19th Century Dbq Analysis

In the late nineteenth century, the rapid growth of cities, caused by industrialism and immigration, created significant issues that mainly affected the impoverished, leading reformers to push for a government response to these problems. Since immigrants and citizens were moving to the cities in search of jobs, overcrowding became a major problem. The creation of steel, allowing for skyscrapers to be made, allowed for cities to grow up, not out, creating more space, yet landlords still crowded laborers into tenements. Due to low wages, the gap between the rich and the poor was immense, and poverty was rampant throughout the cities. In an effort to help the impoverished, the Salvation Army was created, and reformers such as Jacob Riis attempted
to show the wealthy the duress of the poor.