Exploring the History of the United States

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Turner 7

Candace Turner

History 17

Professor Johnson

10/17/2016

Exploring the History of the United States

1.) Zinn’s overall thesis pertaining to American history is that it is a living organism which is constantly evolving due to the ever-changing nature and makeup of the American population, while some facts are undeniable, their interpretations can change.

2.) Samuel Elliot Morrison was a man whom specialized in American naval and maritime history, and whom Zinn refers to as making light of the tragic circumstances of the discovery of the North American continent. It would seem that there is a significant romanticizing of certain events on the part of Morrison, and much of this could be said to be due to the marketability of his book. 3.) Zinn’s thesis regarding the values and lifestyles of the North American Indians is largely based on the idea that they were engaging in activities which were different than those of Europeans, but also incredibly similar. 4.) Comparing Morrison’s work to Hiroshima seems wholly inappropriate given that Hiroshima was a literal, political and military decision which resulted in the deaths of millions of Japanese civilians. 5.) The Native Americans who were spoken of in Zinn’s book were largely at home in any part of what is now known as the United States because they knew the terrain, and they used different methodologies to fight than the English settlers. 6.) What Zinn says regarding the arrival of Cortez despite the tendency of the Aztecs to commit human sacrifices could be said to be hypocritical, because he tends to state that Native Americans are largely innocent. 7.) Zinn clearly states that the information he provides regarding Powhatan may not be wholly authentic, but that the spirit of the account itself is worth mentioning due to the spirit of the words themselves. 8.) Historians can tend to portray certain events in a light that might not be wholly accurate, and this is his way of stating that bringing up certain accounts such as that of Powhatan is his own way of taking a stand. 9.) Historians may differ in their interpretations according to Zinn with regard to their own personal experiences, various personal biases, and also their own desired agenda related to change. Historians are well aware that their interpretations of how society and its various cultures interpret pertinent pas events imparts a sense of wisdom and belonging. 10.) Zinn’s thesis with regard to chapter 23 pertains to the tendency of a people to harness their collective will towards a common goal, and his theory is that in the future the masses will gather to overthrow the elite. Zinn believes that the root of America’s problems would seem to be an imbalance with regard to egocentric beliefs, which are semi-related to the interests of other people, but not to a high enough degree. 11.) The inclusion of the concerns of other people into one’s own day-to-day rationale and planning process would likely bolster the morale of not only Americans, but other people worldwide. 12.) Violence would almost certainly be required in the United States to bring about significant change with regard to altering the system, because an inclusionary system would necessarily involve significant sacrifices. 13.) Concepts related especially to community property versus private property would become an issue debated hotly and openly, and those who resist the changes would have to be forced to abide. The movements of people within the United States have not been defeated so much as halted only to be restarted, the impact of various social and political movements and cumulative, not absolute. 14.) Alternative solutions to a violent revolution include the effort to bring about the changes necessary to make a more community conscious United States by way of changing the system from within, which could be said to be recent actions of the Democratic party. Promoting tolerance with regard to alternative lifestyles, increased tolerance towards immigration, and other policies would all fit into the idea of changing the system from within. With regard to Zinn’s opinion of America currently ‘failing’, it could be said to be failing in the opinion of some insiders and outsiders, but it is still functioning for many people. 15.) Zinn’s view of human nature with regard to the tendency to boil things down to the here and now and to fail to consider one’s community at large seems to be an overwhelmingly common trait in some people. 16.) Johnson’s overall interpretation contrasts Zinn’s in that Johnson views much of what occurred in America to be natural reactions and consequences, most of which could not be avoided. Johnson views Columbus, the Native Americans, and the Conquistadores as tragic, but also necessary given the political possibilities which existed at that point in history. 17.) Walter Raleigh was viewed by Zinn as a person who was of questionable morals, and embodied a seemingly limitless demand for wealth which could be said to be the personification of most Europeans. 18.)Roanoke is something which still remains a huge mystery with regard to history, because there were no obvious signs of a Native American raid, and the area appears largely undisturbed aside from the absence of the colonists. With regard to Christianity, Zinn takes a stance of high criticism in terms of Christianity’s literal effects being negative, while its intentions may have been positive. 19.) The failure of the Native Americans to domesticate animals implies that they approached their relationship with animals differently than Europeans, where Europeans wanted to keep animals as livestock, Native Americans wanted to coexist. There was a clear effort on the part of the Native Americans to take from animals while also paying homage to them for the contributions they made to their societies. 20.) Hofstadter was a historian who sought to look at events in a way that was objective and absent of political bias, while also taking the time and effort necessary to gain significant insight in terms of the practical applications of the insight gained. 21.) With the ability to utilize a significant degree of insight, American historical events can provide both information and content for the sake of addressing current issues, and this allows for history to play more than an academic role, instead it provides a guiding role. The degree to which historical information is utilized by the populace of a given country will rely upon that country’s leadership, and the degree to which history is considered. 22.) The founding fathers viewed human nature as something to be mitigated by the individual and God, rather than something which was dictated by the government or the influence of other people in the community necessarily. They believed that democracy was a worthwhile consideration, but that a constitutional republic was more streamlined and capable in terms of governing a large, free country. At the time of the inception of the United States, Europe was largely governed by monarchies, who did not favor democracy, although the people of countries such as France were beginning to revolt. 23.) The thesis of Zinn in chapter 11 was largely proven, however it fails to take into consideration the extremely different technology and circumstances which existed during this time period, while some acts were inexcusable, others seemed inevitable. Bearing this in mind, Zinn proved his point, however he did not prove a point with regard to what alternatives existed in terms of the way events unfolded as opposed to how they should have. 24.) Zinn views Karl Marx as being a historic figure with worthwhile ideas, but also someone whose ideas should be implemented with care, because evolving standards and technologies inevitably alter the way in which they would be implemented. 25.) The constitution’s contract clause limits the degree to which the state government can interfere with private contracts, and Zinn believes that the state should have more power in such matters. Zinn’s view of the American educational system is that is should be better suited for students to take advantage of their political rights as citizens. Zinn’s view of the anarchist manifesto was ironic in that he believed that American society is already changing and largely ungoverned as it exists currently, and that the anarchists already live in chaos. 26.) Zinn’s views on the American railway union is that it is a worthwhile organization, but that it could stand to implement some serious changes with regard to the way in which and the ferocity with which its activities are carried out on behalf of workers. 27.) Miner’s activities were viewed by Zinn as organized and well thought out, but unfortunately not supported by their political representatives. The Haymarket bombing was, in the opinion of Zinn, a very unfortunate consequence of the will of the people not being heeded, and instead the presence of opposing forces which relentlessly attempted to silence protestors. 28.) Paul Johnson largely kept his opinions somewhat contained with regard to how he felt about the robber barons, although he does point out that they acted questionably quite often in terms of their expansion practices. The thesis regarding the railroads presented by Johnson was that they were wholly necessary for the expansion of America, but that they came at a heavy cost with regard to the sacrifices made by laborers. 29.) Johnson’s position on the railroad offers insight with regard to the fact that he attempts to take a balanced perspective on the part of historical events, while also presenting human considerations. 