0686

we see a trend that farther from the city, the finer the house and the larger the lot.0692

This is going to be indicative of status, social status, economic status, etc.0698

A typical middle class family during the time of the Gilded Age, consisted of a husband, wife, and three children.0705

Bigger families than certainly today.0711

The duties of domesticity fell on the wife.0715

This is for upper class people and in many cases middle class families as well.0719

For the working class that both the mother and father would be working outside of the home, I should say.0725

Some important magazines that were influential.0737

American Women's Home Journal, Good Housekeeping, Ladies Home Journal. 0741

All of these important magazines told wives that their responsibilities included bringing sensibility, love, and beauty to the household.0748

Obviously, a bit biased, it was very limiting.0758

We are seeing the idea of women staying in the home is still an idea that was very prominent especially with the upper class.0763

We do see however, a lot of these values starting to be challenged 0773

and increasingly a clash between more progressive minded people and very conservative minded people.0779

Tying into this, the Victorian idea of domesticity called for masculine restraint and female moral influence.0789

There is this belief that women were more virtuous, they are more honest, and they are more nurturing,0799

and therefore better people, that they have higher moral standards.0808

But we are starting to see that those stereotypes and those constructs are being challenged more and more throughout the Gilded Age.0814

Industrialization is having an impact and starting to transform domesticity.0824

This is ultimately going to cause a clash between Victorian ideas and modern ideas.0831

As we see, more and more, especially women, pushing the boundaries 0838

and getting involved in the public sphere, we will see a backlash against that as well.0842

Some families wanting to restrict their size, they will start to take action to have birth control,0847

so that they can live within their means and not bring children into the world if they cannot take care of them.0858

We are going to see a fundamentalist, very conservative, and oftentimes Protestant backlash against a lot of that activity.0865

Here is a great example of that, the Comstock Law of 1873.0876

This law that prohibited the circulation of almost any information about sex and birth control.0880

It was considered vulgar.0887

This was something that many people who are very practical minded will say no, this is my health care, this is my own personal choice.0890

But again, many of these issues are still around today, if you think about it.0901

The idea of, we know birth control can sometimes be very controversial, even this day and age, and even abortion.0910

We have similar debates, this day and age.0922

Let us move on, talking more about two opposing trends that are clashing, you could say,0927

and having a huge influence but perhaps in different ways.0935

We do see a long history of religious influence throughout the United States, 0939

and this will also tie into many of the different ethnic groups identity and how they are to practice their religion.0944

And also how that is going to inform them to what extent they are going to assimilate into mainstream U.S. society.0954

And that could be a huge challenge for a lot of immigrant groups.0965

We will see that some religious groups will adapt, once they do come to the United States.0969

Orthodox Judaism, for instance, survived by reducing its claim on the lives of the faithful, 0977

since the communal environment could not be reenacted in the city.0982

The push for individualism in American culture, perhaps a little bit of a clash with the communal idea that many Jews embraced.0987

We are going to see that this is going to have an impact on the Jewish community, 1001

causing a split between the Orthodox and Reformed Jews, that differentiated Eastern European Jews and Germans.1005

Those who practice Reformed Judaism did not follow all of the kosher rules, for instance, 1015

and modified a lot of the beliefs, in order to adapt to mainstream U.S. society.1021

Even though, they still would identify as Jewish.1033

That is something that you can see the impact of immigration and assimilation on some of the religious practices.1036

The Catholic Church will have an Americanization movement that embraced teaching republican principles to immigrant groups, 1045

will oftentimes also help to set up language courses, to help people learn English, to get them set up with schools, etc.1054

This type of idea and this type of approach was much more about embracing people 1069

and kind of incorporating them into American mainstream society.1080

Protestant churches, although very important, started to decline to a certain extent.1085

They turn to evangelizing and new organizations were created, that reached out to the community and addressed people's ordinary needs.1092

This is when will see the YMCA and the YWCA decline, but other groups will be founded like the Salvation Army.1103

Actually I think, this should not be here.1117

What I want to say is a lot of new groups actually will be formed at this time like YMCA, YWCA, 1121

that will provide athletic services, and the Salvation Army that has a lot of opportunities for giving people clothing and food,1127

and other types of necessities that they need, if they are struggling.1141

That is going to help the Protestant Church come back to a certain extent.1146

A little bit on working class culture and journalism.1154

We will see that based on social class, we will see some marked differences.1158

Working class culture, we will see that people go to amusement parks for fun, they will go to vaudeville theaters.1169

