Chicago Sanitary Reform In The 19th Century

During the 19th century, the United States underwent a great awakening in sanitation and public health. The nation was experiencing unprecedented levels of population growth as a result of the rise in immigration and industrialization. The accepted theories of how disease spread were based on false premises, ultimately diminishing any incentive to implement sanitary reforms. However, through international travel, the contagious disease, cholera, spread to the United States from Europe. Cholera ravaged the cities, such as Chicago in several epidemics, brutally damaging its victims' physical health and frequently leading to death. In response, Chicago’s sanitary reformers and city engineers gained a new sense of resolve to combat these illnesses
The economies of several northern states, including Chicago, were quickly industrializing, unlike the south, which remained committed to its agrarian economy. Long-standing differences in opinion about the issues of states versus federal authority, slavery and states’ rights prompted the southern states to secede from the rest of the country. These states formed the Confederate States of America (Confederacy) in 1861. That same year, the Confederate army attacked Fort Sumter in the North. These aggressions prompted President Abraham Lincoln to enter what became the American Civil War in 1861. The North, termed the Union, attempted to suppress the Confederate states and reintegrate them into the country. Illinois, with Chicago as its industrial hub, entered the war on the side of the Union. However, the Union’s effort to overpower the Confederate army was hindered, as their troops were heavily suffering from disease and a general lack of medical supplies available to them. It was imperative that the Union win the war to preserve the nation and uphold the American Constitution. This created a new sense of urgency to raise money for first aid supplies, which could then be distributed to Union