Regional divisions - The North, East and South Flashcards
What was most notable in the North and East?
- The effects of industrialisation, urbanisation and shifts in population in the booming cities and economic hubs of New York and Chicago for example.
- Urban populations grew fastest, railroads made their biggest impact and big business had the greatest influence over state and federal governments.
Describe the change in population in NYC and Chicago.
- Between 1860 and 1890, the population of NYC doubled.
- In those years the population of Chicago increased tenfold, from just over 100,000 to more than 1 million.
Describe the tensions caused by the power of the railroads.
- There was a Great Railroad Strike in July 1877- workers fought wage cuts by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.
- Violent clashes in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, where the Union rail depot was set on fire and more than 40 people were killed by militiamen.
How did mass immigration and rapid urbanisation bring ethnic tensions and social unrest to major cities?
There were threats of gang warfare and serious outbreaks of violence, such as the Orange Riots between Irish Protestants and Catholics in NYC in 1870 and 1871.
Describe the powerful Irish gangs that dominated Chicago’s South Side.
From the 1870s they terrorised immigrant groups who arrived in the city, such as Italians, Jews and Poles.
What was the greatest regional division of all?
The gulf between the South and the rest of the country. The New South was very much the Old South and the 11 states of the Confederacy had deep feelings of displacement and alienation.
Describe the discontent of the South.
The South could not easily let go of the grievances of defeat, or the sentimental attachment to a lost way of life and position at the forefront of American politics.
What was the bitterness of the South showed in?
Violence and discrimination against blacks, the determination to rebuild segregation, and the endless complaints against the ‘Yankees’, ‘carpetbaggers’ and ‘scalawags’.