30.) The essential strength in America has been the collective, harnessed will of the various individuals living in America, meaning that diversity is a huge asset when combined with a willingness to sacrifice and compromise. However, these possibilities are largely re-enforced by the fact that individuals can choose to ally themselves with a cause or choose not to, thus giving additional credence to validity of an idea or cause. 31.) With the backing of free individuals who supposedly pay an extreme degree of thought or consideration to an idea, it becomes more valid to the masses. 32.) Johnson held that materialism was a driving force in the American economy and helped to produce high quality goods and services, which are often far superior to those produced in parts of the world in which material means are not emphasized. 33.) The idea that consumer demand and materialism have driven the demand for high quality products and services is still absolutely true. Inventions such as the Internet which have taken over nearly every facet of life worldwide came from consumer demand, not necessity, and this has driven the production of technology to new heights consistently. Robber barons such as Carnegie and Rockefeller did engage in philanthropy after amassing exceedingly large fortunes, although much of it could be said to be atonement for their previous actions. 34.) Business men of the gilded age were largely driven by the desire to accumulate more wealth and power, while also imposing their will and policies on as many people as they possibly could. Business men often justified some of their questionable methods by way of arguing that those people who were working for them were free to choose not to, and that anyone could choose to start a business and also achieve success. 35.) The difference between democrats and republicans during this time had to do a great deal with the degree to which they believed the government should intervene in private business. Republicans believed that the economy and private business should regulate itself, while democrats believed that the economy and country overall would improve with some regulation. 36.) Zinn’s opinion of populism was that it was a necessary consideration in light of the tremendous hardships that much of the population in the United States has endured for the sake of progress. His thoughts on monopolies are such that they seem to be the goal of many corporations and robber barons, both of which are naturally inclined to amass and amass wealth and influence endlessly. There is a slight flaw herein with regard to the lack of consideration regarding competition, and the way in which the government and private enterprise might go about cultivating it. 37.) Populism and progressivism are both addressed by Zinn with a sense of hope for the future, especially in the context of taking into consideration the needs of as many people as possible. This was a key milestone in terms of the way in which the masses at large were addressed in terms of social programs and policies, which safeguarded the rights of individuals while allowing businesses to function. 38.) Hofstadter regarded William Jennings Bryan as being a politician whom was ahead of his time and misjudged for his pacifist position on World War 1, which Hofstadter held was wholly appropriate as a point of protest, not isolationism. 39.) The kind of American thinking present in Jennings presents is one of balance and regard for other people in the world, as opposed to possessing a view which places American interests at the center of the table. The interests placed above all else are those of basic human rights, which Bryan believed could have been better safeguarded from the demands and greed of employers. The kind of thinking possessed by Bryan is still evident and present today in the form of unions and non-violent means of cooperation and negotiation in international politics. 40.) Bryan lost the election of 1900 because of his expressed views regarding America’s participation in World War 1 and other incidents, which proved to be largely a matter of his morals being too obvious to voters. The interests of his voters in terms of their individual interests seemed to be at odds with regard to where Bryan wanted to aid not only Americans, but the world at large. Bryan most valued the idea that a significant balance could be struck in America and abroad which did not necessitate violence and theft or victimization, he believed that humanity could achieve a higher ideal. 41.) Zinn’s theories regarding progressivism largely revolved around the idea that people were not acting in their best interests with regard to capitalism, and were holding on to the notion that they could change their circumstances when in fact often they could not. The cave man analogy is apt for some who reject progressivism and refuse to take responsibility for their own personal development, family, and community at large, but not for those whom embrace capitalism responsibly. Everyone is poisoned by a passion for money, because everyone must find a way to acquire it while also managing to find happiness, and all while constantly under the threat of poverty. 42.) Hofstadter felt that rich business men were largely responsible for many of the ills in society due to a large degree of inaction, which could be said to be a lack of proper prioritization as opposed to intentional infliction of distress. Many of the problems in America were attributed to the poor masses, who he believed were poor due to a failure of the wealthy to appropriately compensate these individuals. He believed that the populists were largely well-intentioned, but that their approach was neither comprehensive enough nor effective enough, and that there were significant changes which needed to occur that were not even being addressed by the populists at all. 43.) Zinn’s thesis in Chapter 12 is that the American thirst for war is one which is irresponsible and inappropriate, and that it is sewn into the country’s ability to remain profitable and powerful. The fact that war in America generates significant amounts of wealth for the population could be said to be directly in conflict with the idea that political actions should be carried out in the best interests of the people at large. While war was certainly good for all Americans in some respects, the overall cost for the rest of the world and those families who lost military service men and women was a heavy burden to bear. 44.) Hofstadter holds that most Americans believed that the war with Germany in World War 1 and America’s involvement was questionable, because there was not a direct threat perceived to exist with regard to the country. The American dilemma with regard to engaging in foreign wars was largely bolstered by Woodrow Wilson, whom argued that if America did not address its foreign enemies early on, they would grow stronger and attack later. The idea being that Americans were better off confronting and addressing the conflicts they faced alongside allies in Europe and elsewhere, rather than wait for their allies to fall. 45.) Hofstadter’s theory on the roaring 20s was that it was a time in which the greed of both big business and ordinary Americans became uncontainable, and that this lead to a huge bubble in the stock market. Rather than reinvesting in communities, business, and individuals, large amounts of wealth were instead put directly into the stock market, and once it reached a critical stage, it collapsed. The Mellon plan appeared to be largely unsuccessful, it could be viewed as a much older version of Reagan’s Trickle Down Economics, although this earlier iteration was exceedingly unsuccessful. 46.) Zinn’s belief regarding the cause of the Great Depression was largely rooted in the assumption that the investments being made were both reckless and short sighted, and that the long term feasibility of the American economy was not being considered. The New Deal programs were effective with regard to the poorest Americans, but with regard to those who were on the verge of poverty, they offered little assistance. This meant that those who had not yet reached rock bottom were left to fall, and only after falling were they met with assistance from the government. 47.) The New Deal programs were started by FDR, who believed that the poverty stricken in the United States needed aid from the government, because they had fallen so far they could not recover on their own. Hoover was regarded by Zinn as a bureaucrat who would follow the path set forth for him by those in power, and that he had little regard for the rights of individuals outside what existed in popular opinion. Hoover performed well during World War 1, and ultimately was able to secure some significant political clout at the conclusion of his services once he was done with his tour(s). Hoover’s rags to riches upbringing and reality could be said to have tainted him by way of removing his empathy for other people, who he believed should have struggled the way he did. 48.) Hoover was a stoic believed in US intervention in World War 2, because he believed that it strengthened the US power structure at home and abroad, and served to discourage future incidents in Europe. Hoover and FDR differed in terms of their personalities with regard to the degree of empathy they felt for the average American, FDR feeling sympathetic, and Hoover believing in personal responsibility. 49.) Roosevelt was significant regarding his understanding of economics with regard to the plight of the average American, and their inability to gain favorable financial footing without assistance. Roosevelt knew that this footing would not be provided by employers, and so it was up to the US government at large to provide aid programs to address the concerns therein.