These had a lot of different variety shows that could range from singing and dancing, comedy, very informal types of theater.1179

Baseball, newspapers were also very entertaining.1190

This is where I have a few examples here.1195

A new particular style of journalism became very popular, yellow journalism, in fact.1197

Inflammatory journalism that was popularized by Joseph Pulitzer in his St. Louis Post Dispatch and New York World.1203

Hearst was another famous newspaper publisher, and his famous New York Journal1215

was another great example of a newspaper that embraced yellow journalism.1223

The name came from this particular comic.1229

The first comic strip that appeared colored in 1895, that had these comic called the Yellow Kid.1233

It actually is not oftentimes my students would ask me, is this kind of a racial slur, but it is actually not.1243

This, if you actually look at some of the cartoons then I do recommend that you look these up and you look at the dialogue here.1255

It actually makes fun of working class people.1262

But there is some humor to it, that this was known as the Yellow Kid, and it was this whole series that became very popular,1268

and in many ways, reached out to people and connected with people, so they would buy the newspaper, I should say.1275

Later on, we will talk about the importance of journalism and specially coming up with these very sensationalist headlines.1283

And sometimes, more often times, what was written in these newspapers was not always true.1292

The idea was to sell newspapers not to publish true stories, and to have excellent quality journalism.1304

But nonetheless, we will see a lot of people getting pulled into this and a lot of money1313

was made by Pulitzer and Hearst, as a result, because it was ultimately entertaining.1318

The higher culture, we see various galleries opening up during the Gilded Age.1326

The Corcoran Gallery of Art in 1869, we see the famous Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1871, New York City.1333

The Boston Museum of Fine Arts in 1876, Chicago’s Art Institute, all of these important institutions, 1344

galleries, will provide many opportunities for the public to enjoy arts and learn the various artworks from the United States,1352

as well as around the world.1363

This is very appealing for people to travel to, and it is an expression of culture.1365

We also see that various musical opportunities expand as well, 1374

various symphony orchestras appeared in New York, Boston, Chicago, throughout the Gilded Age in 1870’s and 1880’s.1379

We also see a major increase in public libraries, they were established in every city with the help of Carnegie.1389

You may remember Andrew Carnegie who was a very successful businessmen in the steel industry.1397

He was a well-known philanthropist, and this was his baby, investing in public libraries.1403

We will see as well that he will also invest in many universities, as well.1410

He believes that that is how he could contribute to help being a part of the social gospel, if you will, 1416

helping people to help themselves to become educated, without the government intervening.1423

This emphasis on self reliance, if you make a lot of money you can donate and participate as a philanthropist.1433

But he did not believe in much of government intervention into the economy.1444

There are also a lot of important pieces of literature that were written throughout the Gilded Age.1453

And increasingly, we are going to see that others start to focus on some of the downside, some of the ugly aspects of the Gilded Age.1460

And people are going to increasingly become much more critical.1469

And in fact, once we get to, this will culminate in the progressive era where 1473

we will see a lot of muckrakers starting to highlight a lot of the social political problems, corruption that is occurring.1478

This started, I would say, during the Gilded Age with authors like Twain and Warner, who wrote this famous book, 1486

as I have mentioned before that satirize America as a land of money grabbers and speculators.1495

Mark Twain, again, who was originally from the south, and had traveled throughout the country,1502

liked to focus on ordinary people, their struggles.1507

If you have heard about the adventures of Huckleberry Finn as well, famous novel.1510

Increasingly, we are seeing this new sub genre, I guess you could say, of literature 1517

becoming more and more popular along with naturalism, as well, becomes a new theme in literature.1523

Now we are going to talk about immigration, the two major points of entry that we are going to focus on,1533

the Ellis island which was the biggest one and which is in New York City and Angel Island that was off the coast of California.1540

In New York City, where a majority of immigrants arrived in the 1890’s, will become the major hub for immigrants to enter the country.1550

We will see that government clerks will ask a series of questions and they did very rigorous health checks.1560

As time goes on, these become even more intense.1566

We will start to see a backlash to a certain extent, and more and more restrictions being put into place.1570

By 1924, an estimated 17,000,000 people passed through Ellis Island.1576

Most Americans have a story, that they have some relative that passed through Ellis Island.1583

