Immigration

By: Berenice Lama and Dayra Rivas

Market Revolution 1800-1860 (Unit 4 Antebellum america)

Beginnings of factories…

Textile MillsSteamboatsCanalsRailroadsInterchangeable Parts sewing machinesFactory System and Coal Power (Steam)

Notebook:November 11th, 2015

During the Market Revolution there was a surge of economic growth and transformation in America. Concurrently the industrial revolution, offered new manufacturing processes and innovations that allowed for more work in a shorter amount of time.

Why were the irish attracted To America….In Ireland the English rule was oppressive and highly unpopular, which drove many people out. There was a famine of crops such as from 1845-49, which caused the death of nearly one million people due to starvation and disease.

Why were the Germans Attracted to America…

In Germany the economic dislocations of the industrial revolution had caused widespread poverty, and the collapse of the liberal revolution had caused widespread poverty, and the failure of the liberal revolution there in 1848 also convinced many Germans to emigrate.

Textbook:Chapter 10

Differences between the German and Irish.. The Majority of the irish settled in the eastern cities, where they looked for unskilled labor.

Most germans moved to the northeast, where they became farmers or went into business in western towns.

German immigrants usually with some money, while the Irish had practically none.

Most German immigrants were members of family groups or were single men.

Many Irish Immigrants were young, single women, for whom the movement west was more reasonable .

Textbook:Chapter 10

Nativism Nativists

-argued that the new immigrants were inferior to older-stock Americans.

- viewed immigrants with the same contempt and prejudice, and the same low estimate of potential abilities which they viewed African Americans and Indians.

-argued that newcomers were socially unfit to live alongside people of older stock, that they did not bring with them sufficient standards of civilization

A Defense of native-born people and a hostility to the foreign-born, usually combined with a desire to stop or slow immigration.

-believed that immigrants corrupted politics be selling their votes.-feared that immigrants would bring new, radical ideas into national life.

The Know Nothings..

In 1845, Nativists held a convention and formed the Native American Party (native born Americans)

In 1850- many nativist groups combined to form the Supreme Order of the Star-Spangled Banner

They adopted a code of secrecy, which included the password "I know nothing."

Chinese and irish immigrants and Railroad construction..

Building the transcontinental railroad...

Chinese immigrants worked hard, made few demands, and accepted low wages.

Many railroad workers were recruited in china by agents for the central pacific. Once the chinese immigrants were employed, they were organized into work gangs under chinese supervision.

Textbook pg. 447 (chinese)

In the Spring of 1866, 5,000 chinese railroad workers went on strike, demanding higher wages and shorter work days.

Settlement in the U.S.

People tend to settle where their ethnic groups are:

NORTHEAST CITIES NORTHWEST WEST

coastItalian slavic chinese Russian polish mexicansirish

Old Immigration

•Immigration slowed down after 1850s

–No more Irish Potato famine

–Irish, Germans, Scandinavians – “Old Immigrants”

•Only 2.6 million Old Immigrants fled to US cities after 1860

•Pattern of staying in cities (Church and social networks)

New Immigration

Southern and Eastern Europe: Italy, Poland, etc

�10,000,000 came between 1860 and 1890

�Many immigrants settled in cities because they couldn’t afford land; took unskilled jobs

During the Gilded Age, American businesses were transformed:

–Massive corporations replaced small, family businesses

–New technology, transportation, marketing, labor relations, & efficient mass-production

–By 1900, the U.S. was the most industrialized country in the world

Working conditions

- An average work week:10-18 hours a day, about 6 days a week

- Workers had low pay,they usually got payed about $1-14/week which amounted to $500-600/yr.

- Factory work was very dangerous and many injuries and deaths occurred

- There were no safety rules or regulations so workers couldn’t blame factory owners or hold them responsible for their injuries

- Factories had no ventilation so they would breathe in toxic fumes that surrounded the air

- Child Labor was very common and nearly of children worked ⅓full time jobs

Living Conditions/Tenements

-Immigrants lived in places called tenements because they had nowhere else to go.

- Tenements were run-down crowded apartments that many poor lower class people lived in.

-Problem? Tenements were over-crowded (usually 5-6 families lived in one tenement) and it was often unsanitary, garbage was never collected and the air became polluted. These apartments were often without bathrooms, running water, or electricity.

Chinese exclusion act

In California, Nativism was strong among Asians, especially Chinese immigrants. Nativists blamed Chinese immigrants for high unemployment rates and low wages in California. In 1882, the Chinese Exclusion Act temporarily banned Chinese immigration from China to the United States.

Gentlemen’s agreement

- In 1906, there were 93 Japanese immigrant children going to school in San Francisco. Then on April 18th,there was a fire that destroyed most of the city, including schools. Nativists on the San Francisco school board used the lack of buildings to segregate students. When Japanese gov’t found out that Japanese students were being segregated from white students, they protested to U.S. President Teddy Roosevelt.

- The President and the Japanese leaders reached an agreement called the “Gentlemen’s Agreement” - San Francisco agreed not to segregate Japanese Students and Japan agreed not to allow people to emigrate to the U.S. unless they had family there.

Other restrictions

- In 1882, Congress denied entry to the “undesirables”- convicts, paupers, the mentally incompetent.

- They start to place a tax of $.50 cents on each person admitted.

- In 1887, Henry Bowers founded the American Protective Association, a group driven to stop the the immigrant tide.

- Also in 1887, the Immigration Restriction League, was founded by five Harvard alumni.

- This group believed immigrants should be required to take literacy test and other standards designed to separate the “desirables” form the “undesirables”.

- In 1897, Congress passed a literacy requirement for immigrants, the president vetoed.

Social Gospel Movement-The Social Gospel Movement was a religious movement that arose during the second half of the 19th century. This movement was in response to the rapid immigration, urbanization, and industrialization. The movement’s main goal was to improve social welfare.

-Reformers believed that the lack of human morality caused social problems so they influenced them to be more humane.

- Churches began providing social services for poor people in the cities.

-These services taught church and gospel teachings.

-These churches also helped improve living conditions were it was needed.

- Led by middle class people

- Many young men and women formed the settlement movement to provide community services in poor neighborhoods.

- Citizens would move into a house from a poor neighborhood and have it serve as a community center.

- They would often give money to the poor or provide them with the things they couldn’t afford.

- Helped immigrants find jobs, shelter and improve their communication.

settlement movement

Jane addams and Hull house

In 1889 Addams and her friend rented a rundown mansion that belonged to Charles Hull. This was a place where immigrants could stay instead of rundown tenements.The Hull House gave poor immigrants a pace to stay where they would receive meals, an education, and also learn new schools that would be useful throughout their lives.