50.) FDR’s position regarding the US involvement in World War 2 is very important to consider, because without US involvement, FDR believed that the US faced significant threats from Germany, Italy, and Japan. As a result of these beliefs, FDR sought out an alliance with Russia, despite having certain reservations about the long-term implications of providing aid to a country which was much different than the US. 51.) FDR and Stalin had a productive yet uneasy relationship, which was based around a significant degree of cooperation which had to occur in order to prevent Hitler and his allies from taking over Europe and Asia. The balance of power would have shifted so significantly that the United States would have been forced to consider war as a result of shifts in trade agreements, and possibly even military action being taken against them. These were both ominous possibilities which FDR had to consider as he worked with Stalin, whom he knew had some significant ambitions of his for conquest. 52.) According to Zinn, the US became involved in World War 2 for a variety of factors, which included the strong desire to not see a Europe being ruled by Germany, and an Asia ruled by Japan. This is due to the fact that if these events were to have come to pass, there was a significant possibility that the United States which exists today would look a lot different, especially in terms of foreign influence. Zinn postulated that the United States became involved in World War 2 in order to increase its foreign influence, and certainly after the conclusion of World War 2, US foreign influence became significantly stronger. 53.) World War 2 gained significant support from Americans at home, because they believed that Germany and its allies potentially posed a threat to the US, especially after the attack on Pearl Harbor, which made it clear that the US had been drawn in. The aims of the war itself were somewhat muddled in terms of the overall goal, which was to secure the US from foreign threats, but these threats were not entirely clear. Bearing this in mind, the American public seemed to place an enormous amount of trust in the government, and this granted both the government and the military a large amount of latitude. Protecting America from further attacks such as the one which occurred in Pearl Harbor seemed obvious, however the Japanese motivations for initiating that attack (trade sanctions) were not openly discussed. 54.) The US helped Greece and Turkey by removing their fascist dictators in that both countries were able to form democracies and begin to form governments that were selected by the people of each nation. The overall prosperity and happiness of each nation was not guaranteed by this shift, but the possibility of citizens being able to dictate their own future was certainly opened up and made possible. Political preference would certainly play a role in terms of deciding whether or not either of these countries was better off with a new government, although it is clear that Americans would likely prefer a democracy to a dictatorship. 55.) According to Johnson, the US entered World War 2 due to tremendous military pressures which arose from the attack on Pearl Harbor, which virtually necessitated a military response on the part of the US. There were some significant pressures in terms of the threats represented by both Japan and Germany, due to the fact that they were present on either coast of the US, representing a bilateral threat. These threats were both military in nature as well as economical, each of which promised to have a negative impact on the US if they were to gain a foothold against the US. 56.) FDR was not necessarily surprised by WW2 so much as he was hoping it would not be necessary, this is why FDR and other US politicians attempted to create pressure in terms of trade sanctions rather than taking military action. These various threats posed encouraged the US to gradually take more and more economic action(s) against both Germany and Japan, and FDR knew that there would come a breaking point. For FDR, it was hoped that the trade sanctions would encourage Germany and Japan to either cease their hostilities or scale them back significantly, but unfortunately this did not occur. 57.) To imply that the US was an isolationist country prior to World War 2 would be unfair in many respects, although it did not make a habit of becoming involved in the military conflicts in other countries. Trade was an area in which the United States was quite active worldwide, and this was not limited to any one country, but any country whom wanted to engage in commerce with the US. Moreover, the commerce practices of the United States were often without expectation, meaning that the US would often do business with countries that engaged in immoral behaviors. 58.) Woodrow Wilson antagonized by Japanese by way of issuing repeated, worsening trade sanctions with the country as their aggression towards China increased, and this resulted in a diminished capacity to make war on the part of Japan. They viewed the economic sanctions and decisions of the US aimed at Japan to be aggressive in nature, and they felt that the US was taking the side of China in the conflict. Japan also felt that the US was potentially attacking them economically due to their relationship with Germany, and rather than cut off ties with Germany, Japan decided to attack the US in an attempt to encourage them to cease their sanctions. 59.) FDR was a defender of democracy worldwide, however he was also aware that some countries would vehemently resist US influence in terms of altering their political structure, especially those countries under the influence of Russia. FDR had been stung by the impact of WW2 on his country, Europe, and Japan, and so he focused on salvaging these nations rather than looking to others. He did support the rights of nations to alter their own political structure should they wish to become democracies, but he hesitated assisting such countries with regard to the potential for having a conflict with Russia. 60.) Johnson’s thesis regarding the Cold War impacts in terms of Vietnam especially are somewhat short sighted in terms of allowing Russia to gain too much influence in the region, instead it could be said that the methodologies employed by the US were inappropriate. However, what is important to bear in mind in these circumstances is that the US was responding to aggression in Korea, Vietnam, and Cuba on the part of Russia, and so while often extreme, the response of the US was somewhat rational given the pressures the government faced. 61.) Zinn’s theories regarding the civil rights movement were spot on with regard to the necessities therein in terms of equality between the races and the sexes, as well as his response to the US governments crackdown on various movements and political parties. Johnson’s response to the civil rights movement was a bit harsh, despite his allowances for the fact that people were being treated unfairly. While the civil rights movement was not perfect, it was absolutely necessary with regard to providing citizens in the US with the rights which they had as American citizens.

