1. Awakening of Reform

2. Urban problems created a new social consciousness among middle class
Journalists began publishing books that criticized laissez-faire economics
These books created an enthusiasm and optimism to create reform movements/organizations to try and implement these authors’ ideas
Encouraged a shift in public opinion away from pure laissez-faire policies to greater govt. regulation
Social Criticism

3. Many young middle-class men and women went to live in poor immigrant neighborhoods
Concerned about the poor, wanted to learn about their lives first-hand
Lived and worked in places called settlement houses
Provided social services for people in the neighborhood
Most famous was Hull House in Chicago
Started by Jane Addams and a college classmate in
Settlement Houses

4. Settlement Houses Settlement houses:
Taught English to immigrants
Pioneered early education
Taught industrial arts
Established neighborhood theaters and schools
1910: over 400 settlement houses in large cities
Settlement house workers set the foundation for social work in the future
Also political activities who crusaded for child labor laws, housing reform, and women’s rights
Settlement Houses

5. 1880s-1890s: Protestant clergy began preaching the Social Gospel
Importance of applying Christian principles to social problems
Walter Rauschenbusch led the Social Gospel movement
Baptist minister from New York who lived in Hell’s Kitchen
Wrote several books urging organized religions to take up the cause of social justice
The Social Gospel movement linked Christianity with the Progressive Movement
Encouraged many Protestants to become involved in social, urban problems
Social Gospel

6. Religions both adapted and were changed by this new urban society
Roman Catholicism grew rapidly from influx of new immigrants
Salvation Army was brought over from England in 1879
Provided basic necessities to homeless and poor while preaching Christian gospel
Church of Christ, Scientist (Christian Science) was also established during this time
Religion & Society

7. Families in Urban Society
Urban life isolated parents and children from the extended family and village/town support
Divorce rates increased greatly by 1900
Expanded grounds for divorce to include cruelty and desertion
In the city, children were an economic liability vs. being an asset if you were living on a farm
In the last decades of the 19th century, the average birthrate and family size declined
Families in Urban Society

8. Voting Rights for Women
Cause of women’s suffrage began with the Seneca Falls convention in 1848
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony helped found the National American Women Suffrage Association (NAWSA) to secure voting rights for women
1869: Wyoming the first state to grant women’s suffrage
By 1900: some more states allowed women to vote; most allowed women to hold and own property
Voting Rights for Women

9. Excessive drinking was thought to be one of the main causes of poverty and crime for immigrant and working-class families
Women’s Christian Temperance Movement (WCTU) advocated for total abstinence of alcohol
Grew to 500,000 members by
Antisaloon League founded in and became a powerful political force- persuaded 21 states to close down all saloons and bars by 1916
Carry A. Nation created a sensation by raiding bars and saloons, smashing barrels and bottles with a hatchet while reciting the Bible
Temperance Movement

10. Grassroots efforts arose to combat corruption in city governments
A young Theodore Roosevelt tried to clean up the NYPD
His efforts here made him a vice-presidential nominee in 1896, and later the president
Many of these reformers would not see their efforts realized and have a significant impact until the early 20th century
Urban Reforms

11. Growing complexity of urban life and reactions to Darwin’s new theory of evolution raised the question about what schools should be teaching
After 1865: elementary schools continued to teach the 3 R’s (reading, writing, arithmetic) and traditional values promoted in the McGuffey Readers
New compulsory attendance laws dramatically increased enrollment in public schools
Literacy rate rose to 90% of the population by 1900
Practice of sending children to kindergarten (a concept borrowed from Germany) reflected growing interest in early- childhood education
Changes in Education

12. Growing support for tax-supported public high schools
At first followed college curriculums, but began to offer more comprehensive classes- vocational and citizenship education
Number of U.S. colleges increased in late 1800s due to several factors:
Land-grant colleges
Universities founded by wealthy philanthropists
Founding of new colleges for women
1900: 71% of colleges admitted women
Made up one-third of enrolled students
Changes in Education

13. Changes in Higher Education
College curriculum also changed greatly
Required courses were reduced, more electives introduced
More modern languages and sciences were taught (physics, chemistry, biology, geology)
Johns Hopkins the first institution to specialize in advanced graduate studies
Innovations in college curricula produced America’s first generation of scholars who could compete with the intellectual achievements of Europe
Colleges also began adding social activities, fraternities, club sports, etc. that would come to dominate the college experience for many
Changes in Higher Education

14. The Scientific Method and Darwin’s theory of evolution revolutionized the sciences in the late 19th century
A new field known as the social sciences emerged
Psychology, sociology, anthropology, political science
Emphasized greater study of the effects of human behavior on social, political, economic events rather than rely on logical abstractions (like laissez-faire ideas)
The Social Sciences

15. Changes in Professions
Changes in science influenced the work of doctors, educators, social workers, and lawyers
Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. argued law should evolve with the times in response to changing needs
Not remain restricted by legal precedents or judicial decisions of the past
Clarence Darrow, a famous lawyer, argued criminal behavior could be caused by a person’s environment of poverty, neglect, abuse
Not insanity or evil ways
These social changes proved a boost to the Progressive Movement in the early 20th century
Changes in Professions

16. What types of services did settlement houses provide
What types of services did settlement houses provide? What did they set the foundation for?
What did the Social Gospel movement emphasize?
How did the nature of families change during the turn of the 20th century?
What was a positive outcome of the major changes in college curricula in the U.S. in the early 20th century?
How did the social sciences change perspectives and attitudes about economics and the law? ?