US History essays -Urban Growth and Civil War Reconstruction

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Yusuf Fateen

Part A:

1)  Urbanization: Growth of cities, mostly in the regions of the Northeast and the Midwest

Americanization Movement: Designed to assimilate people of wide-ranging cultures into the dominant culture.

Tenements: Multi-family Urban Dwellings

Mass Transit: Transportation systems designed to move large numbers of people along fixed routes.

Social Gospel Movement: An early reform program that preached salvation through service to the poor.

Settlement Houses: Community centers in slum neighborhoods that provided assistance to people in the area, especially immigrants.

2) Housing: P: Working class families can either buy a house on the outskirts of town and face transportation problems, or rent camped rooms. Due to over population, tenements were created, yet they were overcrowded and unsanitary. R: In 1879, New York City passed a law that set minimum standards of plumbing and ventilation in apartments. Air shafts were created and major issues attempter to be resolved.

- Transportation: P: Workers cannot go to their jobs due to transportation issues. R: Mass transit is created to move people in large masses. Street cars were introduced and electric subway systems were created.

- Water: P: Cities could not provide safe drinking water. Cities such as New York and Cleveland had built public waterworks to handle the increasing demand. R: Filtration was introduced in the 1870’s and chlorination in 1908.

- Sanitation: P: Horse manure piled up on the streets, sewage flowed through open gutters, and factoris spewed foul smoke into the air. R: Scavengers were hired to sweep the streets, sewer lines were created and sanitation departments established.

- Crime: P: As the population increased, pickpockets and thieves flourished. R: Full time, salaried police force was created in 1844.

- Fire: P: Major fires occurred in almost every large American city during the 1870’s and the 1880’s. Most cities were also packed with wooden dwellings. R: Fire departments were established in the 1850’s and professional fire departments were created. Automatic fire sprinklers were created and the use of stones and bricks for construction rather than wood also helped.

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3) Immigrants stayed together in the cities to escape racial violence, economic hardship, and political oppression.

Part B:

Political Machine: An organized group that controlled the activities of political party in a city.

Grafts: The illegal use of political influence for personal gain.

Boss Tweed: William M. Tweed was New York City’s powerful democratic political machine.

Patronage: The giving of government jobs to people who had helped a candidate get elected.

Civil Service: Government Administration.

Pendleton Civil Service Act: In 1883, it was an act that authorized a bipartisan civil service commission to make appointments to federal ...

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