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  Both Buddhism and Sikhism have roots that go back into Hinduism.  Compare and contrast how each of these traditions maintained continuity with Hinduism and how they moved away from it.  

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1.     Both Buddhism and Sikhism have roots that go back into Hinduism.  Compare and contrast how each of these traditions maintained continuity with Hinduism and how they moved away from it.

 

2.     Using at least five of the Seven Dimensions of Religion, compare and contrast the role of religion in India and in China.

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This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: How the Other Half Lives Studies Among the Tenements of New York

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How the Other Half Lives, by Jacob A. Riis: a Project Gutenberg eBook. http://www.gutenberg.orglfiles/45502/45502-hl45502-h.htm

~ . The Project Gutenberg EBook of How the Other Half Lives, by Jacob A. Rii~

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org

Title: How the Other Half Lives Studies Among the Tenements of New York

Author: Jacob A. Riis

Release Date: April 26, 2014 [EBook #45502]

Language: English

Character set encoding: I80-8859-1

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOW THE OTHER HALF LIVES ***

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HOW THE OTHER HALF LIVES ~ ‘YCAco8 t<. t’ , j

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lev mg influence upon all the rest, just as one bad boy in a schoolroom will pail the whole class. It is one of the ways the evil that was “the resul

forgetfulness of the poor,” as the Council of Hygiene mildly put it ias of avenging itself.

Th etermined effort to head it off by lay ing a strong hand upon the tenement uilders that has been the chief business of the Health Board of recent years,

dates from this period. The era of the air-shaft has not solved the problem of housing the poor, but it has made good use of limited opportunities. Over the new houses sanitary law exercises full control. But the old remain. They cannot be summariJy torn down, though in extreme cases the authorities can order them cleared. The outrageous overcrowding, too, remains. It is characteristic of e tenements. Poverty, their badge and typical condition, invites=-comp it. All efforts to abate it result only in temporary relief. As long as the exist it will exist with them. And the tenements will exist in New York for er.

1

I

l N

‘I’ •••• – ••••• 1

1

I I

I I I I I ~

TENEMENT OF THE OLD STYLE. BIRTH OF THE AIR-SHAFT.

–.”.~ To-day, what is a tenement? The law defines it as a house “occupied by three or more families, living independently and doing their cooking on the premises; or by more than two families on a floor, so living and cooking and having a common right in the halls, stairways, yards, etc.” That is the legal meaning, and includes flats and apartment-houses, with which we have nothing to do. In its narrower sense the typical tenement was thus described when last arraigned before the bar of public justice: “It is generally a brick building from four to six stories high on the street, frequently with a store on the first floor which, when used for the sale of liquor, has a side opening for the benefit of the inmates and to evade the Sunday law; four families occupy each floor, and a set of rooms

……-….

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How the Other Half Lives, by Jacob A. Riis: a Project Gutenberg eBook. http://www.gutenberg.orglfiles/45502/45502-hl45502-h.htm

consists of one or two dark closets, used as bedrooms, with a living room twelve feet by ten. The staircase is too often a dark well in the centre of the house, and no direct through ventilation is possible, each family being separated from the other by partitions. Frequently the rear of the lot is occupied by another building of three stories, high with two families on a floor.” The picture is nearly as true to-day as ten years ago, and will be for a long time to come. The dim light admitted by the air-shaft shines upon greater crowds than ever. Tenements are still “good property,” and the poverty of the poor man his destruction. A barrack down town where he has to live because he is poor brings in a third more rent than a decent flat house in Harlem. The statement once made a sensation that between seventy and eighty children had been found in one tenement. It no longer excites even passing attention, when the sanitary police report counting 101 adults and 91 children in a Crosby Street house, one of twins, built together. The children in the other, if I am not mistaken, numbered 89, a total of 180 for two tenements! Or when a midnight inspection in Mulberry Street unearths a hundred and fifty “lodgers” sleeping on filthy floors in two buildings. Spite of brown-stone trimmings, plate-glass and mosaic vestibule floors, the water does not rise in summer to the second story, while the beer flows unchecked to the all-night picnics on the roof. The saloon with the side-door and the landlord divide the prosperity of the place between them, and the tenant, in sullen submission, foots the bills.

…–…..

