United States History Chapter 15

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United States History Chapter 15

• Higher Order Thinking Skills
• Homework

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1. Identify immigrants countries of origin.

• From which parts of the world did immigrants come
  to the United States?
• Between 1890 and 1920 large numbers of immigrants
  began arriving in the United States from Southern
  and Eastern Europe, as well as from Asia (China
  and Japan).
• For what reasons did they journey to America?
• To make a new life for themselves and their
  families
• To escape religious persecution
• To escape famine (Irish Potato Famine)
• To escape rampant poverty

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2. Describe the journey immigrants endured and
their experiences at United States immigration
stations.

• What difficulties did immigrants face on their
  journey to the United States?
• Long journeys, terrible living quarters on the
  steamships, rampant disease.
• What were the differences and similarities
  between the two U.S. immigration centers?
• Similar in the sense that they were the main
  entry points for immigrants arriving in the
  United States
• Different in how those immigrants were treated.
• Europeans arriving at Ellis Island may face a
  5-hour ordeal of inspection and questioning.
• Asian faced a long detention in terrible
  facilities while they waited to find out if they
  would be admitted to the country.
• How did many immigrants cope after arriving in
  America?
• They clung desperately to their native cultures,
  which created friction with Native born
  Americans. This created a hyphenated culture
  of Irish-Americans, Chinese-Americans,
  Polish-Americans, etc.

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3. Examine the causes and effects of nativists
anti-immigration sentiments.

• What did nativists believe?
• That immigrants did not deserve the same rights
  as native-born American citizens. They had not
  fought and died for these rights like Americans
  and their families had.
• How did the Chinese Exclusion Act and the
  Gentlemens Agreement limit Asian immigration?
• They banned Chinese and Japanese workers from
  emigrating to the United States.

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4. Describe the movement of immigrants to cities
and the opportunities they found there.

• Why did many immigrants settle in the nations
  cities?
• Thats where they arrived, thats where they
  could find shelter, thats where they could find
  work.
• Why did many immigrants avoid settling in the
  southern United States?
• There was already a large population of cheap
  labor (former slaves) living in the South.
  Without industrial jobs, there really was not
  enough work to draw immigrants to the South.
• What was the goal of the Americanization
  Movement?
• To get immigrants to abandon their native
  heritages and traditions and assimilate into a
  dominant American (white, middle class)
  culture.
• For what reasons did a number of Americans move
  from the country to the cities?
• Find Jobs
• Escape racial violence and Jim Crow segregation

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5. Explain how cities dealt with housing,
transportation, sanitation, and safety issues.

• What were the housing problems that many poor
  city dwellers faced?
• The Cities were overcrowded
• Many people were forced to live in Tenements.
• What other difficulties did immigrants and poor
  residents encounter?
• Fire
• Crime
• Disease
• Poor Sanitation

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6. Describe some of the organizations and people
who offered help to urban immigrants.

• What was the social gospel movement?
• Founded by Walter Rauchshenbush, it was a
  movement designed to tie peoples salvation to
  their good deeds. Encouraged people to become
  involved in social reform movements.
• What was the purpose of settlement houses?
• To help immigrants and the urban poor adjust to
  life in the cities.
• They provided the educational, cultural, and
  social services that the government was not.
• Who was Jane Addams?
• She founded Hull House in Chicago, she was one of
  the most influential members of the Social Gospel
  Movement.

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7. Explain the role of political machines and
political bosses.

• What was a political machine?
• An organization that worked to organize support
  for candidates of a particular political party.
• What was the role of the political bosses?
• Controlled various aspects of the local
  government such as municipal jobs, licenses,
  courts, etc.
• Many Bosses worked to solve urban problems such
  as water and sewer, education, small business
  growth, etc.
• Many Bosses became corrupt and used the
  naturalization of immigrants to further their
  political goals.
• What role did immigrants play in the politics of
  many big cities?
• The Political Machines helped immigrants with the
  various problems encountered in the cities and
  with Naturalization.
• In return they gave the political machines their
  loyalty
• Oftentimes this resulted in corruption and
  created civil unrest in the public between
  immigrants and nativist groups.

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8. Describe how some politicians greed and fraud
cost taxpayers millions of dollars.

• What means did many political machines use to
  maintain power?
• Fraud (particularly voter fraud)
• Graft (Bribes of government officials)
• Corruption
• For what reasons was the Tweed Ring so notorious?
• For scamming New York City out of huge sums of
  money (in one case bilking the City of 10
  Million).

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9. Describe the measures taken by presidents
Hayes, Garfield, and Arthur to reform the spoils
system.

• What were the consequences of the Patronage
  system?
• Unqualified people doing government jobs
• Scandal and Corruption
• What political reform efforts did Hayes,
  Garfield, and Arthur undertake?
• Civil Service Reform, resulting in the passage of
  the Pendleton Civil Service Act
• What was the Pendleton Civil Service Act?
• It created the Civil Service Exam, established a
  merit system in government hiring, ended the
  spoils system.

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10. Explain the positions taken by Presidents
Cleveland, Harrison, and McKinley on the tariff
issue.

• Where did Cleveland and Harrison stand on the
  tariff issue?
• Grover Cleveland believed that lower tariffs led
  to greater trade with foreign countries and
  economic growth.
• Benjamin Harrison, financed by Big Business,
  believed that Tariffs were not high enough and
  higher Tariffs would protect American Industry.
• What was the McKinley Tariff Act of 1890?
• After Harrisons election he signed the McKinley
  Tariff and raised Tariff levels to their highest
  levels ever.
• What happened to tariffs when Cleveland was
  reelected, and how did things change when
  McKinley took office?
• When Cleveland was reelected he lowered Tariffs
  again.
• When McKinley was elected in 1896 he once again
  raised Tariffs.