The population explosion and modern inventions turned the city, once friendly and familiar, into an impersonal megalopolis that segregated Americans by race, ethnicity, and social class. City residents discovered that with growth and advancement came grim consequences. Between 1866 and 1915, more than 25 million foreigners left their homelands for the United States. Millions of newcomers had little money, a limited understanding of the English language, and no friends, family, or acquaintances to greet them upon their arrival. Unlike the highly literate immigrants who bought land and started businesses in America decades earlier, the new immigrants were largely illiterate and willing to accept low paying industrial jobs in the city.

To survive in the new and unfamiliar country, people who shared the same nationality often congregated in common sections of the city. Ethnic neighborhoods like Little Italy, Little Poland, and Chinatown soon sprang to life and served as transitional communities to help ease the shock of trying to blend into a new society. Churches and synagogues, along with ethnic newspapers, theaters, and schools, allowed newcomers to experience the freedoms of America and still maintain their native language and traditional culture. However, as more and more people crowded into these small neighborhoods, living conditions worsened.

Builders used every foot of space to pack in as many housing units as possible. The most common tenement plan, called the “dumbbell” because its design resembled a dumbbell weight, crowded thirty-two four-room apartments on a plot no larger than 25 by 100 feet. Some buildings featured communal toilets on each floor, while others required residents to use an outhouse in the alley. Typically, only one room in each apartment included a window and an air vent, so tenement dwellers had to leave the building to find sunshine or fresh air.

City sewer and water facilities could not meet the quickly expanding needs, and the tremendous amount of waste strained sanitation systems. Garbage piled up on porches and in the streets, creating an overwhelming stench and attracting hordes of disease-carrying rodents. By the late 1870s, New York City leaders passed laws regulating city housing and established minimal standards of plumbing and ventilation. The regulations, though, were rarely enforced.

The substandard living conditions led to an outbreak of health problems. Infectious diseases, including tuberculosis, were prevalent among the residents of the lower-class tenements. By 1900, three out of five babies in Chicago’s poorer neighborhoods died within their first year.

The harsh living conditions drove some to the city streets where they joined gangs like the Rock Gang and the Hell’s Kitchen Gang. Slum gangs typically relied on petty theft and shoplifting to survive, but many members moved on to more serious crimes, such as burglary and even murder. During the 1880s, the number of homicides in American cities tripled, and the prison population in the United States increased by 50 percent.

The rapid growth of urban areas also created a frenzied and confusing atmosphere that fostered corruption. As large numbers of poor immigrants moved to the city, middle-class residents, who previously filled management and leadership roles in the city, sought refuge in the suburbs. The void in leadership allowed the political machines created by neighborhood organizations to control the uneducated city masses.

City and ward bosses, like New York’s “Big Tim” Sullivan and Chicago’s “Hinky Dink” Kenna, often secured jobs or bought food and clothing for poor members of their districts. In exchange for their services, the bosses expected full and unquestionable political support from their followers. At the polls, the political machines instructed large groups of uneducated city dwellers how to vote. The people often helped the bosses elect corrupt politicians or pass liquor and gambling regulations. The immigrants typically had little vested interest in the future of the city because they frequently moved from place to place in search of their next job.

Perhaps the most notorious city boss was William Macy Tweed, a member of the corrupt Tammany Hall political organization that took control over the local Democratic Party. The 240-pound “Boss” Tweed used bribery, extortion, and fraudulent elections to steal almost $200 million from New York City. Although Tweed controlled many New York politicians, judges, and police officials, his luck finally ran out in 1871 when he was arrested in Spain by authorities who used political cartoons drawn by Thomas Nast to identify him. Tammany Hall continued to play a key role in New York City politics until voters elected anti-Tammany politician Fiorello La Guardia mayor in 1934.

Urban growth also sparked a new spirit of Manifest Destiny with many people calling for America to expand its territorial claims. Following Darwin’s survival of the fittest theory, certain intellectuals believed imperialism was the future for the United States. Both historian and lecturer John Fiske and Congregational minister Josiah Strong argued that the destiny of “Anglo-Saxons,” which they called the superior race, was to dominate the traditions, language, and blood of the peoples of the world. The men claimed there was no room for immigrants in the United States and directed American Anglo-Saxons to spread their Christian religion and superior ideals to the “backwards” peoples of the world.

Copyright 2006 The Regents of the University of California and Monterey Institute for Technology and Education