Where are the tenements of to-day? Say rather: where are they not? In fifty years they have crept up from the Fourth Ward slums and the Five Points the whole length of the island, and have polluted the Annexed District to the Westchester line. Crowding all the lower wards, wherever business leaves a foot of ground unclaimed; strung along both rivers, like balJ and chain tied to the foot of every street, and filling up Harlem with their restless, pent-up multitudes, they hold within their clutch the wealth and business of New York, hold them at their mercy in the day of mob-rule and wrath. The bullet-proof shutters, the stacks of hand-grenades, and the Gatling guns of the Sub-Treasury are tacit admissions of the fact and of the quality of the mercy expected. The tenements to-day are New York, harboring three-fourths of its population. When another generation shall have doubled the census of our city, and to that vast army of workers, held captive by poverty, the very name of home shall be as a bitter mockery, what will the harvest be?

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CHAPTER III. THE MIXED CROWD.

When once I asked the agent of a notorious Fourth Ward alley how many people might be living in it I was told: One hundred and forty families, one hundred Irish, thirty-eight Italian, and two that spoke the German tongue. Barring the agent herself, there was not a native-born individual in the court. The answer was characteristic of the cosmopolitan character of lower New York, very nearly so of the whole of it, wherever it runs to alleys and courts. One may find for the asking an Italian, a German, a French, African, Spanish, Bohemian, Russian, Scandinavian, Jewish, and Chinese colony. Even the Arab, who peddles “holy earth” from the Battery as a direct importation from Jerusalem, has his exclusive preserves at the lower end of Washington Street. The one thing you shall vainly ask for in the chief city of America is a distinctively American community. There is none; certainly not among the tenements. Where have they gone to, the old inhabitants? I put the question to one who might fairly be presumed to be of the number, since I had found him sighing for the “good old days” when the legend “no Irish need apply” was familiar in the advertising columns of the newspapers. He looked at me with a puzzled air. “I don’t know,” he said. “I wish I did. Some went to California in ’49, some to the war and never came back. The rest, I expect, have gone to heaven, or somewhere. I don’t see them ’round here.”

Whatever the merit of the good man’s conjectures, his eyes did not deceive him. They are not here. In their place has come this queer conglomerate mass of heterogeneous elements, ever striving and working like whiskey and water in one glass, and with the like result: final union and a prevailing taint of whiskey. The once unwelcome Irishman has been followed in his turn by the Italian, the Russian Jew, and the Chinaman, and has himself taken a hand at opposition, quite as bitter and quite as ineffectual, against these later hordes. Wherever these have gone they have crowded him out, possessing the block, the street, the ward with their denser swarms. But the Irishman’s revenge is complete. Victorious in defeat over his recent as over his more ancient foe, the one who opposed his coming no less than the one who drove him out, he dictates to both their politics, and, secure in possession of the offices, returns the native his greeting with interest, while collecting the rents of the Italian whose house he has bought with the profits of his saloon. As a landlord he is picturesquely autocratic. An amusing instance of his methods came under my notice while writing these lines. An inspector of the Health Department found an Italian family paying a man with a Celtic name twenty-five dollars a month for three small rooms in a ramshackle rear tenement-more than twice what they were worth-and expressed his astonishment to the tenant, an ignorant Sicilian laborer. He replied that he had once asked the landlord to reduce the rent, but he would not do it.

“Well! What did he say?” asked the inspector.

“‘Damma, man!’ he said; ‘if you speaka thata way to me, I fira you and your things in the streeta. ‘” And the frightened Italian paid the rent.

In justice to the Irish landlord it must be said that like an apt pupil he was merely showing forth the result ofthe schooling he had received, re-enacting, in his own way, the scheme of the tenements. It is only his frankness that shocks. The

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How the Other Half Lives, by Jacob A. Riis: a Project GutenbergeBook http://www.gutenberg.orglfiles/45502/45502-hl45502-hhtm

Irishman does not naturally take kindly to tenement life, though with characteristic versatility he adapts himself to its conditions at once. It does violence, nevertheless, to the best that is in him, and for that very reason of all who come within its sphere soonest corrupts him. The result is a sediment, the product of more than a generation in the city’s slums, that, as distinguished from the larger body of his class, justly ranks at the foot of tenement dwellers, the so-called “low Irish.”

It is not to be assumed, of course, that the whole body of the population living in the tenements, of which New Yorkers are in the habit of speaking vaguely as “the poor,” or even the larger part of it, is to be classed as vicious or as poor in the sense of verging on beggary.

New York’s wage-earners have no other place to live, more is the pity. They are truly poor for having no better homes; waxing poorer in purse as the exorbitant rents to which they are tied, as ever was serf to soil, keep rising. The wonder is that they are not all corrupted, and speedily, by their surroundings. If, on the contrary, there be a steady working up, if not out of the slough, the fact is a powerful argument for the optimist’s belief that the world is, after all, growing better, not worse, and would go far toward disarming apprehension, were it not for the steadier growth of the sediment of the slums and its constant menace. Such an impulse toward better things there certainly is. The German rag-picker of thirty years ago, quite as low in the scale as his Italian successor, is the thrifty tradesman or prosperous farmer of to-day. [6]

The Italian scavenger of our time is fast graduating into exclusive control of the comer fruit-stands, while his black-eyed boy monopolizes the boot-blacking industry in which a few years ago he was an intruder. The Irish hod-carrier in the second generation has become a brick-layer, if not the Alderman of his ward, while the Chinese coolie is in almost exclusive possession of the laundry business. The reason is obvious. The poorest immigrant comes here with the purpose and ambition to better himself and, given half a chance, might be reasonably expected to make the most of it. To the false plea that he prefers the squalid homes in which his kind are housed there could be no better answer. The truth is, his half chance has too long been wanting, and for the bad result he has been unjustly blamed.

As emigration from east to west follows the latitude, so does the foreign influx in New York distribute itself along certain well-defined lines that waver and break only under the stronger pressure of a more gregarious race or the encroachments of inexorable business. A feeling of dependence upon mutual effort, natural to strangers in a strange land, unacquainted with its language and customs, sufficiently accounts for this.