For instance, both of my great grandparents who came from Czechoslovakia, came through Ellis Island.1590

My father's side has much longer history of his family being in the United States.1597

That is not the case on the other side of the family.1604

But on my mother’s side of the family, Irish, so I am an American mutt, a mixture of immigrant relatives and connections.1606

And some of them certainly passed through Ellis Island.1618

They were also immigrants who arrived at Angel Island, in San Francisco Bay area,1622

where they experienced much harsher conditions than in Ellis Island.1627

This is something that is oftentimes highlighted by historians.1630

Perhaps, this was because most of the immigrants that were coming through Angel Island were in fact Chinese immigrants.1634

There was a bit of a backlash against the Chinese that will culminate with the Exclusion Act.1644

They tended to be a bit more harsh and restrictive on the west coast.1654

But generally speaking, the process could be very lengthy.1662

Some had to wait for months, they had a series of questions that they had to answer.1668

And of course, on the west coast, again, we see lots of Chinese.1673

And I wanted to bring this in as well, that the term 'paper son' means that supposed sons on paper would come to the United States.1677

They claim to be sons of a current Chinese-American, we will say.1682

This is what will became a new trend as well during this time period, paper sons, paper daughters.1688

Meaning they were not really their sons and daughters in reality, but just on paper.1695

This was a technique that many people used to come in to the United States.1714

And of course, they did not have as extensive of a custom service and immigration agency that we have today, that is much more strict.1719

Many immigrants came to the United States.1733

Here are some images of the immigrant experience, and of course the famous Statue of Liberty that was given to us by the French.1738

And at the bottom of the statue in New York City, is a famous poem that called the New Colossus that was written by Emma Lazarus.1746

I’m going to read it for you.1761



whose flame is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles.1773

From her beacon-hand glows world-wide welcome,1779

her mild eyes command the air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.1783

Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp, cries she with silent lips.1788



Here we see the Statue of Liberty is a huge symbol of coming to the United States, 1811

oftentimes, the first visual statue that people see when they would come to Ellis Island, and this is where they would be processed.1820

Here are some pictures here that show you people just literally getting off the boat, 1830

and they look a little bit in shock because they just came to the United States.1836

And a lot of people are sacrificing and starting a whole new life with barely any English and barely any monies.1841

They are quite vulnerable but yet full of hope to build a new life.1847

Here you can see this is from Angel Island. In fact, you could see the process of being checked for your health,1853

checking his eyes, checking his hair, making sure you are healthy, etc.1861

A lot of the physicals that took place were quite extensive and lengthy.1865

I brought up these two comparative maps, again, just also to emphasize that 1874

we are going to see continued immigration throughout the late 19th century and into the early 20th century.1879

We still are as in United States, a land of immigrants.1889

And of course, in many ways, we have this tension because we have mixed races, we are very welcoming to immigrant groups.1893

We have a history of diverse peoples, yet we also know that under the surface, there are certain groups that are very anti immigrant.1900

This continues even today to cause tension and controversy within our government, specially.1909

Just to emphasize that we are seeing new immigrant groups coming into the United States.1922

The new immigrants primarily coming from southern and eastern Europe,1928

whereas the old immigrants came from Western and Northern Europe, for the most part.1934

Lots of challenges for the immigrants.1942

There were a lot of families that helped the transition for immigrants to assimilate into mainstream U.S. society.1944

There were a lot of fraternal organizations that were formed that helped different ethnic groups.1955

Here a few examples, the Irish Hibernian Association or the Italian Knights of Columbus, 1960

these were groups that helped their fellow, brothers and sisters, in this transition to living in the United States.1967

They would help them with jobs, they would help them with providing a sense of community, 1976

give them suggestions, perhaps, give them access to a job, in some cases.1982

This played a important role.1988

Adjustment to urban life could be very difficult, often the cities were overcrowded and 1991

there were poor working and living conditions that people had put up with.1998

There was discrimination, people had limited English abilities that could oftentimes be a roadblock.2002

But we also know there is a positive side of immigrants coming to the United States, 2010

that bring their own culture and foods and traditions, making it very rich and pluralistic, in many ways.2016

That is for many people in the United States, the goal is that, back then, they would have considered this the melting pot.2024

Sometimes we have this debate, do we have a melting pot where everybody kind of melts into one 2033

and creates this new American identity or are we a salad bowl where we have different ethnic groups stay in their own communities?2038

