Discussing The American Urban Reform At The Turn Of The Nineteenth Century Into The Twentieth Century

United States was in transition from traditional to modern society during the late 19th century to early 20th century, the rapid development of its industrialization and urbanization took it into the ranks of urbanized countries. But at the same time, this rapid change had brought to the United States a number of social problems, including municipal management confusion, the great polarization between the rich and the poor, slum problems and so on, since these problems occurred mainly in the cities, which were collectively referred to as the "city diseases ".With the expansion of urbanization, "urban diseases" were also spreading across the country, threatening the faith in democracy of American. To address these issues, American represented by the middle class community launched a massive urban reform movement. This movement lasted for decades and its enduring impact penetrated into all areas of modern America. After the baptism of this reform, the United States got out of the trouble of "urban diseases", started a reform era, and has taken an important step to the modern United States. Paper is divided into four parts: introduction, body, conclusion and references.Body part is divided into four chapters. The first chapter analyzes the pre-reform social and political situation of the United States. This situation includes the City Bosses'control of municipal governments, municipal management confusion, the great polarization between the rich and the poor, class contradiction, serious slum problems and so on, which threatening the existing order, so reform is imperative as a result. The second chapter discusses the ideological transformation and the Muckraking Movement. The mainstream thinking of laissez-faire was gradually questioned and refuted, a group of thinkers advocated a more active attitude toward the problems of social life and tried to solve them, the press exposed the dark side of the society to the public and awakened the sense of civic, and reform was almost ready to start. Chapter three discusses the municipal reform. The reform had changed the situation of City Bosses'control of municipal governments from multi-directions, and created two new municipal systems. The reform had been a big success and it's also impressive, it had an enduring influence until now. The fourth chapter discusses various social reforms, including the social gospel movement, community reform movement, slum reform and children-saving movement, and so on, covered a wide field, it also made some achievements and left a rich legacy for the New Deal.Conclusion: The two sides were all important components of the urban reform, but they had different emphases, and at the same time, they had both similarities and differences. The differences of the subject and starting points of the two reforms also led to different results. But both of them reflect the Nativist tendencies of protecting the Yankee culture and the immigrant flood's impact upon American politics. The urban reform made significant achievements, and ultimately saved the United States from the "shame of the cities" .It had a profound influence, but it also had its limitations. Finally, since China is in a transition period, many things can be learnt from American urban reform.