Chapter 16 NotesProblems at the Turn of the

Century

Muckrakers muckraker: a journalist who

wrote about social, environmental, and political problems Americans faced in the early 1900s• Teddy Roosevelt gave them the name because “"raked the mud of society.“

State of the Union 1900 Rise of industry = rise of

urbanization: the growth of cities- Drawn in by jobs and amusements

U.S. becoming an urban, industrial society with an increasingly diverse population

Mechanization = more production More production= new methods of

selling goods• Montgomery Ward and other catalogs• Department Stores

Poor Living Conditions People lived in slum tenements

• New York's Lower East Side, for example, housed 450,000 people in 1900. =than 300,000 people per square mile.

Poor living conditions because of poor infrastructure: the facilities or equipment required for an organization or community to function, including roads, sewage and power systems, and transportation

Lack of fire protection and sanitation

Poor Working Conditions Factory work boring, strenuous, and

dangerous Unsafe products

• No Gov. regulations• Meat- the Jungle• Medicine- Coca Cola

Problems with the Environment

Reduction of Natural Resources• Ranching, farming, logging• extractive industries: businesses that take mineral resources from the earth Coal, oil, etc.

Pollution• Factories, animal waste, household sewage

Problems in Politics political machines: an organization consisting of

full-time politicians whose main goal was to retain political power and the money and influence that went with it• Tammany Hall: a political machine in New York City- Boss

William Tweed• patronage: the practice of politicians giving jobs to

friends and supporters• Rigged elections, money from entertainment, helped people for

votes, Corruption Pendelton Act-an 1883 federal law that limited

patronage by creating a civil service commission to administer exams for certain nonmilitary government jobs

Social Problems During the late 1800s, the gap between rich and

poor grew wider African Americans

• Not many gains since civil war• Found ways to not allow them to vote• Many moved North

Women• Worked outside the home• Attended college

Families• Public education expanded but many can’t go b/c need

children to work• temperance movement: a reform movement calling for

moderation in drinking alcohol- Seen as way to improve family life