The Irishman . true cosmopolitan immigrant. All-pervading, he shares his lodgin ifh perfect impartiality with the Italian, the Greek, and the ” utchman,” yielding only to sheer force of numbers, and objects y to them all. A map of the city, colored to designate nationalities, a show more stripes than on the skin of a zebra, and more colors th ny rainbow. The city on such a map would fall into two great halves een for the Irish prevailing in the West Side tenement districts, and bl or the Germans on the East Side. But intermingled with these ground ors would be an odd variety of tints that would give the whole the pearance of an extraordinary crazy-quilt. From down in the Sixth Wa ,upon the site of the old Collect Pond that in the days of the fathers dra· the hills which are no more, the red of the Italian would be seen forci Its way northward along the line of Mulberry Street to the quarter of trench purple on Bleecker Street and South Fifth Avenue, to lose itself ana reappear, after a lapse of miles, in the “Little Italy” of Harlem, east of

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spreads the neighborhood takes on a more orderly character. As the green dies out of the landscape and increases in political importance, the police more to do. Where it disappears altogether from sight, lapsing into ere sentiment, police-beats are shortened and the force patrols doubi mght. Neither the man nor the sentiment is wholly responsible for t . . t is the tenement unadorned that is. The changing of Tompkins u . rom a sand lot into a beautiful park put an end for good and all to t read and Blood riots of which it used to be the scene, and transfo a nest of dangerous agitators into a harmless, beer-craving ba Anarchists. They have scarcely been heard of since. Oppone the small parks system as a means of relieving the congested

ation of tenement districts, please take note.

With the first hot nights in June police despatches, that record the killing 0 and women by rolling off roofs and window-sills while asleep, anno that the time of greatest suffering among the poor is at hand. It is . weather, when life indoors is well-nigh unbearable with cooking, ping, and working, all crowded into the small rooms together, that tenement expands, reckless of all restraint. Then a strange and pictur e life moves upon the flat roofs. In the day and early evening moth air their babies there, the boys fly their kites from the house-tops, undo yed by police regulations, and the young men and girls court and pas growler. In the stifling July nights, when the big barracks are like fie maces, their very walls giving out absorbed heat, men and worn Ie in restless, sweltering rows, panting for air and sleep. Then every truck in the street, every crowded fire-escape, becomes a bedroom, infmitely preferable to any the house affords. A cooling shower on such a night is hailed as a heaven-sent blessing in a hHl’lgred thQusana. Homes. ty-o-”

_____________ ==:::::>_ Life in the tenements in July and GA- /If .;; August spells death to an army of little ,I – ~M~”.v

.- ones whom the doctor’s skill is -r~ j.{.l?f& ~ q powerless to save. When the white badge of mourning flutters from every second door, sleepless mothers walk the streets in the gray of the early dawn, trying to stir a cooling breeze to fan the brow of the sick baby. There is no sadder sight than this patient devotion striving against fearfully hopeless odds. Fifty “summer doctors,” especially trained to this work, are then sent into the tenements by the Board of Health, with free advice and medicine for the poor. Devoted women follow in their track with care and nursing for the sick. Fresh-air excursions run daily out of New York on land and water; but despite all efforts the grave-diggers in Calvary work over-time, and little coffins are stacked mountains high on the deck of the Charity

Commissioners’ boat when it makes its semi-weekly trips to the city cemetery.

–

Under the most favorable circumstances, an epidemic, which the well-to-do can afford to make light of as a thing to be got over or avoided by reasonable care, is excessively fatal among the children of the poor, by reason of the practical impossibility of isolating the patient in a tenement. The measles, ordinarily a harmless disease, furnishes a familiar example. Tread it ever so lightly on the -:

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avenues, in the tenements it kills right and left. Such an epidemic ravaged three crowded blocks in Elizabeth Street on the heels of the grippe last winter, and, when it had spent its fury, the death-maps in the Bureau of Vital Statistics looked as if a black hand had been laid across those blocks, over-shadowing in part the contiguous tenements in Mott Street, and with the thumb covering a particularly packed settlement of half a dozen houses in Mulberry Street. The track of the epidemic through these teeming barracks was as clearly defined as the track of a tornado through a forest district. There were houses in which as many as eight little children had died in five months. The records showed that respiratory diseases, the common heritage of the grippe and the measles, had caused death in most cases, discovering the trouble to be, next to the inability to check the contagion in those crowds, in the poverty of the parents and the wretched home conditions that made proper care of the sick impossible. The fact was emphasized by the occurrence here and there of a few isolated deaths from diphtheria and scarlet fever. In the case of these diseases, considered more dangerous to the public health, the health officers exercised summary powers of removal to the hospital where proper treatment could be had, and the result was a low death-rate.

These were tenements of the tall, modern type. A little more than a year ago, when a census was made of the tenements and compared with the mortality tables, no little surprise and congratulation was caused by the discovery that as the buildings grew taller the death-rate fell. The reason is plain, though the reverse had been expected by most people. The biggest tenements have been built in the last ten years of sanitary reform rule, and have been brought, in all but the crowding, under its laws. The old houses that from private dwellings were made into tenements, or were run up to house the biggest crowds in defiance of every moral and physical law, can be improved by no device short of demolition. They will ever remain the worst.

