Immigrants and
Urbanization
“We cannot all live in the city, yet
nearly all seem determined to do
so.”
New Immigrants
Escape difficult living conditions





Poverty
Famine
Land shortages
Religious or Political persecution
“Birds of Passage”—intended to immigrate
temporarily in order to make money and
then return to their homelands.
Europe
 1870-1920
almost 20 million Europeans
arrived in the United States.
 Before 1890—Western and Northern
(Great Britain, Ireland, and Germany)
 After came from Southern and Eastern
Europe (Italy, Austria-Hungary, and
Russia)
 1905 alone a million people arrived from
these countries through the “Golden Door”
Immigrants
 Villages
of Jews in Russia came to
America because they were driven out by
pogroms.
 Organized anti-Semitic campaigns that led
to the massacre of Jews.
 Rise in population in Europe.
 Scarcity of land for farming
China and Japan
 West
Coast
 Smaller numbers
 Built the first Transcontinental railroad
 Farming, mining, and domestic service
 Japanese govt. allowed Hawaiian planters
to recruit Japanese workers and
immigration began.
 Large spread movement
West Indies and Mexico

Eastern and Southern United States
 Jamaica, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and other Islands.
 Mexicans became U.S. residents without leaving
their homes.
 Result of the annexation of Texas in 1845
 Treaty with Mexico in 1848 territories from
Mexico
 National Reclamation Act (Newlands Act)—
encouraged the irrigation of arid land, new
farm land was created—Texas, Arizona, and
California.
Journey


Steamship
Atlantic Ocean from Europe approx. 1 week
 Pacific from Asia took nearly 3 weeks
 Stormy, uncomfortable, and frightening
 Traveled in steerage or cargo holds below a ship’s
waterline.
 Not allowed on deck, crowed together, unable to
exercise or catch a breath of fresh air, slept in louseinfested bunks, share toilets.
 Disease spread quickly
 Some died before they reached the land of opportunity.
 The first sight of America was unbelievable.
Ellis Island
 Loneliness,
homesickness, and anxiety of
not knowing whether they would be
admitted to the United States.
 Pass inspection
 20% of immigrants were detained for a
day or more before being inspected.
 2% had to return home
 Five hours or more
Ellis Island
 Physical
exam from a doctor
 Government Inspector—documents and
determined if they met the legal
requirements—passing a literacy test in
their native language and had to show that
they had at least $25.00.
 From 1905 to 1907 as many as 11,000
immigrants a day went through Ellis
Island.
Angel Island
Angel Island






Chinese entered the U.S. through Angel Island.
San Francisco Bay
Harsh questioning, long detention while
government officials decided whether to admit or
reject an immigrant.
Filthy, ramshackle buildings, confined like
prisoners.
Immigrants riot in 1919 to protest conditions.
Writings on the wall.
Culture Shock
 Confusion,
anxiety
 Con men and thieves took advantage of
the newcomers’—stole their money and
possessions.
 Where are they going to live?
 Where am I going to work?
 What did they say? What are they doing?
 Find people who are like me.
Survival







Ethnic communities
Build neighborhood churches or synagogues.
Social clubs
Aid societies—furnished medical treatment for
members and helped with medical cost.
Founded orphanages and old people’s homes,
cemeteries
Newspapers in their own language
“hyphenated” Americans
Melting Pot
 Mixture
of people of different cultures and
races who blended together by
abandoning their native languages and
customs.
 Refused to give up their cultural identities
 Anti-immigrant feelings emerged
Nativism







Favoritism to native born Americans
Anti-immigrant groups—demanded restrictions on
immigration.
“right” countries— British, German, and Scandinavian.
“wrong” countries—Slav, Latin, and Asiatic races.
Suspicion and fear of foregineers
Roman Catholic and Jews
American Protective Association—1887
 Vicious anti-Catholic attacks
 Colleges, businesses, and social clubs refused to
admit Jews.
Nativism
 Anglo-Saxon—superior

race
German ancestors of the English
Immigration Restriction League—1884
“undesirable classes”—from southern and
eastern Europe.
Congress passed a bill requiring literacy test for
new immigrants in 1896
President Vetoed the bill.
Anti-Asian Sentiment

Chinese
 Customs, unfamiliar language, look different—
longhair, braids, cotton jackets, broad cotton
pants, wide brimmed hats.




