Class 4: Early America through the Progressive Era Flashcards
The formation of American character, the growth of cities and the needs of a newly urbanized population (28 cards)
Class plan
Supplement historical reading (Jansson) with a focus on
philosophical trend; examples of their manifestation; make explicit the relationship with policy development
demographic trends; population growth in cities; expansion/movement
land policies; examples;ramifications
Formation of the American character
The philosophical concept of Manifest Destiny undergirds American expansion in the later part of the 18th century and the mid 19th century. The roots of this ideology, however, came over with the original Colonists.
The concept of Manifest Destiny captured the beliefs and energy of most Americans and is intricately linked to the development of this country.
Rationale for expansion
Texas has been absorbed into the union in the inevitable fulfillment of the general law which is rolling our population westward…. It was disintegrated from Mexico in the natural course of events, by a process perfectly legitimate on its own part, blameless on ours…. (its) incorporation into the union was not only inevitable, but the most natural, right and proper thing in the world…. California will, probably, next fall away from…Mexico…. Imbecile and distracted, Mexico never can exert any real governmental authority over such a country…. The Anglo-Saxon foot is already on its borders. Already the advance guard of the irresistible army of Anglo-Saxon emigration has begun to pour down upon it armed with the plow and the rifle, and marking its trail with schools and colleges, courts and representative halls, mills and meeting houses. A population will soon be in actual occupation of California, over which it will be idle for Mexico to dream of dominion… All this without agency of our government, without responsibility of our people - in the natural flow of events, the spontaneous working of principles, and the adaptation of the tendencies and wants of the human race to the elemental circumstances in the midst of which they find themselves placed.” (1845 article in the Democratic Review, Blum, 277)
Manifest destiny
As you noted in your Jansson chapter, the need for lands and the belief in a defined right to expand “from sea to shining sea” drove Americans westward into Mexican territory (much of what becomes our Southwest) as well as into the lands of Native Americans.
The seeming conflict between establishing freedom and institutions for citizens and the enslavement of Africans, subjugation of Spanish speaking people and the mass killing of Native Americans was not a conflict for many of the early Americans.
America, race and hierarchy
It was not a conflict because of a belief in the racial superiority of the Anglo Saxon.
An important step in racializing the Anglo-Saxon myth was aided by the establishment of new sciences which were concerned with differences between races.
Scientists, by mid-century, had provided an abundance of “proofs” by which English and American Anglo-Saxons could explain their power, progress, governmental stability, and freedom.
- Races were imbued with innately unequal abilities, these unequal abilities led either to success and world power or to total subordination and extinction.
Phrenology - Example
This flawed, pseudo science studied the size and shape of the skull and other defining physical attributes and drew conclusions about race and superiority.
Phrenologists considered the Anglo-Saxon of Germanic descent to be the superior race.
- Irish, Welsh and, most pointedly, Asian, Africans and Native Americans were less evolved, inferior races.
Phrenology makes a muscular reappearance during the Nazi regime.
Racial Essentialism
By the 19th century, scientists came to believe that races had essences, just like species. Not just physical characteristics, but also habits of mind and moral attributes.
In the 21st century, scientists know this is wrong. All humans are the same species – they can mate and produce fertile offspring.
The majority of physical anthropologists find that all anatomically modern humans are descendants of a handful of people who lived in East Africa about 200,000 years ago.
(Zimmer, Carl, 2013, Rare genes cause common diseases. Discover 34(1): 72; Interbreeding with Neanderthals. Discover 34(2): 38-44.)
Belies about groups and policy
These beliefs would profoundly shape
- the expansion of American colonists
- the seizing of lands
- the on-going use of slavery
- broken treaties with the Native Americans
- racial laws that systematically denied non-white persons legal rights
- reactions to massive immigration; before 1880 most European immigrants came from Western, Northern Europe (English, Scotch, Irish, Dutch, German, Swedish, Scandinavians); in the 1880’s more immigrants began arriving from Southern/Eastern Europe (Italy, Greece, Turkey, Spain, Portugal, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Poland, Russia)- this later group of immigrants were more likely to be Catholic or Jewish with different customs
Racial Essentialism: Modern conversation
Philosophy for perspective
Dr. Mills offers a thought experiment to think about how the social construct of race influences the US – now, let’s hold onto this and move on to policies.
Mill’s comments about blood refer to the “one drop black blood rule” that is how we have “tracked” racial categorization in the US.
Land Policy
The Homestead Act of 1862 signed into law by Abraham Lincoln turned over vast amounts of the public domain to private citizens.
- 270 million acres or 10% of the area of the United States was claimed and settled under this act
- there was a lot of corruption
- meant to stem land monopoly but actually facilitated due to the difficulty of farmers to; get to the auctions, raise the capital and successfully farm
- speculators often worked for wealthy land owners to outbid or lay claim to the land before others could
Early example of a policy with a seemingly good intent but lack of structure and oversight.
bribery of local officials commonplace
Act was used to buy up prime land and then resell at inflated prices to settlers
- buy up land to secure water and mineral rights
Homesteading Act
A homesteader had to be the head of a household and at least 21 years of age to claim a 160 acre parcel of land.
