IMMIGRANTS & URBANIZATION Chapter 15 What were the economic, social and political effects of...
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Transcript of IMMIGRANTS & URBANIZATION Chapter 15 What were the economic, social and political effects of...
IMMIGRANTS & URBANIZATIONChapter 15
What were the economic, social and political effects of immigration?
THE NEW IMMIGRANTS
The Lure of America
• Old Immigrants• 1800-1880 - 10
million• Protestants from
western and northern Europe
The Lure of America
• New Immigrants• 1891-1910 12 million• 60% of urban (12 largest cities) were foreign born• Southern and Eastern Europe
• Czech, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Russia, Slovak• escape poverty, persecution, economic opportunities
• Chinese• arrived on the west coast• seeking fortune• railroads, then farmed, mining and domestic service
The Lure of America
• New Immigrants• Japanese
• worked on plants in Hawaii• http://www-tc.pbs.org/wnet/facesofamerica/files/2010/01/Faces-of-America-Lesson-Pl
an-Upper-Elem-E.mov
• after annexation to the west coast• West Indies and Mexico
• Jamaica, Cuba, Puerto Rico• jobs were scarce• eastern and southeastern U.S.
• Mexico• political turmoil• National Reclamation Act• farm workers
The Lure of America
• The Journey• Railroad & Steamship
Promoters• Tempting/False picture
(steamships charged a fare)
• Poorest accommodations – Steerage
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bC07e7PReM
Arriving in America
• Ellis Island, New York Harbor • 1892 to 1924 17 million
immigrants passed • physical exams
• who cannot stay?• document check and
interview• no felonies• ability to work• some money
• $25 after 1909
• 2% sent back
Arriving in America
• Angel Island – San Francisco Bay• between 1910 and 1940
about 50,000 Chinese immigrants
• Endure harsh questioning and long detention in filthy buildings
A New Life• Endure Hardships
• crowded cities• low paying, unskilled work• poor houses and slums
• Immigrant Communities• New York City…pockets of
countries/cultures• Benevolent Societies
• religious institutes set up to help those in need
• Cultural Practices• Old vs. Young
The Immigrant Worker• Worked in areas such
as…• mines, steel mills, textiles,
garments, laundries, etc.
• “Dirty Work”• Children in sweatshops• When layoffs occur…
Americans get the boot!• why?
The Nativist Response• Americans see them as a threat
• “wild motley throng” (wild mixed crowd)• blamed for poverty, crime, violence
• Chinese Exclusion Act - 1882• taken care of on the west coast• “the Chinese must go” (violence)• denies citizenship to those born in China• prohibited the immigration of Chinese laborers
• Immigration Restriction League• impose literacy test• President Cleveland vetoes
Without Immigrants• Rapid industrialization would
have never been possible• America would lack the cultural
dimensions that it has today
THE CHALLENGES OF URBANIZATION
Snapshot of 1900 to 1909• 76,000,000 Americans in 46 states
• by the end of the decade• Policeman arrests woman for smoking in public • $46,000,000+ in the U.S. treasury • 8,000 cars - 10 miles of paved roads • 1900
• 96 auto deaths • 115 lynching
• San Francisco Earthquake• 700 dead and • over $4,000,000 in damage
• Average worker made $12.98/week for 59 hours • Life expectancy
• 47.3 female • 46.3 male
• 33 African American
Urban Growth
Upper Class Life• “noveau riche” – newly rich
• made fortunes very quickly and made those of wealth look more like middle class
• Conspicuous consumption• Spent wealth freely so that everyone would know how successful they were
• Philanthropy• Giving wealth to art galleries, libraries, universities, museums, opera companies,
symphonies, theatres• Some saw as a way to do good, others used it to flaunt their wealth
Upper Class Life
Upper Class Life
Middle Class Life• Includes accountants,
clerks, engineers, managers, and salespeople
• Professionalism• Huge demand for educated
and trained specialized workers
• Professional schools ad organizations founded• Set standards, issue
licenses, review practices
Middle Class Life• Middle-Class Women
• New jobs for women…salesclerks, secretaries, stenographers
• Business owners hire young, single women to fill open positions• Pay lower wages than men
• Most married women worked in the home• ready made clothing, running hot and
cold water• More time to focus on children and
take part in cultural events• Reading and social clubs
How the Poor Lived• Huge population of laborers
keeps the wages low• Housing shortages and rising rent• Tenements
• 1.6 million New Yorkers – more than half the population
• As many as 12 families to a floor• Poorly ventilated, dark• Outside…raw sewage, piles of
garbage• “The stink is enough to knock you
down”• Sickness and death were
common
The New York Slums
A picture taken in 1903 of a group of New York City tenement houses. Close quarters, inadequate conditions, and other factors defined the living conditions of such a time.
The New York Slums
A picture, taken in 1908, of a New York tenement housing a family of seven.
The New York Slums
A picture, taken in 1908, of a New York tenement housing a family of seven.
The New York Slums
A picture, taken in 1900, of investigators examining an overcrowded tenement house fit for nine. When burden by the prices of food, clothing, and even rent, most immigrants in New York wereforced to live under unfit conditions in order to make ends meet.
African Americans• Greatest difficulties of all the poor• Discrimination• Super low paying jobs• Outrageous rents for appalling
apartments• Police harassment• …but preferred life in the North to the
South• “They sleep in peace at night; what they
earn is paid to them, if not they can appeal to the courts. They vote without fear of the shot-gun, and their children go to school”
The Drive for Reform
• Settlement Houses• Jane Addams - Hull House• Provided educational and cultural
opportunities to the poor and improved living conditions in the neighborhoods
• Social Gospel• Protestant ministers called for
people to apply Christian principles to address social problems
• Churches provided classes, counseling, job training, libraries and other social services
POLITICS IN THE GUILDED AGEPolitics in the Gilded Age
Political Bosses & Political Machines
Political Machines
Benefits
• Provides public services to growing cities
• Helps immigrants upon the arrival to the country
• Provides jobs for local voters
Failings
• Often uses corruption, such as voting fraud, to achieve their goals
• Corruption interfered with important functions of city government
• Encouraged graft