Immigration and Urbanization
1870-1920
Big Idea
• New immigrants from southern and eastern
Europe and Asia face culture shock and
prejudice; as well as opportunities for a
better life in the United States.
Ellis Island
• Located in New York Harbor
• Processing site for newly arrived immigrants
from Europe
• Immigrants examined by a doctor and took
literacy tests,
• 1892-1943, 16 million immigrants passed
through Ellis Island into the U.S.
Ellis Island
Wider View
Angel Island
• Located in San Francisco Bay
• Was a processing site for newly arrived
immigrants from Asia
• Immigrants went through much harsher
conditions than Ellis Island
Angel Island
Settlement in Ethnic Enclaves
• Immigrants settled in the same areas together and
established neighborhoods
• Culture shock: confusion and anxiety caused by living in an
unfamiliar place
• Melting Pot Society: mixture of people of different cultures
and races who blended together by abandoning their native
language and culture
Culture Shock
Some Relief
The Melting Pot Theory
Melting Pot?
Melting Pot?
Immigration Restrictions
• Nativism: favoritism towards native-born
Americans
• Fear of eastern and southern Europeans,
Roman Catholicism, and Judaism
Fears Concerning Immigration
• Unions feared unskilled immigrant labor
• Nativists feared the white race was weakening
• Negative Stereotypes were attached to
immigrants
• Seen as un-American
• Supporters of Radicalism
• Supporters of corrupt political machines
Effects of Nativism
• Chinese Exclusion Act: Banned immigration
from China in 1882
• Gentlemen’s Agreement: Limited Japanese
immigration in 1907-1908
No Money, Mo Problems
Urban Problems Late 18th Century
The Settling
• By 1920, millions of immigrants had settled in
major cities
Problems (Housing)
• Row Homes: attached
single family homes
that shared walls with
home next to it
• Tenements:
multifamily dwellings
were overcrowded and
unsanitary
Water Supply
• Millions of urban dwellers lacked access to
clean water
•
• Major cities often lacked indoor plumbing
•
• Diseases such as cholera and typhoid spread
Sanitation
• Horse manure, human waste, and garbage in
the streets
• Lacked dependable garbage collection and
sewer system
Fire
• Major fires broke out in
the 1870’s and 1880’s.
• Great Fire of Chicago in
1908
Crime
• New York had paid police by 1844, still
ineffective.
• Confidence men took advantage of naïve
immigrants
• Murders and robberies went unreported and
unsolved
Social Gospel Movement
• The preaching of
salvation through
service to the poor
Settlement Houses
• Community centers
established in poor
slum neighborhoods
• Run by middle class,
college educated
women
Jane Addams
• Chicago’s Hull House in
1889
•
•
Promoted Education,
culture, and social
services
•
Taught English,
health, and other social
courses
•
Had visiting nurses
visit
Crowded Conditions
Playing Next to Horses
The Emergence of the Political
Machine
Rage
Big Idea
• Political machines provided services for poor
immigrants and in exchange received support
that allowed them to control entire cities.
Political Machines
• An organized group that controlled the
activities of a political party in a city
• Offered services to voters and businesses in
exchange for support
Political Machines Existed In……..
•
•
•
•
•
Baltimore
New York
Philadelphia
Boston
San Francisco
Role of the Political Boss
• Controlled thousands of jobs (police,
sanitation, and fire departments)
• Built parks, schools, and hospitals for people
in their wards
• Machines supported by immigrant voters
(homes and jobs)
Election Fraud and Graft
• Bosses often padded voter lists with dead
people, children, and even animals.
• Philadelphia election: 100 registered voters
in a precinct. 252 Votes were returned.
Graft
• Illegal use of political influence for personal
gain
• Example
Kickbacks
• Illegal payments
• Example
The Tweed Ring Scandal
• William Macy Tweed ran Tammany Hall
which led NYC’s Democratic political machine
• Between 1869-1871, the Tweed Ring
scammed the city for 200 million dollars
• Tweed Ring finally brought down by public
outrage influenced by Thomas Nast’s political
cartoons
•
Tweed was arrested in 1871 and went to
prison
Political Cartoon #1
Political Cartoon #2
Politics in the Gilded Age
Big Idea
• Local and national political corruption during
the Gilded Age leads to calls for reform.
Patronage
• The doling out of political jobs and
appointments to friends and political
supporters
• Corruption at all levels of government
Republican Factions
• Stalwarts: Republicans who favored spoils
system
• Half-Breeds: Republicans who opposed the
spoils system (moderately)
• Mugwumps: Republicans who would bolt for
Democrats in 1884
Rutherford B. Hayes elected president
• What was Hayes’s position on civil service
reform? What did he do to promote it?
• Supported civil service reform
• Fired members of New York Customs House
who belonged to Conklin’s political machine
James Garfield elected president
• In the debate over civil service reform, did
Garfield seem to favor the Stalwarts or the
Mugwumps?
• Mugwumps
Garfield assassinated. Chester Arthur
assumes presidency.
• What position did Arthur take on civil service
reform, and what did he do to support it?
• Supported civil service reform
• Helped support passage of Pendleton Act
Pendleton Act passed
• What did the Pendleton Act do?
• Authorized a bipartisan civil service
commission to make appointments based on
merit system
Grover Cleveland elected president
• What was Cleveland’s position on tariffs, and
what did he do to promote this position?
• For low tariffs
• Ran for a second term on a low tariff platform
Benjamin Harrison elected president
• What was Harrison’s position on tariffs, and
what did he do to support that stand?
• For high tariffs
• McKinley Tariff passed, highest tariff in U.S.
history
Cleveland reelected president
• What happened to tariffs during Cleveland’s
second presidency?
• They were lowered
William McKinley elected president
• What happened to tariffs during McKinley’s
presidency?
• They were raised.