american west and industrialization part 1

8/7/2019 american west and industrialization part 1

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American West and Industrialization

Part 1: Immigration


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Immigration from 1850-1930

In the late 1800s, the United Statesexperienced a great increase inimmigration.

Most immigrants came to the U.S. via theNortheast, and many settled in cities

like Boston, New York, and Chicago.

Because of this rapid increase in populationcoupled with a lack of space forhousing, low income slums began topop up in country's large cities.

In these slums, the poor lived in run down,

overcrowded buildings known astenements. Some people, like JaneAddams and Jacob Riis, called forsocial reforms in the living and workingconditions of the poor.


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Immigration

In the late 1800s, the United Statesexperienced a huge increase inimmigration, particularly to areas of theNortheast and California.

Before the 1800s, most of the immigrantswere from Western European nations,

including Great Britain, Ireland, andGermany, among others.

Immigrants from these regions becameknown as "old immigrants" as a surge of"new immigrants" flooded into thecountry from other areas of the world.

These "new immigrants" came to the U.S.in the late 1800s and were mostly fromareas in Eastern and Southern Europe,especially Italy, Poland, and Russia.

The "new immigrants" settled into ethnicneighborhoods in large cities like

Boston, New York, and Chicago.


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Nativism

Some Americans did notwelcome immigrants andfeared competition for jobs.

These Americans were known

as nativists.

They were mostly Protestantswith British heritage.

Along with mistrusting

immigrants in general,nativists also dislikedCatholics because theyfeared that Catholics wouldfeel more loyalty to the popeand their religion than to theUnited States.


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Chinese Exclusion Act

Lawmakers became increasinglyconcerned with the number ofimmigrants coming to the United Statesin the late 1800s.

In 1882, Congress passed the first piece oflegislation that reduced immigrationfrom a specific country.

This was the Chinese Exclusion Act, andit prohibited Chinese workers fromimmigrating to the UnitedStates for tenyears.

Since most of the Chinese immigrants werecoming to the United States for jobopportunities, this act kept nearly allChinese immigrants from coming to theUnited States.

Many Chinese immigrants had worked onthe construction of the Central Pacific

Railroad.


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Ellis Island

In 1892, Ellis Island began to serve asthe chief immigration station of theUnitedStates.

Nearly all immigrants who came acrossthe Atlantic Ocean stopped at EllisIsland before continuing on to themainland.

About 40% of all Americans had anancestor come to the United Statesthrough Ellis Island.

There, each immigrant was givenidentity papers, checked forinfections, and sent to the mainlandof the United States through NewYork City.

Many immigrants stayed in New York

City, settling in ethnicnei hborhoods.


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Japan

The "Gentlemen'sAgreement" of 1907was an informalagreement between theUnitedStates and Japanin which the U.S. agreednot to pass lawsexcluding Japanese

immigration as long asJapan prevented itscitizens from emigrating.


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Quota System

In the years following World War I, there was agreat deal of anti-immigrant sentiment, andthe federal government passed variouslaws restricting immigration.

With the Immigration Act of 1924, a quota

system was enacted in which no more than2 percent of the population of eachnationality that was living in the U.S. in1890 could be admitted as immigrants.

This law eliminated immigration from Asia andseverely limited immigration from Southernand Eastern Europe, particularly Russia

and Italy.

In the Sacco and Vanzetti trial of 1921, Italianimmigrants Nicola Sacco and BartolomeoVanzetti were convicted of murder.

Many people felt that the men had not receiveda fair trial because of the anti-immigrantand anti-radical ideals of the era.


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Cities and Living Conditions

With the influx of immigrants to the UnitedStates, cities grew rapidly, especially inthe Northeast.

Urbanization, which is the act of making aplace into an urban area, was on the

rise.

Many cities could not keep up with thequickly increasing populations.

Immigrants and the poor moved intotenement houses, also known asdumbbell tenements.

Tenements were overcrowded and lackedthe necessary sanitation and ventilation.

Families often lived all in one room andsometimes shared a room with anotherfamily.

These areas began to be known as theslums.


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Settlement Houses

In an effort to help people living intenements in the slums, somepeople began to set up settlementhouses.

A settlement house was aneighborhood institution wheretrained workers tried to improvesocial conditions by providingcommunity services and promotingcooperation among neighbors.

Jane Addams foundedHull House inChicago, one of the most famoussettlement houses in the UnitedStates.

Hull House served as a communitycenter for the neighborhood and

later was a center for social reformactivities.


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Jacob Riis

Jacob Riis triedin his own way tobring attention to the immigrantsand poor who lived in the tenementsand slums.

Riis published a book called How theOther Half Lives: Studies Amongthe Tenements of New York.

In the book, Riis used photographs,drawings, and written descriptionsto advocate better living andworking conditions for the urbanpoor.

His book included images of childlabor, sweatshops, andovercrowded and unsanitarytenements in an effort to bring about

social reform.

american west and industrialization part 1

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