That ignorance plays its part, as well as poverty and bad hygienic surroundings, in the sacrifice of life is of course inevitable. They go usually hand in hand. A message came one day last spring summoning me to a Matt Street tenement in which lay a child dying from some unknown disease. With the “charity doctor” I found the patient on the top floor, stretched upon two chairs in a dreadfully stifling room. She was gasping in the agony of peritonitis that had already written its death-sentence on her wan and pinched face. The whole family, father, mother, and four ragged children, sat around looking on with the stony resignation of helpless despair that had long since given up the fight against fate as useless. A glance around the wretched room left no doubt as to the cause of the child’s condition. “Improper nourishment,” said the doctor, which, translated to suit the place, meant starvation. The father’s hands were crippled from lead poisoning. He had not been able to work for a year. A contagious disease of the eyes, too long neglected, had made the mother and one of the boys nearly blind. The children cried with hunger. They had not broken their fast that day, and it was then near noon. For months the family had subsisted on two dollars a week from the priest, and a few loaves and a piece of corned beef which the sisters sent them on Saturday. The doctor gave direction for the treatment of the child, knowing that it was possible only to alleviate its sufferings until death should end them, and left some money for food for the rest. An hour later, when I returned, I found them feeding the dying child with ginger ale, bought for two cents a bottle at the pedlar’s cart down the street. A pitying neighbor had proposed it as the one thing she could think of as likely to make the child forget its misery. There was enough in the bottle to go round to the rest of the family. In fact, the wake had already begun; before night it was under way in dead earnest.

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CHAPTER XXv. HOW THE CASE STANDS.

What, then, are the bald facts with which we have to deal in New York?

I. That we have a tremendous, ever swelling crowd of wage-earners which it is our business to house decently.

II. That it is not housed decently.

III. That it must be so housed here for the present, and for a long time to come, all schemes of suburban relief being as yet utopian, impracticable.

IV That it pays high enough rents to entitle it to be so housed, as a right.

V That nothing but our own slothfulness is in the way of so housing it, since “the condition of the tenants is in advance of the condition of the houses which they occupy” (Report of Tenement-house Commission).

VI. That the security of the one no less than of the other half demands, on sanitary, moral, and economic grounds, that it be decently housed.

VII. That it will pay to do it. As an investment, I mean, and in hard cash. This I shall immediately proceed to prove.

VIII. That the tenement has come to stay, and must itself be the solution of the problem with which it confronts us.

This is the fact from which we cannot get away, however we may deplore it. Doubtless the best would be to get rid of it altogether; but as we cannot, all argument on that score may at this time be dismissed as idle. The practical question is what to do with the tenement. I watched a Matt Street landlord, the owner of a row of barracks that have made no end of trouble for the health authorities for twenty years, solve that question for himself the other day. His way was to give the wretched pile a coat of paint, and put a gorgeous tin cornice on with the year 1890 in letters a yard long. From where I stood watching the operation, I looked down upon the same dirty crowds camping on the roof, foremost among them an Italian mother with two stark-naked children who had apparently never made the acquaintance of a wash-tub. That was a landlord’s way, and will not get us out of the mire.

The “flat” is another way that does not solve the problem. Rather, it extends it. The flat is not a model, though it is a modern, tenement. It gets rid of some of the nuisances of the low tenement, and of the worst of them, the overcrowding-if it gets rid of them at all-at a cost that takes it at once out of the catalogue of “homes for the poor,” while imposing some of the evils from which they suffer upon those who ought to escape from them.

There are three effective ways of dealing with the tenements in New York:

I. By law.

II. By remodelling and making the most out ofthe old houses.

III. By building new, model tenements.

Private enterprise–conscience, to put it in the category of duties, where it

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belongs-must do the lion’s share under these last two heads. Of what the law has effected I have spoken already. The drastic measures adopted in Paris, in Glasgow, and in London are not practicable here on anything like as large a scale. Still it can, under strong pressure of public opinion, rid us of the worst plague-spots. The Mulberry Street Bend will go the way of the Five Points when all the red tape that binds the hands of municipal effort has been unwound. Prizes were offered in public competition, some years ago, for the best plans of modern tenement-houses. It may be that we shall see the day when the building of model tenements will be encouraged by subsidies in the way of a rebate of taxes. Meanwhile the arrest and summary punishment of landlords, or their agents, who persistently violate law and decency, will have a salutary effect. If a few of the wealthy absentee landlords, who are the worst offenders, could be got within the jurisdiction of the city, and by arrest be compelled to employ proper overseers, it would be a proud day for New York. To remedy the overcrowding, with which the night inspections of the sanitary police cannot keep step, tenements may eventually have to be licensed, as now the lodging-houses, to hold so many tenants, and no more; or the State may have to bring down the rents that cause the crowding, by assuming the right to regulate them as it regulates the fares on the elevated roads. I throw out the suggestion, knowing quite well that it is open to attack. It emanated originally from one of the brightest minds that have had to struggle officially with this tenement-house question in the last ten years. In any event, to succeed, reform by law must aim at making it unprofitable to own a bad tenement. At best, it is apt to travel at a snail’s pace, while the enemy it pursues is putting the best foot foremost.

In this matter of profit the law ought to have its strongest ally in the landlord himself, though the reverse is the case. This condition of things I believe to rest on a monstrous error. It cannot be that tenement property that is worth preserving at all can continue to yield larger returns, if allowed to run down, than if properly cared for and kept in good repair. The point must be reached, and soon, where the cost of repairs, necessary with a house full of the lowest, most ignorant tenants, must overbalance the saving of the first few years of neglect; for this class is everywhere the most destructive, as well as the poorest paying. Ihave the experience of owners, who have found this out to their cost, to back me up in the assertion, even if it were not the statement of a plain business fact that proves itself. I do not include tenement property that is deliberately allowed to fall into decay because at some future time the ground will be valuable for business or other purposes. There is unfortunately enough of that kind in New York, often leasehold property owned by wealthy estates or soul-less corporations that oppose all their great influence to the efforts of the law in behalf of their tenants.