Jobs scarce
Violent Anti-Chinese riots
Knights of Labor fought for restrictions on the
Chinese.
Workingmen’s Party—headed the antiChinese movement in California.
• “The Chinese must go!”
Chinese Immigrants
Chinese Exclusion Act
 1882
Congress slammed the door on
Chinese immigration.
 Students, teachers, merchants, tourist,
and govt. officials.
 Ten years
 1892 extended another ten years.
 1902 Chinese immigration was prohibited
indefinitely—repealed in 1943.
Japanese Immigrants
 1906
Board of Education in San Francisco
California they segregate all Chinese,
Japanese, and Korean children.
 In Japan anti-American riots break out.
 Theodore Roosevelt stepped in
 Gentlemen’s Agreement 1907-1908

Japans govt. agreed to limit immigration to the
United States.
Open Response


Part A: As an Italian immigrant living in
New York discuss 3 problems faced by
cities in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Part B: What solutions do you feel as an
Italian immigrant would be the most
effective and what solutions did the
government offer.
The Problems of
Urbanization
Section 2
Urbanization








Growth of cities
City dwellers
Cheaper and more convenient place to live.
Unskilled laborers steady jobs
Social support of other immigrants
1890 twice as many Irish in New York than
Dublin, Ireland.
Worlds largest Polish population was in Chicago.
Ethnic neighborhoods
“Americanization Movement”
 Education
for newcomers
 English Language
 American History
 American Government
 Cooking
 Social etiquette
Country to City

Overcrowding becomes a problem
 Farmers merged
 Rural people could not find jobs in agriculture
 AA who lost jobs
 Chicago and Detroit—escape racial violence,
economic hardships, and political oppression
 Low paying factory jobs
 Domestic servants
Urban Cultural Opportunities
 Varied
and exciting life
 Each city had its own personality
 New York City—1st moving picture
 Chicago—Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Shows
 Boston—Ballpark to watch Boston
Nationals.
Boston Nationals
.
Urban Problems

Housing—buy on the
outskirts, rent rooms
in boarding houses.
 Row Houses—single
family dwellings that
shared side walls with
other similar houses.
 To many families
living in one house
together.
Urban Problems

Garbage not picked
up regularly; dumped
in air shafts—
attracted rats and
vermin.
 Residents would nail
windows shut.
 Dumbbell tenements
became worse place
to live than single
family residents.
Transportation
 Big
problem
 Street cars 18873
 1888 1st practical electric street car line in
Richmond, VA.
 Old transportation in good repair and build
new ones to meet demands.
Street Car in early 1900’s
Water
 Safe
water to drink
 Public water works
 Rare to have indoor plumbing
 Collect water in pails
 Cholera and typhoid fever were obvious
 Chlorination was introduced in 1893
 Filtration in 1903
Sanitation
 Horse
manure
 Sewage flowed through open gutters
 Foul smoke in the air
 Garbage in alley’s and streets
 Scavengers—private contractors hired to
sweep the streets, collect garbage, and
clean outhouses. They didn’t do their job!!
 Sewer lines and sanitation departments—
cities issued in 1900 helped a little.
Fire









Limited water supplies
Wooden dwellings
Candles and kerosene often used for heat.
Volunteer firefighters
Cincinnati, Ohio first to pay firefighters
By 1900 most cities had paid firefighters
Great Chicago Fire
The San Francisco Earthquake
Page 285
Crime
 Social
reforms—young, educated, men
and women from the middle class.
 Social Gospel Movement


Preached Salvation to the poor.
Walter Rauschenbusch of New York and
Washington Gladden of Ohio –Applied
Christianity
• Erect churches in poor communities
• Treat workers more fairly
Settlement House Movement

Community centers in slum neighborhoods provided
assistance and friendship to local men, women, and
children—immigrants.
 Run by middle class, college educated women.
 Educational, cultural, and social services.
 Classes in English, health, crafts, drama, music, and
painting. College extension courses.
 Reading circles
 Sent nurses to homes of the sick provided whatever aid
was needed.
 “Support of deserted women, insurance for bewildered
widows, damages for injured operators, furniture from
the clutches of the installment store.”
Settlement House Movement
 Charles
Stover and Stanton Coit
 Opened in New York City in 1886
 Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr
Founded Chicago’s Hull House in 1889.
By 1910 about 400 settlement houses were
operating in cities across the country.
“Politics in the Gilded
Age”
Section 3 and 4
Political Machine
Offered services to voters and businesses in exchange for
political or financial support.
 Gained control of local government in Baltimore New York,
San Francisco, and other major cities.



