The Family Claim on Jane Addams

I. The Loss of Her Father

A. The Guiteau Crisis--in June 1881, Freeport native Charles Guiteau shot President James Garfield; Garfield lingered for 11 weeks (and probably would have made a full recovery, except for the medical care he received), and died  in September of that year.

1. Luther Guiteau--was employed by John Addams at his bank in Freeport. The senior Guiteau was seen as something as an eccentric in town, particularly since he was a follower of John Humphrey Noyes and  his "free love" community in of "perfectionists" Oneida, New York.

2. Charles Guiteau--delusional, and today would be recognized as insane probably; expected to be rewarded for shooting Garfield.

3. John Addams--led a drive by leading citizens to write a letter to Secretary of State James G. Blaine disavowing any local  connection to Charles Guiteau's  actions--but also demonstrated sympathy toward the Guiteau family left in Freeport.

4. Jane Addams--was  childhood friends with Charles Guiteau's half-sister, Flora; the chief lesson she seemed to take from this episode, however, was to avoid political extremism.

B. Death of John Addams

1. Loss of her champion--John Addams respected his daughter's intelligence, and did much to foster its growth and development. Despite his rather conservative politics, he did not hesitate to provide Jane with the means to grow intellectually; his death meant that she no longer had his assurance that she could accomplish what she desired.

II. The Family Claim

A. Anne Hardeman Addams--as the widow of John Addams, Anne now placed an emotional claim on Jane  to provided care and companionship for her.

1. Demanding personality--Anne's demanding and emotional personality (she was not on speaking terms with her eldest son at the time of the death of her husband because she was disappointed with his drinking habits) was in direct contrast to the personality of Jane's father.

2. Jane Addams Family Mediator--Jane returned to her former role in the family as the mediator of conflicts. It was she who prevailed upon her siblings and step-siblings to remain in contact with  "Ma."

3. Jane Addams Dutiful Daughter--Jane felt--had--an obligation as the unmarried daughter to care for her stepmother. This obligation was re-iterated by her stepmother on a number of occasions. In order  to accomplish this task, the unmarried daughter would be expected to sacrifice whatever plans she had for her own life in order to care for her aged parent.

B. Jane Addams Physical Debility--Jane suffered from Pott's Disease (like Theodore Roosevelt's older sister Anne), which left her with a slight curvature of the spine, and the life-long affliction of sciatica.

1. Marquette vacation--The reason the Addams family was in Marqette, Michigan, where John Addams was afflicted with appendicitis, was to allow Jane Addams time to regain her health.

2. Women's Medical College--enrollment was occasioned by the move in the fall of 1881to Philadelphia by her stepmother, rather than a burning desire on Jane's  part to become a doctor. In fact, the seven months in medical school proved to Jane that she had no interest in becoming a doctor.

3. George Hardeman's Romantic Interest--Jane largely avoided contact with George, her stepbrother, to avoid any intimation of romance,  despite what family legend on this matter might imply (which was largely that George pursued Jane, but that interest was not reciprocated).

4. Stay With Harry and Alice Hardeman--Jane's sciatica remained quite painful, and she was persuaded to go live in Iowa with her sister and step-brother,  where Harry would provide her with treatment. The treatment necessitated months of recover, where Jane was obligated to remain flat on her back.

5. Weber Addams'  Mental Illness--Jane's older brother suffered from mental illness, and in the spring of 1883 had  a manic episode so severe that he was institutionalized. With the assistance of a lawyer, Jane helped Weber's wife put the family's financial situation back in order.


C. Deepening Friendship with Ellen Starr

1. Faith--the continuing crises Jane experienced prompted her to change her mind on the issue of Jesus Christ; Ellen Starr's own belief in his divinity meant that Jane felt she could turn to an intellectual equal in this matter, and could therefore feel more at ease about "returning to the flock" of Christianity.


