"American History" Herring {13.2} Video Lesson: Urban America: Urbanization

What is meant by "cleaner cities make better citizens"?

progressives believed that cleaner cities make better citizens.

What were some of the reasons why European immigrants were coming to live in New York City?

Many European immigrants arrived in the United States and settled in New York City. Most immigrants were poor and could only afford to live in the crowded tenements in New York City.

What was the response to conditions in tenements?

Tenement were crowded and had no running water and electricity and were breeding grounds for crime. Jacob Riis and other activists pushed for reforms. Riis' book How the Other Half Lives convinced Police Commissioner Theodore Roosevelt to close the city-run poorhouses. In 1901, the state of New York banned the construction of tenement buildings with the New York State Tenement House Act.