Englsih 420

the belief that fundamental truths rested in unseen realm of ideas and spirit or in the distant past

reaction to idealism; asserts that truths are found in the accessible world of tangible facts and contemporary experience.

Civil War, Scientific advances∙, Industrial Revolution

Sobering reminder
that underneath war’s
romantic veneer lurked
grim realities

∙ Modern scientific spirit of
the age dismisses philosophy
as mere speculation
∙ Electric light bulb and
phonograph (Edison), steam
engine (Corliss), Kodak
camera (Eastman), elevator
(Otis), typewriter (Sholes),
telephone (Bell), and dynamite
(Nobel)

∙ Rise of a capitalist class
∙ Growth of giant corporations (Rockefeller’s Standard Oil and Carnegie’s US Steel)
∙ Labeled the “Gilded Age” by Twain
∙ Corruption (spoils system, bribery, office-selling, vote buying, unrestrained speculation, fraud, get-rich-quick schemes)
∙ Growth of cities
∙ Growth of slums

American Realism marked by social optimism
--Embraced democracy
--Belief that a democratic culture could be achieved by giving representation to diversity (racial, ethnic, and socio-economic)
--Art sought to promote social toleration

Strong attempt to represent the typical, average
∙ Value in dialect
∙ Prevalence of ordinary events
∙ Characters are on the street, no larger-than-life heroes who engage in romantic adventures filled with courageous acts, daring chases, and narrow escapes
∙ Use of one’s own experience as a source
∙ Characters are not governed by fate but are confronted with viable options
∙ Plausible plot and dialogue with familiar characters (real people doing real things)

∙ Shows the removal of a bone from the thigh of a young male charity patient clad only in socks by Dr. Samuel David Gross (professor of surgery at the Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia)
∙ original size was 8 feet by 6 feet
∙ 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia refused to hang the picture, declaring it “too brutal . . . The sense of actuality was more than impressive, it was oppressive.”

∙ Rise of giant corporations and nouveaux riches—J.P. Morgan, Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Cornelius Vanderbilt
∙ Power resides in capitalist class, not farmers who supply raw materials or workers who supply the labor
∙ Inventions—light bulb, steam engine, elevator, phonograph, home photography, telephone, dynamite, typewriter, electric power

Accumulated about half of nation’s railroad track mileage and was able to set the country’s railroad rates
∙ As a banker he had a hand in almost every major financial undertaking in the country, including the organization of U.S. Steel

∙ Rose from a telegraph clerk to a steel magnate, a life that embodies the American Dream
∙ Built a fortune of $500 million, but gave much away to charity

∙ A bookkeeper who amassed a fortune of $900 million through the oil industry and a ruthless strategy of buyouts and bribery
∙ By 1879, his Standard Oil controlled 90% of nation’s oil-refining capacity

∙ A ferryman-turned-financier who amassed $100 million in shipping
∙ His lavish homes and parties of his heirs gave new definition to “conspicuous consumption”

∙ Work opportunities expanded
∙ Educational opportunities expanded
∙ 1874—Francis Willard founds Women’s Christian Temperance Union
--fought alcoholism
--advocated an eight-hour work day
--fought for childcare centers for working mothers
--fought for prison reform
--fought for suffrage

Educated
Socially mobile
Relative economic
self-sufficiency

∙ 1867-1877 Reconstruction following Civil War
∙ 1866 KKK first organized
∙ Plessy v. Ferguson
∙ Movements established by Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois

∙ Founded Tuskegee
Institute (provided
practical knowledge)
∙ Argued for
conciliation and
accommodating the
white world
∙ Blacks needed to
prove themselves
qualified for civil rights
by succeeding in the
economic arena

∙ Founded the Niagra
Movement (urged
Blacks to use courts
and education to
agitate for civil rights
∙ Protest was an
absolute necessity

Nine million, including 3 million from Ireland, 2.5 million from Germany, 1.5 million from Britain, with 70% entering through the port of New York and after 1855 through Castle Garden.

The next wave of Immigration brought 21 million from eastern and southern Europe, at the principal port of entry, Ellis Island.
Southeastern Europe provided 3,522,000 immigrants. Italy alone accounted for 3,156,000 immigrants, while Russia and Poland supplied 2,519, 000 people. There were more immigrants from Japan (213,000) and Mexico (270,000) than from France (136,000), the Netherlands (167,000) and Switzerland (158,000).

The National Origins Act of 1924 set a quota of about 150,000 total immigrants a year mostly from England and Northern Europe, with few slots allotted to southern and Eastern Europe (and none for Asians). This law was the basis of U.S. immigration policy until 1965.