D. Rockford Seminary Address (1883)


1. End of the Sill Era--Anna Peck Sill prevailed upon Jane Addams in the spring of 1883 to attend an upcoming  board meeting, and to give a commencement address. The board was pressuring Sill to retire, and she wanted Jane to speak to them on  her behalf.


2. "To the Uncomfortableness of Tranisition"--speaking to the graduates and board members,  Jane focused her remarks on the transition of the school from its previous status to this new  collegiate status--but these remarks  also reflected her own trials and and frustrations as she attempted to find her way to a productive adulthood.


E. Jane Addams' Grand Tour--began in the fall of 1883.

Jane Addams and the Rockford Seminary

I. The Rockford Seminary

A. Missionary Purpose

From Harvard to the Arena of State Politics

I. The Harvard Reputation

A. Current--Harvard today has a stellar reputation, and is always among the top 5 universities (if not higher). This has not always been the case, and was not the case when Roosevelt attended university there. It was a rather provincial place then--Roosevelt, from New York City, would have definitely been labeled an outsider, even without his little quirks

B. 1876--when Roosevelt arrived on campus, only males were allowed to attend school there. Outside of the  classroom, students generally did not approach their "tutors" (as the professors were then known), and they were discouraged from asking questions.

1. Most students came from the immediate  Boston area, and from families whose male members had themselves attended college there.

2. Charles W. Eliot--president of Harvard for 40 years, including the time that Roosevelt attended. Eliot is credited with beginning the changes that transformed the college into the leading research university.

C. Roosevelt at Harvard--considered  something of an oddball during this time there. During most of this freshman and sophomore years, Roosevelt was a teatotaler, along with a good friend during this time.

D. Death of Thee--a shattering experience for TR, as it would be for many people. As a result, he temporarily lost his moral bearings, and began to drink and behave more like a college student of today.

II. Alice Lee

A. Alice the Unattainable--besides here great beauty, Alice attracted TR because he considered here "unattainable," meaning she was too beautiful. I would argue that she reminded TR of his own younger mother, Martha Bulloch Roosevelt.

B. Roosevelt the Politician--was elected to the New York State Assembly at age 23, the youngest man ever elected to that body. Gained a reputation as a reformer,  largely on the strength of badgering those he saw as corrupt. The press also found him charming, since they could rely upon him for a sharp, pithy quote on just about any subject.

C. Birth--and Death

1. Baby girl--Roosevelt was in Albany on legislative business when he received word of the birth of his daughter.

2. Bright's Disease--Alice probably contracted Bright's Disease while pregnant, and after giving birth her kidneys failed. Roosevelt was able to rush home to hold her in his arms as she expired.

3. Typhoidhttp://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/tr/--Roosevelt's mother, meanwhile, was dying in the same house from typhoid; both expired within hours of one another.

4. Burials--after burying his wife and his mother, Roosevelt left his infant daughter in the care of his sister and went to the Badlands to heal.

Paper Assignment #1

For the first paper assignment, chose a biography of either Jane Addams or Theordore Roosevelt (excluding those already assigned for the class), and write a three to five page critical review essay. This first assignment will be due on February 5, at the beginning  of class.

Check back here this week for more information on just what a critical review essay should contain.

UPDATE: Follow this link to a good, brief overview of what a critical review essay should contain.

Innocents Abroad

I. The Grand Tour I

A. Transportation Technology

1. Screw-propeller ships--the advent of the steam-powered screw-propeller ship greatly reduced the time required for crossing large bodies of water--particularly the Atlantic Ocean. This reduction in time meant that the sips could cross the ocean more frequently, which led to the shipping lines dropping  the price and allowed more people to cross the ocean more frequently. This was the case not only for middle class Americans crossing the ocean to visit Europe, but also for former Euopean Peasants to cross the ocean seeking employment.

2. Railroads--the spread of rail transportation occurred not only in the United States, but in Europe, as well. The Roosevelt grand tour of Europe could not of occurred without the advent of the railroad on the continent.

