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The Conflict Between Urban And Rural America

The Conflict Between Urban And Rural America. History 17B Lecture 4. American democracy has been nourished from its agrarian roots. The city represents corruption, filth, poverty, hell on earth. Farmers wielded the most influence (cultural and political) until industrialization.

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The Conflict Between Urban And Rural America

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  1. The Conflict Between UrbanAnd Rural America History 17B Lecture 4

  2. American democracy has been nourished from its agrarian roots. The city represents corruption, filth, poverty, hell on earth. Farmers wielded the most influence (cultural and political) until industrialization. City seen as a rival. The Agrarian Myth

  3. The Rise of the Industrial City • Advances in steam and electricity • Infrastructure • Communication (the telephone) • Health and sewage systems • Transportation • Trolley cars and trains. • Skyscrapers • City moves “up” rather than “out.”

  4. Population Rise 1870: 20% of Americans were urban 1900: 33% of Americans were urban 1870: 19 cities with 100,000+ 1900: 38 cities with 100,000+ Political/cultural influence shifts. Who was coming? Rural migrants and African Americans thrown off farms by mechanization. Millions of immigrants. Movement to the Cities

  5. Immigrants • Old Immigrants • Before 1860s • Western and Northern Europeans • German, Irish, Scandinavians, Chinese • White, Protestant, and skilled immigrants eventually blended in (so did Catholic Irish over time).

  6. “New” Immigrants • Southern and Eastern European • Less skilled, less educated, agrarian • Catholic and Jewish coming to a (mostly) Protestant nation. • Unfamiliar with republican institutions.

  7. Japanese Replace Chinese workers excluded by 1882 Act. Exclusion movement in San Francisco 1905 Chinese Prevented from naturalized citizenship. San Francisco Earthquake (1906) New influx of Chinese immigrants. “Paper sons” “New” Immigrants

  8. “New” Immigrants • Why did they come? • Famine, disease, persecution, new opportunities • 1877-1880: 6 million come • 1890-1920: 30 million more

  9. Living in the City Living conditions were crowded, unsanitary, disease ridden, with criminal activity. Dumbbell Apartment

  10. Ethnic Neighborhoods • Ethnic groups congregated together in same neighborhoods. • Immigrants expressed culture through newspapers, theaters, church groups, and associations. • Association groups fostered assimilation into American society.

  11. Working class preferred amusement parks. Coney Island provided relief from monotony of work. High Culture Leisure Opera houses, museums, parks, libraries. Leisure in the City Coney Island

  12. Leisure in the City • Social space for women • A place to escape parental authority and social constraints. • Allowed for dating, dancing, “treating,” and flirting.

  13. Political and structural organization. Democratic Party accommodates immigrants. Tammany Hall and “honest graft.” Centralized political decision making. Responded to needs of urban poor in exchange for votes. Machine Politics

  14. Populism A passionate rural reform movement against entrenched powerful interests.

  15. Falling Farm Prices • Upset at railroad price gouging and falling farm prices. • Corn Prices (per bushel) • 1870 - 45 cents • 1890: 30 cents • Wheat Prices (per bushel) • 1870: $1.00 • 1890: 60 cents

  16. City as Scapegoat • Farmers embraced Agrarian Myth • Guardians of morality, civic virtue, religious principals. • Resentment of status, wealth, and influence of the city. • Psychic Crisis • Populists accused urban elites of conspiracy to destroy rural America.

  17. People’s (Populist) Party • Populist Party formed in 1892 to compete nationally. • Platform • Nationalize transportation and communication. • Graduated income tax and currency reform. • Labor reform. • Embrace initiatives and recalls. • Immigration restriction.

  18. Expand money supply through coinage of silver. William Jennings Bryan’s “Cross of Gold” speech Why controversial? Farmers want inflation Higher farm prices would help pay off debts. Gold standard supporters fear harmful effects of inflation. Free Silver

  19. Election of 1896 • Democrat Bryan vs. Republican McKinley. • Democrats subsume Populist issues as party fades. Limited electoral success in 1892 at state and national level.

  20. Conclusion • New gold deposits at end of century expands money supply. • Agrarian radicalism wanes. • Agrarian myth continues to live on. • City’s influence would continue to grow, creating more conflict.

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