Like Korea town or little Tokyo, or little Italy, this type of thing.2051

That is something for you to wrap your head around and think about which way you think we are, are we a melting pot or are we a salad bowl?2060

Anyway, the richness of culture, the diversity, that many people would say today that it is a huge strength,2069

I believe it is a strength in the United States.2076

It can make things challenging sometimes, as not all cultural groups see things the same way.2080

There are different practices and they can sometimes lead to misunderstanding.2088

But in this American experiment where we are seeing different groups coming together,2093

we oftentimes see that people do kind of like learning from different types of people.2102

They like trying different types of food and they like being open to different cultures, and so forth.2107

There are obviously positive aspects and challenging aspects to this whole process of immigration, 2113

assimilation, and adapting, and so forth.2121

We will see throughout the Gilded Age that immigrants, especially poor immigrants will provide much of the labor force in factories.2127

It is like the right time, they are at the right time, at the right place, when industrialization is booming 2136

and there are lots of opportunity, there are lots of jobs.2142

The corporations and the factories need workers, and it benefits some to pay workers as little as they can,2148

so they can make huge profits.2155

The backlash, there is this negative aspect where there is competition for jobs, especially during severe depression,2159

when the economy is really bad, as immigrants will be scapegoated.2165

You are taking my job, if someone who believes they are a Native American, that they lived here first, 2170

that they should have first dibs to those jobs.2177

Again, we will see many restrictions being put into place.2180

We have talked about this before, just to remind you of an example.2184

On the West Coast, in particular, this will become a national policy, there is a policy against Chinese.2188

And then, we will also see in 1906, ruling stated that these new immigrants were not eligible for citizenship.2196

That is going to happen for the Japanese.2212

Chinese come in and then they are going to be banned until 1943.2215

That is a long period of time.2221

And then, we will start to see more Japanese and Korean people even coming into the United States.2223

But we will see laws being put into place that justify these restrictions to protect workers.2230

Nonetheless, immigrants continue to come to the United States that promises to be the land of milk and honey.2240

That it is sweet, it is the land of opportunity.2249

Many want to pursue their American dream, that you can be poor but if you work hard, 2252

you could save up money and have a successful life.2258

Or at least your children will have a better life than you had.2262

And that is part of this whole narrative and theme throughout U.S. history.2266

And of course, for some people, they are able to achieve this.2274

For others, they think that this is unachievable and not a reality.2276

It depends on your perspective.2282

From the 1840's to the 1850's, millions of European immigrants come to the United States.2286

Here is another map to show you the change.2296

We see various push and pull factors that influence this shift.2300

Here are some popular cartoons at the time, related to immigration.2307

This one highlighting the diversity of American citizens.2313

This one showing a positive view of Uncle Sam, welcoming the different groups into the U.S. acting as a refuge.2319

Welcoming all of these different ethnic groups.2332

Here we see, perhaps, a grim scene, we see a whole family here struggling, that perhaps they are not living the American dream.2335

But you see the fat capitalist here collecting money from some other people who are tied up in this corruption.2346

Here we see a very skeptical Uncle Sam looking down on these different groups.2358

Here it says something about mafia in New Orleans, anarchists in Chicago, socialists in New York.2365

Some of these negative stereotypes that scapegoating immigrants.2372

You see the Statue of Liberty here, the American flag, showing how increasingly United States is becoming restrictive.2380

A little bit more on urban life.2392

During this age of industrialization, we will see a lot of the infrastructure improving.2395

Technology will improve life.2400

Electric street lights are installed, electricity is going to be a major game changer, 2402

as the lights of the city are going to have a very magical effect, to light up the city and also lead to people having a quality nightlife.2410

We will see new forms of transportation being created.2425

The trolley and also different subways, and so forth.2430

Frank’s, Bragg’s, Trolley became very popular.2434

We will also see because of these trains, we will see an infrastructure being created that people can commute from the suburbs and access the city.2440

There will be public works programs eventually put into place, that will create sewers and underground pipes for water.2450

This will make cities cleaner and improve the water quality and so forth.2457

Skyscrapers were being created.2464

Louis Sullivan designed a steel frame skyscraper based on the philosophy that form follows function.2467

All of these important contributions are going to improve life in the city.2475

This was also a major contribution, Frederick Law Olmsted’s designs for parks in major city centers.2481