B. Justification for the trip.

1. Educational benefits--none of the Roosevelt children attended any kind of grammar school or primary school; they were all home schooled by a series of tutors. This insulated the children from any untoward influences--but also  isolated them from much of everything else, as well. The trip to Europe would expose them to a whole new world (the "Old World," ironically), and would broaden their horizons. The Roosevelt's also  made a real attempt to learn European languages (it was what "cultured" people of their class did). The children were also exposed to many sites that they had  only read about.

2. Fashionability--the Grand Tour was an expected norm for people of the Roosevelt's class; Thee, in fact, had visited Europe on such an excursion before his marriage to Mittie.

3. Visit relatives--James and Irvine Bulloch had remained in England after the Confederate surrender, since they faced considerable legal entanglements from their involvement in the Civil War. The children finally got to meet their heroic Southern relatives

4. Visiting the "Other"-- in large cities the family was exposed to the misery that industrial capitalism induced in poor people--although there was no recognition that that was the cause of so many women and children begging in the streets.

II. Grand Tour II

A. Egypt--the cradle of "civilization" was also the home of even stranger "others." The Roosevelt family spent a month or so floating up and  down the Nile, seeing the pyramids and sundry other sites.

B. The Rise of TR

1. Challenge from Thee--after  the first trip, TR went through an extremely difficult spell with asthma attacks; much of the next several years he spent in the company of his mother at a variety of places seeking treatment.  Thee, fearing this disease was sapping TR's masculinity, urged him to exercise more will power and to exercise his body as a means of diminishing the effects of the disease.

2. Exercise regimen--TR and Elliott were taken to the gym, and then the latest exercise equipment was purchased and installed in their home. TR was especially diligent in pursuing a daily exercise routine, which slowly paid off in making him stronger and toning his body.

3. Eyeglasses--it was during this time period that TR was finally diagnosed as nearsighted and fitted with "spectacles." TR became much more engaged with his surroundings,  as a result.

4. Budding naturalist--TR spent much of the trip in Egypt shooting birds with his new shotgun and then stuffing them to use as "scientific specimens." This sounds abhorrent to us today, but it is also how the noted naturalist illustrator John Jay  Audubon was  able to make all of those lovely illustrations.

5. Stay in Dresden German--Germany has become the center of western learning by the early 1870s,  and the three younger Roosevelt children stayed in  Dresden to soak up some of that learning.

C. Fall of Elliott--TR's rise was accompanied by the long slow decline of Elliott, who felt he could not compete any longer with his older brother. Elliott's bouts of self-doubt and depression manifested themselves physically in fainting spells, which led to his dismissal from St. Mark's School.


III. Movin' On Up

A. Death of  CVS Roosevelt--left Thee and his brothers with a sizable inheritance; Thee's share was somewhere between $1 and $3 million ($30-$40 million in today's dollars). With the money,Thee and a brother bought adjacent lots in the newly fashionable Upper East Side, near Central Park, abandoning Union Square.

B. Thee's philanthropies--The felt a sense of noblesse oblige with this big pile of money, which he had felt much of his adult life, and continued to fund--and encourage others of his class to fund--a number of "worthy causes."

1. Newsboys

C. Thee the Politician--Thee's disgust with the "corruption" rampant in politics led him to enter into the fray to return the United States back to the kind of politics he remembered from his childhood.

1. The Tamany Machine--Tamany Hall was the center of organization for much of the Democratic Party in New York City.

a.  George Washington Plunkitt and "honest graft."

b. Urban political machines

2. The Roscoe Conkling machine--a US Senator from New York who essentially ran the Republican Party in the state of New York. His second in command,  Chester A. Arthur, held the patronage rich position of collector of tariffs fro  the Port of New York. Conkling had nothing but disdain for political reformers, since in his opinion they had no idea how political power operated.

3. Conkling bid blocked--reformers did know enough about power politics to block Conkling from being nominated for the presidency in 1876.