Settlers from all walks of life including
- newly arrived immigrants
- farmers without land of their own from the east were eligible
Each homesteader had to
- live on the land
- build a home
- make improvements and farm for 5 years before they were eligible to “prove up”.
- A total filing fee of $18 was required
- 30 states had land available for homesteading
Homesteading
keep in mind that the Homestead Act predates emancipation so slaves were not eligible
distribution of lands to former slaves, after freedom, was quite minimal
the Freedman’s Bureau was underfunded and temporary
hampered by resistance to governments’ involvement in welfare and concerned about preferential treatment towards former slaves
Summary (homestead?)
Large amounts of land are acquired by wealthy business interests at bargain basement prices from the government
Some land is acquired by smaller farmers
No land is made available to slaves
Structure of this first land policy is related to the development of wealth over time.
Reaction to federal policy initiatives
Policy to deal with 4 million newly freed slaves
- Freedman’s Bureau
- Mired in conflict from inception
“There was no tradition of government responsibility for a huge refugee population and no bureaucracy to administer a large welfare, employment and land reform program.” (Cimbala & Miller).
- The Freedman’s Bureau was dismantled in 1872, just 7 years after it’s inception.
Massive immigration
between 1831 and 1861 the urban population increased by over 700 percent from about 500,000 to 3.8 million
by 1850 the foreign born population in
- New York City become 45.7%
- Cincinnati, Ohio 47.2%
- St. Louis, Mo 49.3%
- Chicago, Il 52.3%
- Boston, Ma 34.1%
- Philadelphia, Pa 34.1%
from the 1840’s to the 1850’s, 85% of these immigrants were Irish or German, the potato famine drove Irish immigration most significantly between 1847 and 1854
Precursors to the Progressive Era
The Progressive Era is the first notable period of American reformers attempts to influence policy
- As we pointed out earlier, with the Freedman’s Bureau as an examplethe very idea that the government should be involved in policy making was bold and deeply contested
The Gilded Age (1865-1893)
this roughly 30 year period is typified by some major themes
- the term, the “Gilded Age” comes from a novel of the same name published in 1873 by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner
- the novel is a fictional account of politics and corruption in the 19th century
Industrialists as a Darwinian success
prior to the Depression of 1893, industrialists were considered a perfect specimen of the opportunity and success of the American experiment
UNPRECEDENTED RISE OF INDUSTRY was almost a mythical story of the “Captains of Industry“
the story unwinds in this fashion:
- a legion of ingenious and industrious capitalists transformed the American economy with their business acumen
- many become folk heroes
- they were used as examples of Social Darwinism
- they were, indeed, the fittest and most capable of men and drove the engine of progress for all
- these men embodied the “rags to riches” potential for all who worked hard in America
What about working people during this period?
they were witness to the lavish lifestyle of the rich on display in cities
labored in very poor working conditions
job related injuries and death very high
no incentive to check these problems by industry
constant stream of untapped immigrant labor
violent strikes and riots wracked the nation through the turn of the century
for immediate relief, the urban poor often turned to political machines
during the first years of the Gilded Age, Boss Tweed’s Tammany Hall provided more services to the poor than any city government before it although far more money went into Tweed’s own pocket
corruption extended to the highest levels of government and folks knew this
many working people had basic needs met through the corrupt local politicians who required their ongoing support
Fears of unions: government assistance to “put down” strikes
for many Americans, unionization fed a fear that “barbarians” had invaded the nation
during a Cleveland steel strike, violent confrontations led local newspapers to attack the “un-American” Polish workers as “Ignorant and degraded whelps,” “Foreign devils,” and “Communistic scoundrels [who] revel in robberies, bloodshed, and arson.”
in 1886, a national strike called for changing the standard workday from 12-hours to eight
12,000 companies nationwide, 340,000 workers stopped work
in Chicago police were trying to break up a large labor meeting in Haymarket Square, when a bomb exploded without warning, killing a police officer, police fired into the crowd, killing one and wounding many more
- as a result of the riot, four labor organizers were hanged
the hangings demoralized the national labor movement and energized management
by 1890, Knights of Labor membership had plummeted by ninety percent
the 1892 battle at Carnegie’s Homestead mill became a model for stamping out strikes: hold firm and call in government troops for support
Strikes, unions and union busting
the depression of 1893-1894 triggered some of the worst labor conflicts in the country’s history
Summary of the Gilded Age
1865-1893
period of rapid growth
large industries
developing monopolies
scandals, politicians and industry
extreme wealth for some
marked poverty and hardship for many
often described as the birth of modern capitalism
laissez faire economic policy
Summary of the depression of 1893-1894
in the first nine months of 1893, 172 state banks, 177 private banks, and 47 savings-and-loan associations closed
more than 15,000 businesses failed
railroads started closing—156 of them before it was over
mines were shut down
steamers stayed in port
factories closed
companies went bankrupt
Progressive Era reformers
The Gilded Era industrial development, corruption, government support of industry at the expense of citizens followed by the harsh realities of a depression. All of this set the ground work for Progressive Era Reformers.
Progressive Era reformers
- Jane Adams, Grace Abbot, Paul Kellog
- Muckrakers (reforming journalists) chronicle wrongdoing
- Influence of the 1893-1896 depression on thinking about poverty
- Influence of Social Darwinism
- Roots of Social Work (Charity Org./Settlement Houses)
