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Reform in the Gilded Age
Critics of laissez-faire capitalism promoted alternative visions for the U.S. economy and society. For example, Walter Rauschenbusch, a clergyman and theology professor, helped to popularize the Social Gospel movement in a book that argued that the way to reach salvation is to provide charity to the poor. One area that benefited from donations his ideas engendered were settlement houses—community centers in poor, working-class neighborhoods that provided help for recent immigrants trying to assimilate, including English classes; nursing for the sick; and childcare. Jane Addams was one of the most influential members of the settlement house movement. She founded Hull House in Chicago in 1889.
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Development of the Middle Class
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Controversies Over the Role of Government in the Gilded Age
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