Columbian Exposition
The Chicago Columbian Exposition of 1893 was a new, revolutionary way for people to discover the wonders of the world and the arts and sciences. Industrialization helped build the fair from the ground up in a little over two years, and helped bring visitors from across the country to the fair. It also helped create the wages that allowed people to be able to afford to attend the fair. Industrialization helped create many of the problems surrounding the fair, as well, from air pollution from the coal fires and d
Many artists and writers spoke out against Social Darwinism, because they saw it as it really was, a way to promote racism and social exclusion. ust in the air, to the trash and waste the fair generated. Society was changing, and the fair exhibited this by including items from everyday life all the way to imagined hope for the future. Social Darwinism is reflected in the fair in that it included exhibits from around the world, opening up the visitors to new experiences, thereby leading to society's evolution. Some people found the fair to be overly commercial and self-serving, but most people appreciated it for what it was, truly the world's first amusement/theme park. Political campaigning used Social Darwinism to open up the country to the outside and complete projects like the Panama Canal. The exhibits helped showcase the increasingly mechanized America, showing sewing machines, cotton gins, and other machinery, and there were also many exhibits from far off and exotic lands, opening up American imaginations to the world's cultures and ideas. The press used it to sensationalize worldwide events, and to bring overseas news to Americans. Writers, artists, and photographers all pounced on the fair, trying to capture its essence for those who could not attend. Some used it to argue against allowing more immigration, because they felt that society would change so much it would no longer be American, and the government used it to justify overseas expansion by telling Americans new territories would bring even more prosperity and social evolution and growth.
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