This is kind of a neat picture where we can see, this was his plan for what became Central Park, 2492

that is still one of the most popular spots in New York City.2499

When people feel that they need to get out of the concrete jungle, they can seek refuge in Central Park and then have a piece of nature, 2505

and this is an area that is protected where people can kind of get away from the noises and the crowded city streets.2516

Perhaps that the air is a bit cleaner in Central Park, than it is in the industrial areas of the city.2527

Central Park was designed in the 1860’s, and this ultimately will set the foundation for other parks being established in other U.S. cities.2536

Olmsted will actually go in to design other parks throughout the U.S.2546

There were problems, a lot of poor immigrant groups, especially, poor people living in cities had to live in these tenements.2552

This is an important term to be familiar with.2560

These kind of tell it all, these were crowded apartment buildings that had poor conditions.2563

And in fact, in New York City, you can actually go to the tenement museum where they reenact what a tenement was like.2568

This would be a typical situation where you would see huge families living in very small space, the ventilation was bad.2578

There was no air conditioning back then.2588

It was very dirty, a very difficult situation.2591

There are tough times for people, they did not have privacy.2598

But people will sacrifice, in many ways, to come to the United States and to try to improve their lives.2603

With that, we are going to actually go into the assessment section of the lesson.2611

Another graph here, and we have seen this one before.2620

Southeastern Europeans, Northern Europeans are on the decline.2624

In the chart, the new immigrants include those who arrived in the U.S. from,2633

Northern and Western Europe, Southern and Eastern Europe, Latin America, or Asia?2639

The answer.2648

Which of the following most likely explains a significant reduction of immigration during the 1870’s and 1890’s to the U.S. 2651

Conflicts between old and new immigrants, competition for jobs from Asian immigrations,2659

financial panics and depressions, military conflicts in Europe?2665

This is reduction.2671

The answer, such as the Panic of 1873.2675

Who do we have here, Boss Tweed.2684

As long as I count the votes, what are you going to do about it, say?2687

That is what is the matter, in counting, there is strength.2693

The brains that achieved the Tammany victory at the Rochester Democratic Convention.2698

These are both Nast cartoons who is very critical of our famous Boss Tweed.2709

Based on the Nast cartoon, it is evident that the artist was most critical of?2716

The effects of the capitalist system, The problems with Unions,2720

The consolidation of power in major cities that led to corruption, The influx of immigrants into U.S. cities.2724

The answer.2733

Which of the following is the artist trying to depict?2736

Party bosses and the political machine, captains of industry and entrepreneurs, 2739

The sentiment of the socialist movement, The positive aspects of U.S. democracy.2744

There we go, one last question.2754

Actually, this is a three part question within a question because it is a short answer.2758

Briefly explain how the development in three of the following areas in the years 1860 to 1900 had an impact on U.S. culture.2765

Architecture, education, visual arts, music and literature.2773

We did not focus a lot on education, in this, we did a little bit but not probably enough to feel confident about writing a few sentences.2777

We will talk about education more.2790

I’m going to choose one, this one, literature, visual arts, and music.2792

I did not talk about music.2807

I should take a little bit about music.2808

You are going to learn about music, you could actually do arts as well.2809

I will give you an example using both of these.2817

Let us start with architecture.2822

Architecture changed immensely during the post Civil War era.2823

Louis Sullivan designed a steel-frame skyscraper based on the philosophy that form follows function.2829

And increasingly, we will start to see that skyscraper having a huge impact on the landscape of cities.2835

Let us do literature next.2842

Literature of the post Civil War era included a movement from romanticism to focus on realism, 2844

as found in the works of Mark Twain or Jack London.2850

Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn in the Gilded Age revealed the greed, violence, racism, negative aspects of life in the United States.2854

I’m going to teach you about music through the sentence.2867

Some of the great musical styles at the time included early ragtime jazz and blues2870

that was popularized in New Orleans and spread to other major U.S. cities.2876

Upper class Americans enjoyed opera and symphony orchestras in cities, 2882

and many art museums were established in some of the major U.S. cities.2887

I actually forgot that I did talk about briefly symphonies and operas, but I did forgot to mention about jazz and blues.2893

They are uniquely American styles of music. It should be mentioned that they are starting to evolve and becoming more and more popular, 2904

starting in New Orleans and spreading to places like Memphis, in Chicago, and New York as well, and other cities too.2916

I think with that, we are done with this lesson on immigrants and urban life.2924

Thank you for watching