Immigration during the Second Industrial Revolution

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Immigration during the Second Industrial
Revolution
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How did immigration change during the late
1800s?

• 1800-1880 10 million immigrants came to the
  United States.
• They are categorized as the old immigrants
  because they came (primarily) from north and
  western Europe. They were (for the most part)
  white Protestants.

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1891-1910 12 million immigrants came to the
United States.

• By the early 1900s, 60 of the people living in
  the 123 largest cities in this country were the
• children of foreign-born parents or were foreign
  born themselves. Seventy percent of these
• immigrants came from the south and eastern parts
  of Europe. These immigrants are referred as the
• new immigrants. They included Czechs, Greek,
  Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Russian, and Slovak.
• There were also Jews, Arabs, Armenians, Chinese,
  French Canadians, and Japanese. They came
• to the United States for (basically) the same
  reasons that earlier immigrants came. Reasons
• included
• escape poverty
• escape religious persecution (seek freedom of
  religion)
• escape political persecution (seek freedom of
  speech)
• escape war
• escape famine
• enjoy better economic opportunity

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• Some of these immigrants were birds of passage.
  They came to America to earn money to send back
  home and eventually returned to Europe. Railroad
  and steamship companies who wanted to attract
  travelers often recruited immigrants to come to
  America. They would paint a false picture of the
  United States as a land of unlimited opportunity.
  They offered low fares and exaggerated chances of
  finding employment.

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• The journey was difficult and dangerous. It was
  not a pleasure trip for the
• immigrants who could only afford the poorest
  accommodations. This was
• called steerage. It was called this because it
  was closest to the steering
• mechanisms located in the ships lower levels.
  Immigrants were able to
• endure this because they clung to hope for a
  better life. Steerage was
• characterized by
• cramped conditions
• little or no privacy
• little ventilation
• unsanitary conditions

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What challenges did immigrants face as they
settled in the United States?

• When they arrived, many of the immigrants set
  foot on Ellis
• Island in New York Harbor. Those that came across
  the Pacific
• landed at Angel Island in San Francisco. Ellis
  opened in 1892.
• Immigrants caught their first glimpse of America
  when they saw
• the Statue of Liberty (located next to Ellis),
  which had been
• erected in 1886.

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• They were subjected to physical exams at Ellis is
  they were steerage
• passengers. The passengers who were cabin class
  (or better) were
• processed first and often did not have to go
  through the entire process).
• Many of the immigrants were forced to go back
  after failing the physical
• exam. If you had a contagious disease, mental
  disorder, or serious
• health problem like tuberculosis you would be
  deported. You were
• questioned about your job skills, background, and
  relatives. If you had a
• criminal record or had no way of supporting
  yourself, you were
• forced to go back. Most were allowed to stay,
  though.

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• Chinese immigrants went through the same process,
  but their entry
• requirements were stricter. By 1882, Congress
  passed a Chinese
• Exclusion Act, which denied Chinese from entering
  the United States unless
• they had certain skills or could prove that their
  parents were born in America.
• Some were detained on the island for long periods
  before the decision to
• allow them to enter was made.

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Where did new immigrants find assistance?

• Even though life in the United States was not
  easy for immigrants,
• it was often a huge improvement over their
  conditions in Europe
• and Asia. There were hardships, though. They
  suffered from
• crowded conditions
• only low-paying unskilled jobs available
• poor, inadequate housing
• crowded and unsanitary neighborhoods

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• Immigrants would settle in parts of large cities
  where they had something in common with the other
  immigrants. They went where they shared language,
  religion, and customs. Thus, sections of cities
  like New York had communities for Italian,
  Russian, Polish, Chinese, Greek, Slovak, and
  Jewish immigrants. The religious centers in the
  communities were a lifeline for the immigrants
  who were new arrivals.
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• They offered economic assistance, day care,
  sewing classes, social clubs, training courses,
  and gymnasiums. Benevolent Societies were started
  to help immigrants who were sick, unemployed, and
  (in some cases) died soon after arriving. They
  sometimes offered loans as well as getting help
  in obtaining education, health care, and jobs.
  They set up insurance plans to provide help to
  the immigrants.
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• Many of the older immigrants did not want to give
  up the ways of the old country so a generation
  gap built up between immigrants and their
  children. Their children were native Americans
  and wanted to assimilate into the customs of
  America (its language and culture). The parents
  often did not.
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• The work opportunities that immigrants (and their
  children) faced were about the same. They were
  the dirty jobs that involved the iron ore and
  coal mines, steel mills, construction sites, and
  sweatshops. It was the nations dirty work.
  Some worked as many as 15 hours a day for small
  wages. They often could not make more than just
  enough to feed, clothe, and shelter their
  families.

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Why did the Nativists oppose new immigration?

• Although immigrant workers were often the backs
  that this country was built on (during the Second
  
• Industrial Revolution), many Americans saw them
  as a threat.
• They
•  
• practiced different religions
• spoke different languages
• engaged in criminal action
• spread radical political ideas
• worked cheaply which lowered everyones wages

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• There was an economic depression in the United
  States after 1873 (Panic of 1873). The
  Workingmens Party of California asked the
  Chinese be excluded form immigration because they
  were taking jobs away from Americans (especially
  whites).
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• Chinese were attacked by mobs and persecuted in
  many places across the West just becasue they had
  a strong work ethic and would work for less. They
  also tended not to become Americanized and
  retained their old customs which made native
  Americans feel that they thought their customs
  were superior.
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• In 1894, some wealthy Bostonians started the
  Immigration Restriction League. They wanted to
  impose a literacy test on all new Americans. It
  was passed by Congress but vetoed by President
  Cleveland. Congress tried to pass it several more
  times over the next few years, but it failed each
  time.

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• All in all, the immigrants were a great addition
  to America because
• industrialization accomplishments would have been
  impossible without their hard work
• their cultures brought new dimensions to American
  life that (ultimately) resulted in a stronger
  society.

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