4. Thee's nomination--Conkling returned the favor when Thee was nominated for the position of  collector of the tariffs, using his position in the Senate to block  the nomination.

Childhood of Jane Addams

I. Her Early Life

A. Birth--Jane Addams was born September 6, 1860, in Cedarville, Illinois

B. Mother-- Sarah Weber Addams, born 1817. Her father, Col. George Weber, owned a successful milling business in Kriedersville, Pennsylvania.

C. Father--John Huy Addams, born in 1822 near Reading, Pennsylvania, to Samuel and Catherine Huy Addams.

1. 7th of 10 children, 3rd son.

2. Apprenticed to Evan Reiff, a flour miller, at the age of 18. Reiff's mill was located in Ambler, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia

3. Married Sarah Weber in the summer of 1844. After a honeymoon stop in Niagara Falls, the couple continued west to Illinois. John Addams had received a $4000 loan from his father (approximately $90,000 in today's money) to establish a mill to provide for himself and his family. After months of scouting locations, Addams chose to buy a mill that he refurbished  in Cedarville. To pay off this loan, Addams dedicated himself to long hours of work.

The Childhood of Theodore Roosevelt

I. Earliest life

A. Birth--born in New York City on October 27, 1858

B. Father's family

1. Knickerbocker heritage--Roosevelt clan were established on Manhattan Island by the mid-1600s as Dutch traders.

2. Cornelius Van Schaact Roosevelt (CVS)--ran an importing firm and was a founder of the Chemical Bank. CVS was joined in the family firm by two sons--James and Theodore. CVS was well-off  enough financially that as wedding presents he gave each of his five sons a  brownstone in Manhattan to start off their married lives in.

3. Theodore Roosevelt, Sr.--known in the family as Thee. By his children's accounts an extremely loving father who doted on his children--particularly the two eldest,  Anne (called Bamie) and Theodore (Teadie), who developed severe health problems while quite young.

C. Mother's family

1. Southern-bred--Martha Bulloch (called Mittie) was born to an old aristocratic Georgian family; an ancestor was  even the Revolutionary-era governor in Georgia.

2. Just 18--when she  married Theodore Roosevelt, and went  to live with him in NYC. She was remembered by her children as a terrific story-teller, and  regaled them with tales of her family and the life in the South.

3. James Bulloch--Martha's older brother was a dashing sea merchant, who became the premier blockade-runner for the Confederacy during the Civil War.

II. Civil War

A. "Rich Man's War and a Poor Man's Fight"

1. Theodore Roosevelt, Sr.--chose to hire a replacement rather than fight in the war. Family stories claim Roosevelt was forever after  guilt-ridden over this decision; however, no one from his social circle volunteered, either, so his guilt was probably diminished. He probably felt little guilt while he and his associates canvassed the city for volunteers to fight in their stead.

2. Allotment Committee--Theodore Roosevelt was instrumental in convincing Congress to pass the Allotment Act, which provided a way for soldiers to send money home to support their families.

3. New York City Draft Riot--in July 1863, white working-class New Yorkers rioted in protest of the new Conscription Act as well as the change in war aims signaled by the Emancipation Proclamation.

a. Roosevelt Sr. was part of the contingent of upper class New Yorkers who organized themselves into militias to defend their homes and businesses from rioters.

b. After the riot was quelled, the upper class New Yorkers marched with the newly inducted black soldiers through the white working-class areas in a show of force.

III. Manliness

A. "Muscular Christianity"--in the years before the Civil War, masculinity underwent something of a change, and ideas of what constituted masculinity evolved.

1. YMCA--the Young Man's Christian Association was established in the United States in 1851, and Roosevelt Sr. became an enthusiastic supporter. The YMCA became a way to foster the  growth of "muscular Christianity," emphasizing the growth of a strong body to complimenta strong spiritual life.

