Transcript Immigration

Immigration
► By
the late 1800s, most European states made it
easy to move to America. Most of these came
from eastern and southern European states and
made up more than half of all immigrants.
► Of the 14 million that arrived between 1860 and
1900, many were European Jews.
► America offered immigrants employment, few
immigration restrictions, avoidance of military
service, religious freedom, and a chance to move
up the social ladder.
Immigration
Most immigrants took the difficult trip to America in
steerage, the least expensive accommodations on a
steamship.
► The 14 day trip usually ended at Ellis Island, a small island
in New York Harbor. It served as a processing center for
most immigrants arriving on the East coast after 1892.
► Many immigrants faced the possibility of being separated
from their families and possibly being sent back to Europe
because of health problems.
► Most immigrants lived in cities. They lived in
neighborhoods that were separated into ethnic groups. It
is here that they duplicated many of their comforts of their
homelands, including language and religion.
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Asian Immigration
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Severe unemployment, poverty, and famine in China; the
discovery of gold in California, the Taiping Rebellion in
China; and the demand for railroad workers in the United
States led to an increase in Chinese immigration to the
United States in the mid-1800s.
In western cities, Chinese immigrants worked as laborers,
servants, skilled tradesmen, and merchants. Some opened
their own laundries.
Between 1900 and 1919, Japanese immigration to the
United States drastically increased as Japan began to build
an industrial economy and empire.
In 1910 a barracks was opened on Angel Island in
California. Here, Asian immigrants, mostly you men and
boys, waited sometimes for months for the results of
immigration hearings.
Resurgence of Nativism
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The increase in immigration led to nativism, an extreme
dislike for foreigners by native-born people and the desire
to limit immigration.
Nativism led to the forming of two anti-immigrant groups.
 The American Protective Association – this group had
500,000 members by 1887, this group disliked Catholics
and foreigners
 The Workingman’s Party – this group wanted to stop
Chinese immigration
In 1882 Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act that
barred Chinese immigration for 10 years and prevented the
Chinese already here from becoming citizens. This act was
renewed by Congress in 1892, made permanent in 1902,
and not repealed until 1943.
Americans Migrate to Cities
► The
urban population of the United States grew
from about 10 million in 1870 to over 30 million by
1900.
► Immigrants remained in the cities, where they
worked long hours for little pay; however, this was
still better than what they previously had before
coming to America.
► Farmers began moving to cities for better paying
jobs, electricity, running water, plumbing, and
entertainment. The process of moving from a
rural area to a city is known as urbanization.
The New Urban Development
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Housing and transportation needs changed due to the
increase in the amount of people living in the cities.
As the price of land increased, building owners began to
build up. Skyscrapers, tall steel frame buildings, were
constructed for this reason.
 Chicagoan Louis Sullivan contributed to the design of
skyscrapers.
In the late 1800s, various kinds of mass transit developed
to move large numbers of people around in cities quickly.
 First was the horse-car
 Electric trolley cars
 Elevated trains
Separation by Class
► Definite
boundaries could be seen where the
wealthy, middle class, and working class people
lived.
► Wealthy families lived in the heart of the city
where they constructed elaborate homes.
► The middle class, which included doctors, lawyers,
engineers, and teachers, tended to live away from
the city.
► The majority of urban dwellers were part of the
working class who lived in city tenements, or dark
and crowded multi-family apartments.
Urban Problems
► The
growth of cities resulted in an increase in
crime, fire, disease, and pollution.
► From 1880 to 1900, there was a large increase in
the murder rate.
► Native born Americans blamed immigrants for the
increase in crime.
► Alcohol contributed to crime in the late 1800s.
► Contaminated drinking water from improper
sewage disposal resulted in epidemics of typhoid
fever and cholera.
Urban Politics
A new political system was needed to cope with the new
urban problems. The political machine, an informal
political group designed to gain and keep power, provided
essentials to city dwellers in exchanges for votes.
► The party bosses had tight control of the city’s money.
Many became wealthy because of fraud or graft – getting
money through dishonest or questionable means.
► The most famous New York Democratic political machine
was Tammany Hall. During the 1860s and 1870s,
Tammany Hall’s boss was William Tweed. He was arrested
for corruption and sent to prison in 1874.
► Although corrupt, political machines did supply important
services and help assimilate the ever-expanding population
of city dwellers.
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