Two weeks ago, I described my overall approach to my upcoming Osher class focused on the time period between the end of the Civil War and the beginning of the 20th century. Last week, I explored the developments in technology and business that drove this era. This week, I want to talk about the major demographic changes that characterized this era. The numbers, characteristics, and location of the population all changed dramatically in the decades after the Civil War. These changes had lasting effect on society.
A few graphs and maps will tell this story.
The first point is that the population almost doubled over this time period – increasing from 38,925,598 in 1870 to 76.3 million in 1900. This growth came both from natural increase, as better medical care resulted in fewer infant deaths, and from immigration, as the following chart illustrates.
The second point is that the population became increasingly urban. In 1870 about 25% of Americans lived in cities; by 1900, that percentage had grown to 40%. This meant that not only the number of urban dwellers had increased. Their occupations had also changed, as people left the farm and entered the ranks of industrial workers.
These maps show the increased population density in the urban areas of the country between 1870 and 1900.
The third point is illustrated by the following chart.
Immigrants were coming to America in large numbers and from areas of Europe that had been underrepresented in earlier waves of immigration – specifically, from Southern and Eastern Europe. The increasing diversity of the cities thus also differentiated rural from urban life.
With increasingly populous cities comes challenges of city living – transportation, communications, sanitation, and so forth. As a fourth point, we see advances in all of these areas during the last decades of the 19th century.
This chart illustrates only a few of these changes, but even this simple diagram illustrates how rapid the change was. It’s hard to comprehend how rapid these changes were. By the 1890s – a scant three decades after Appomattox – residents could get around New York City either by motorized streetcar or elevated railway – the “el.” Increased population density required better sources of water and disposal of sewage – which was completed (for the New York City at least) by the turn of the century. Life had developed to the point where people had leisure time – and cities developed ways for them to spend the time, including public sports leagues and amusement parks.
All of these changes form the backdrop for the political and economic developments of the time – both in the United States and abroad.
What was impetuous for spike in northern and Western European immigration 1860-1865?
this is an ear about which I know zip, zero, nada! So, I am really enjoying your "Cliff Notes" about your series, and wish I were in Williamsburg, so I could have attended. It foreshadows in a lot of ways what's happening now, and why. Thanks for the info.