Pyramid
Base—local precinct workers and captains; reported to a
ward boss.

Ward bosses helped the poor and gained their votes. (Favors)

Top of the Pyramid—city boss, controlled the activities of the
political party throughout the city.

Precinct captains, ward bosses, and the city boss work
together.--guarantee success of the machine.
The Role of the Political Boss
 Controlled
access to municipal jobs,
business licenses, and influenced the
courts and other agencies.
 Built parks, sewer systems, waterworks,
and gave money to schools, hospitals, and
orphanages.
 Reinforce voter's loyalty, win additional
political support, extend influence.
Immigrants and the Machine











Political bosses usually 1st and 2nd generation immigrants.
Grammar school
Worked their way up from the bottom.
Speak to immigrants in their own language.
Understood the challenges
Provide solutions
Naturalization
housing
jobs
Immigrants provided votes!!!!
“Big Jim” Pendergast—Irish American saloonkeeper.
Controlled Missouri state politics.
Election Fraud and Graft






Fake names
cast as many votes needed to win
graft—illegal use of political influence for
personal gain.
“kick backs” --a portion of the earnings to the
machine.
Favors to businesses were granted in return for
cash
Until 1890 police forces were hired and fired by
political bosses.
The Tweed Ring Scandal
William M. Tweed “Boss Tweed”
Tammany Hall, New York City's powerful Democratic
Political Machine
 Construction of the Courthouse cost Tax payers $13
million—actual cost $3 million—pocketed by Tweed and
followers.
 Tweed Ring broke in 1871
 Tweed indicted on 120 counts of fraud and extortion
sentenced to 12 years in jail.
 Reduced to 1 year.
 Tweed escaped after he was put in jail for the 2nd time.
 Captured in Spain—officials recognized him from a
political cartoon.


“Boss Tweed”
 William
M. Tweed
“Patronage Spurs Reform”






Giving of government jobs to people who had
helped a candidate get elected.
Andrew Jackson “Spoils System.”
Government employees not qualified for the job.
Personal gain
Merit System hiring
Civil Service—govt. administration—go to the
most qualified person.
Reform Under Hayes, Garfield and
Arthur”

Republican president Rutherford B. Hayes –
1876






used other means
could not get Congress to support reform
Named independents to his cabinet
Commission to investigate the nation's customhouses
fired 2 top officials
Decided not to run for re-election in 1880
Garfield







Independent candidate from Ohio
V.P. Chester A. Arthur
Reformers get most of his patronage jobs
July 2, 1881 Garfield was shot in a Washington
D.C. train station.
mentally unbalanced lawyer Charles Guiteau—
been turned down for a job.
Garfield died from his wounds on September 19.
Arthur turns to a reformer—urged Congress to
pass civil service law.
President Garfield
Pendleton Civil Service Act
 1883
 bipartisan
civil service commission to
make appointments to federal jobs through
a merit system based on candidates
performance on an examination.
 By 1901 40%+ of all federal jobs had been
classified a civil service position.
Harrison, Cleveland, and High
Tariffs

Democratic Party opposed high tariffs
 Democratic Party wins 1884 election with
nominee Grover Cleveland--1st time in 28 years
 Congress refused to help Cleveland lower tariffs
 Ran for re-election but lost due to his competitor
being financed by people who wanted higher
tariffs than they were—Benjamin Harrison.
Harrison
 supported
by people who wanted higher
tariffs
 won the presidency due to electoral votes
 Signed the McKinley Tariff Act of 1890
which made tariffs their highest yet.
Cleveland

1892 Elected again—only president to serve two
non-consecutive terms.
 supported a bill for lowering the McKinley Tariff
Act but refused to sign it b/c it also provided for a
federal income tax.
 Wilson-Gorman Tariff became law in 1894 w/o
the presidents signature.
 1897 William McKinley became president and
raised tariffs again.
Cleveland