B. Civil War--also helped to redefine masculinity, as those who participated in the fighting were viewed as being more masculine--and those who did  not participate had to find other ways of demonstrating their masculinity.

C. Neurasthania--the nervous disorder of the well-to-do. Although this largely afflicted women (although a small number of men were also diagnosed with the disorder, it necessitated retreat to a variety of spas and resorts to "take the cure." The development of this disease was believed by many to be the result of the upper class becoming "over-civilized," and in danger of losing out the the "under-civilized" peoples of the world.

IV Family Dynamics

A. Doting father--Theodore Roosevelt Sr. was by all accounts a doting, loving, father, willing to walk the floor with his children in his arms to comfort them when they were ill. He also accomodated his wife's frequent illnesses and assumed many of her duties in running the household. At the same time, he was very  demanding, especially on matters of morality.

B. Absent mother--the longer Martha and Theodore were married, the more debilitating and frequent her illnesses became. She probably used her illnesses--and those of 3 of her 4 children--as a way to keep her sister and mother living in her household, since they assisted in running the household and caring for the children. She spent a considerable amount of time at various spas and resorts, taking treatments. She also seems to have used her medical condition to limit sexual contact with her husband, since there were no more children or pregnancies after Corrine.

C. Anne (referred to as Bamie)-- probably afflicted with Pott's Disease, which eventually caused a curvature of her spine. The treatment she received for this disease as a young child caused her severe pain, which could only be relieved by lying face down. Bamie was her father's favorite. Despite her affliction, she was viewed by others in the family as having the sharpest mind--and was the rock upon who everyone elso could lean on.

D. Theodore--fathers namesake, but his mother's favorite. Roosevelt acquired his skills as an orator from his mother, who encouraged him to engage with her  in repartee. His childhood bouts of  asthma left him a sickly, feeble  child--but he compensated by engaging in a life of the mind well beyond his tender years.

E. Elliot--the best athlete of the children, and the most well-tempered, as well. Very early in life he became larger than his big brother, and the target for many of his barbs--but also served an Teadie's  protector.

R. Corinne--the youngest member  of the family. She was also afflicted with asthma, although not as severely as Teadie.

V.  Conclusion--Although born into a great deal of affluence, Roosevelt also experienceda great deal of fear and pain as a youngster. His mother's favorite, he had to compete with his siblings for the attention of the father they all adored--something that the asthma attacks helped accomplish.

The Progressive Era

More to follow

The Gilded Age

Historians have given the time period between then end of Reconstruction in 1877 and approximately 1889 the moniker "The Gilded Age," after a humorous novel written by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley  Warner of the same name. Twain and Warner lampooned the avarice and greed that they saw as pervasive during this era. This time period did witness the rise of the "robber barons" who used their great wealth to make themselves even wealthier. Twain and Dudley chose the term "gilded" because of the connotation that by applying a thin veneer of gold to something, it could be made more attractive--implying that these men believed that gaining great wealth, they could eventually make their unsavory actions appear in a better light.

The United States was moving toward a capitalist economic system in the years before the outbreak of the American Civil War, but the changes in the political and economic systems that developed because of the war helped make conditions ripe for capitalism to take off as an economic system in the years after the war ended. The war promoted the growth of rail transportation in particular, and this became the "engine" of economic growth for much of the era.

Building a railroad necessitated the expenditure of huge amounts of capital. State and local governments in the years before the Civil War helped railroad companies raise this capital by giving them land along railroad right-of-ways, which the companies could then sell to investors or interested settlers. With this money, railroad companies could purchase necessary equipment--engines, rolling stock, rails. Companies also gained the ability to sell stock to raise capital. Selling stock, companies promised to pay dividends from future earnings in return for this investment. The fact that this practice was unregulated, however, allowed companies to sell more stock than they could hope to pay back--they promised to make payments that they had little hope of actually making. This practice was known as "watering" the stock, and was the cause of much of the economic chaos that characterized this era.

