The Push and Pull Factors
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Transcript The Push and Pull Factors
The Push and Pull Factors
Mexico and the United States
1890-1930
Mexican Immigration,
1900-1939
1900-1904
1905-1909
1910-1914
1915-1919
1920-1924
1925-1929
1930-1934
1935-1939
2,259
21, 732
82, 588
91, 075
249, 248
238,527
19,200
8,737
General Definition
Push
factors are those factors in Mexico that
contributed to displacement and forced migrations
Pull
factors are those conditions in the United
States that magnetized the border region and
attracted Mexicans to the region
The Porfiriato defined
A ruler
with virtually absolute power
One enjoying complete autocratic
control
One
of leadership
ruling absolutely, typically with brutality,
oppression and ruthless suppression of opposition.
Dictatorship: A form of government in which a
dictator or small clique has absolute power without
effective constitutional limitations.
Push Factors
1. Porfirio Diaz: 1876-1910
Railroad
Construction—mostly north/south
Anti-Indian policies, favors Europeanization of Mexico
Land Policies: abolished the ejido: favored
modernization of Mexican agriculture, land ownership
increasingly concentrated
Political policies: no political parties, anti-unionism, no
freedom or independence of the press, Oligarchy
Favored Foreign investment
Porfirio Diaz, cont.
Encouraged immigrants from the United States, Britain,
Spain and China.
Sought immigrants to bring technical skills and
intellectual capacity to modernize the Mexican economy.
Agricultural production declines in major Mexican
staples.
Dependency on foreign capital in railroad, mining,
agricultural, petroleum industries.
Porfirio Diaz, cont.
Real wages of masses declines
Agricultural sector does not provide enough food for
domestic consumption
Two-thirds of capital investment from foreign sources
Vast differences in standard of living between rich and
poor
80% illiteracy in 1900
Catholic church: controls education, powerful politically
Push Factors
2.
The Mexican Revolution
(1910-1921)
Destabilizes
Mexico
Destroys the Mexican economy
Mass death and starvations
Out-migrations result
Around 1 million Mexicans flee and arrive in the
United States between 1920-1930.
Pull Factors
1.
Southwestern economic development
Railroad
construction
Agricultural stimulus through:
The
Dingley Tariff
The Newlands Reclamation Project
Labor intensive industries, agriculture, ranching mining.
Pull Factors
2.
Proximity to Mexico and availability of
Mexican cheap and surplus labor.
Availability of jobs.
Attractive wage scales—six to ten times the
Mexican daily wage
Escape from Mexican political and economic
chaos
Immigration Legislation
1. Restrictions on world-wide immigration to the United
States through:
Chinese Exclusion, 1880s
Gentleman’s Agreement: 1907 agreement with Japan to curtail
Japanese immigration
Immigration acts from 1917-1930: restrictions/quotas placed on
immigration from Europe, primarily eastern and southern Europe
Mexicans excluded from provisions of the 1917 immigration act
that required a literacy test and $8 head tax.