"Culture" means the ways in which people understand themselves and interact with each other and their environment. This essay will look at how immigration, poverty, labor disputes, and women struggling for a place in this time period shaped the 19th century. The 19th century was a time of rapid growth and change in America. It was a century of Westward expansion, and the building up of muscular new cities like Chicago. Immigrants brought their cultural traditions to their adopted land. The last three decades of the 19th century were marked by relentless capitalism, corruption, vulgar tastes and ostentatious displays of wealth. While the rich wore diamonds, many other Americans wore rags. In 1890, 11 million of the nation's 12 million families earned less than $1200 per year; the average annual income for most families was $380.00, well below the poverty line. In 1871 Mark Twain was quoted as saying "What is the chef end of man?-to get rich. In what way? - dishonestly if we can; honestly if we must."

There were three new social classes in America during the 19th century the first two were the industrial capitalists, it included men like Andrew Carnegie. The second social class was the

Education was the key to success for the immigrants. Most found life in America very difficult. Lacking education or special training, they had to work with their hands and at low wages. Many determined that their children should not live as they did, saw to it that their sons and daughters finished school. Many children from immigrant families pressed on through high school, colleges, and frequently professional schools. Getting an education gradually became easier, partly under pressure from immigrant families, cities expanded their high schools, and new city colleges were established, in New York, Chicago, and elsewhere in the country. Even private colleges and universities opened their doors more widely by offering scholarships to talented youth.

* Purity- America's women were supposed to be pure of heart, mind, and of course body.

Many nineteenth-century physicians who believe in Darwin's theory of evolution, concluded that women had stopped evolving sooner than men, and therefore, were less developed mentally and less suited for education. In 1908 the United States Senate rejected a bill that would have established Mother's Day as a notional holiday on the grounds that motherhood was too sacred to be demeaned by a day in its honor. During the Women's Rights Movement, women faced incredible obstacles to win the American civil right to vote, which was later won in 1920.

* Piety- Advocates believed that women were far more religious and spiritual in nature than men.

Industrialists took a hard line against the formation of unions, but the labor movement continued to grow. In 1877, three national unions existed; in 1880 there were eighteen. In 1886, a national strike called for changing the standard workday from 12-hours to eight. During a Cleveland steel strike, violent confrontations led local newspapers to attach the "un-American" Polish workers as "Ignorant and degraded whelps". Union members were often called "Communistic scoundrels who revel in robberies, bloodshed, and arson".

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1688
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)