There is abundant evidence, on the other hand, that it can be made to pay to improve and make the most of the worst tenement property, even in the most wretched locality. The example set by Miss Ellen Collins in her Water Street houses will always stand as a decisive answer to all doubts on this point. It is quite ten years since she bought three old tenements at the corner of Water and Roosevelt Streets, then as now one of the lowest localities in the city. Since then she has leased three more adjoining her purchase, and so much of Water Street has at all events been purified. Her first effort was to let in the light in the hallways, and with the darkness disappeared, as if by magic, the heaps of refuse that used to be piled up beside the sinks. A few of the most refractory tenants disappeared with them, but a very considerable proportion stayed, conforming readily to the new rules, and are there yet. It should here be stated that Miss Collins’s tenants are distinctly of the poorest. Her purpose was to experiment with this class, and her experiment has been more than satisfactory. Her plan was, as she puts it herself, fair play between tenant and landlord. To this end the (j)

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rents were put as low as consistent with the idea of a business investment that must return a reasonable interest to be successful. The houses were thoroughly refitted with proper plumbing. A competent janitor was put in charge to see that the rules were observed by the tenants, when Miss Collins herself was not there. Of late years she has had to give very little time to personal superintendence, and the care-taker told me only the other day that very little was needed. The houses seemed to run themselves in the groove once laid down. Once the reputed haunt of· thieves, they have become the most orderly in the neighborhood. Clothes are left hanging on the lines all night with impunity, and the pretty flower-beds in the yard where the children not only from the six houses, but of the whole block, play, skip, and swing, are undisturbed. The tenants, by the way, provide the flowers themselves in the spring, and take all the more pride in them because they are their own. The six houses contain forty-five families, and there “has never been any need of putting up a bill.” As to the income from the property, Miss Collins said to me last August: “I have had six and even six and three-quarters per cent. on the capital invested; on the whole, you may safely say five and a half per cent. This I regard as entirely satisfactory.” It should be added that she has persistently refused to let the comer-store, now occupied by a butcher, as a saloon; or her income from it might have been considerably increased.

Miss Collins’s experience is of value chiefly as showing what can be accomplished with the worst possible material, by the sort of personal interest in the poor that alone will meet their real needs. All the charity in the world, scattered with the most lavish hand, will not take its place. “Fair play” between landlord and tenant is the key, too long mislaid, that unlocks the door to success everywhere as it did for Miss Collins. She has not lacked imitators whose experience has been akin to her own. The case of Gotham Court has been already cited. On the other hand, instances are not wanting of landlords who have undertaken the task, but have tired of it or sold their property before it had been fully redeemed, with the result that it relapsed into its former bad condition faster than it had improved, and the tenants with it. I am inclined to think that such houses are liable to faIl even below the average level. Backsliding in brick and mortar does not greatly differ from similar performances in flesh and blood.

Backed by a strong and steady sentiment, such as these pioneers have evinced, that would make it the personal business of wealthy owners with time to spare to look after their tenants, the law would be able in a very short time to work a salutary transformation in the worst quarters, to the lasting advantage, I am weIl persuaded, of the landlord no less than the tenant. Unfortunately, it is in this quality of personal effort that the sentiment of interest in the poor, upon which we have to depend, is too often lacking. People who are willing to give money feel that that ought to be enough. It is not. The money thus given is too apt to be wasted along with the sentiment that prompted the gift.

Even when it comes to the third of the ways I spoke of as effective in dealing with the tenement-house problem, the building of model structures, the personal interest in the matter must form a large share of the capital invested, if it is to yield full returns. Where that is the case, there is even less doubt about its paying, with ordinary business management, than in the case of reclaiming an old building, which is, like putting life into a defunct newspaper, pretty apt to be up-hill work. Model tenement building has not been attempted in New York on anything like as large a scale as in many other great cities, and it is perhaps owing to this, in a measure, that a belief prevails that it cannot succeed here. This is a wrong notion entirely. The various undertakings of that sort that have been made here under intelligent management have, as far as I know, all been successful. (j)

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) What does McHam argue? Why was the placement of Donatello’s bronze David and Judith and Holofernes in the Medici Palace courtyard and garden significant? What does their placement reveal? (pp. 32)

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Sarah Blake McHam, “Donatello’s Bronze David and Judith as Metaphors of Medici Rule in Florence”, Art Bulletin, Vol. 83, No. 1 (2001), pp. 32-47

1) What does McHam argue? Why was the placement of Donatello’s bronze David and Judith and Holofernes in the Medici Palace courtyard and garden significant? What does their placement reveal? (pp. 32)

2) What evidence does McHam provide that suggests Donatello’s earlier marble version of David was interpreted in political terms? How would the placement of the artist’s later version of David been understood? (p. 34)

3) According to the author, what was the rationale for selecting the Old Testament heroine Judith? How does Donatello continue to traditionally represent her? On the other hand, what was unprecedented? (pp. 34-36)

4) What two celebrated instances of “tyrannicide” in the ancient world were familiar to fifteenth-century audiences? According to the author, how does Donatello suggest a link to these renowned historical episodes? (p. 36)

5) Which scholar from antiquity does McHam reveal provided the most detailed accounts and commentary about the Tyrannicides? How does this relate to the installation of the David and Judith in the courtyard and garden of the Medici Palace? (pp. 38)

6) How do the sculptures in the Medici Palace repeat features of the Athenian sculptures discussed in McHam’s article? (p. 38)

7) What was the aim and function of John of Salisbury’s Policraticus? Who drew extensively on its theories and what further stimulated its interest? What additional reasons does McHam suggest account for its enduring popularity in Italy? (pp. 38-40)

8) According to McHam, how does Donatello’s Judith correspond to John of Salisbury’s discussions of the state and tyrannicide? How does the topicality of John’s treatise help to explain its commission? (pp. 40-41)

9) What historical factors in Florence does the author suggest precipitated the outrageous suggestion that Donatello’s sculptural program in the Medici Palace were calculated to advertise that the Medicis were protectors of liberty? (p. 41)

10) What other thematic and formal links does McHam suggest can be made between Donatello’s sculptural group to the other aspects of the decoration of the Medici garden and courtyard? (pp. 41-42)

The post ) What does McHam argue? Why was the placement of Donatello’s bronze David and Judith and Holofernes in the Medici Palace courtyard and garden significant? What does their placement reveal? (pp. 32) appeared first on homeworkhandlers.com.