Economic hardship is always most difficult upon the poorest, and the process of capitalist industrialization helped to create a large class of people who were extremely poor. The jobs created during boom times led people (largely males) to leave their homes and migrate to the United States to take advantage of these new economic opportunities. These people tended to live in the growing cities, where the jobs were. When they had money to spend, they tended to spend in those establishments that catered to their needs. Saloons provided not only a place to drink beer, but offered cheap meals, and often acted as a permanent address for the transient people who frequented these establishments. Brothels also prospered during this time, since they offered sex and female companionship. These practices led many native whites to see moral failings in a large (and growing) portion of the population, and to begin to legislate against these practices; this leads eventually to their adaption by Progressives.

Theodore Roosevelt and Jane Addams--A Brief Comparison

The Great Americans Class for the Spring Semester of 2010 will examine the lives of two of the most influential persons of the Progressive Era--Theodore Roosevelt and Jane Addams. These two were chosen because of the interesting way their lives intersect and diverge. They were also the most influential man and woman of this age, and I think that they way their lives intersect and diverge can tell us a lot about the lives of less prominent Americans of this era, as well.

Theodore Roosevelt was born in New York City on October 27,1858, into a well-connected old New York "Knickerbocker" family. Roosevelt's father, a New York City banker, did not volunteer for the war of his generation--the American Civil War. Roosevelt's mother was a native of the South, and openly cheered for that region to prevail in the conflict. Although Roosevelt was less than three when the hostilities began, and less that seven when they ended, it is generally agreed by his biographers that this event helped shape Roosevelt to a large degree--and contributed to his attitudes on all things military, since he determined that if the chance arose in his life, he would not sit on the sidelines through a war that involved the United States.

Roosevelt was a sickly child, probably suffering from allergy-induced asthma in his early life. He spent much of this time traveling with his mother, who herself suffered from a number of debilitating nervous disorders that affected women of means during this time period. His own extended illnesses, coupled with Roosevelt's concern that his time with his mother was emasculating him, embraced the "vigorous life" of the outdoorsman that we associate with him today. Undoubtedly, Roosevelt's move away from the smog endemic in large cities improved his health; that he was able to also prove his masculinity in a variety of ways was just as important for his psychic health.

Jane Addams was also born into comfortable circumstances, although far less opulent than Roosevelt. Addams was born in Cedarville, Illinois, on September 6, 1860. Her father was a prominent local businessman, and became one of the early bankers in nearby Freeport, Illinois. Addams' mother died in childbirth when she was only two years old; her older sister briefly served as woman of the house, but her father remarried within a couple of years of his first wife's death. Addams; life was dealt a severe blow, however, when here father died just after she graduated from the Rockford Seminary.

Addams had planned to enter Harvard after graduation, but her father's death altered those plans. Addams briefly went on a "grand tour" of Europe, but was stricken with a debilitating illness, including severe back pain, and returned to the United States for years of treatment. After her recovery, Addams went on a second grand tour, and on this trip she visited an early settlement house in England called Toynbee Hall. Upon her return to the United States, Addams, along with her friend Ellen Starr, founded the first settlement house in the United States, Hull House.

Roosevelt and Addams shared a number of concerns, but addressed these concerns in divergent ways. The "labor question," immigration, social welfare, and world peace are among the topics that we will explore through their lives. There was enough agreement between the two that Addams actually gave the nomination speech for Roosevelt at the Progressive Party convention in 1912. They diverged again when the United States entered the First World War. Both Addams and Roosevelt were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize (Roosevelt in 1905, Addams in 1931). Much of their divergence, I argue, can be explained by their understanding of the role of gender in their lives--another important topic we will be discussing this semester.

This class will deepen our understanding of the Progressive Era, and its importance to the world we live in today. You will leave this class, I hope, with a deeper appreciation for the complexity of the problems faced by the world then emerging--and for the complexity of the problems we face today.