Immigration &
Urbanization
Chapter 6.1 and 6.2
Immigrants
 European
and Asian immigrants arrived in America
in large numbers during the Industrial Revolution
 They




Provided cheap labor
Made rapid growth possible
Helped populate cities
Brought new culture to America
 The
U.S (and the large cities here) continue to be a
huge lure to immigrants and people looking for a
better life.
Why come to America?
– Push factors


A push factor is an issue that drives people away from a
place.
Push factors that made people want to leave their
homes:






Poverty
Unemployment
War
Political tyranny
Religious oppression
Avoid forced military service
A
Why come to America?
– Pull factors
pull factor is what draws people to a new
location
 Pull factors that made people want to move to
America:






Lots of available land
Lots of available jobs
Higher standard of living
Democracy
Civil rights
No rigid class system
Who Moved Here?
 Most
immigrants came from Europe
 About 25 million total
 8 million were considered “old” immigrants

3

From Northern and Western Europe
million were considered “new” immigrants
From Southern and Eastern Europe
 Over
14 million were Jewish
 Other immigrants came from China, Japan,
Canada, and Latin America, but in much smaller
numbers (only about 2 million)
Getting to America
 Getting
to the U.S was sometimes difficult
 Some countries restricted:


What type of people/workers could leave
How much money they could leave with
 The
trip had to be made by boat
 Most immigrants booked passage in steerage which
is the cheapest offered
 These accommodations were small, dirty, and stinky
(Think of the movie “Titanic”)
 And the end of the journey, European immigrants
were let out at Ellis Island
Ellis Island
 For
most immigrants, entry into America took about
one day (once they reached the island)
 Immigrants filed into a huge hall where a doctor
stood to inspect them
 Doctors gave a 6 second review after watching the
immigrant climb up a flight of stairs
 They were looking for back, eye, mental, heart, and
skin problems
 Any immigrant that failed the initial inspection was
separated from the others and given a more
thorough exam
Ethnic Cities
 Upon
arrival into the U.S, most immigrants would
move into large cities (Detroit, NYC, etc.)
 Once in the cities, they often separated themselves
into ethnic groups




 In


“Little Italy”
“Greektown”
“Mexicantown”
“Lower East Side”
these areas, they would:
Speak native language
Recreate their homeland
Asian Immigration
 Chinese



immigrants came for three reasons
Gold Rush in 1848
Transcontinental Railroad
Government instability in homeland
 Most
were very young men (why?)
 Native-born Americans discriminated against them
because they were culturally different


Usually used as servants
Not hired at “American” businesses
 Once,
they left their home countries, they were
“welcomed” to America at Angel Island
Angel Island
 “The
Ellis Island of the West”
 Located in California, in San Francisco Bay
 Conditions were not as nice as Ellis
 Immigrants sometimes waited 2 years to be allowed
into the U.S.
 Immigrants stayed in over-crowded, uncomfortable
wooden barracks until they were called in for an
immigration hearing.
 How is this different from the experience at Ellis
Island?
Nativism and Discrimination
 Nativism
is an extreme dislike for foreigners, typically
including a desire to limit immigration
 Mostly focused on



Asians
Jews
Eastern Europeans
 Nativists



opposed immigration for many reasons
Feared that too many Catholics would change how
the government was run
Not enough jobs left for “natives”
Bring wages down
Impact of Nativism
 In
1882, Congress passed a law that banned certain
people from entering the U.S.



Convicts
Extremely poor
Mentally ill
 Also
placed a head tax on each immigrant
 Passed the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1892



No Chinese immigrants
Not allowed to become citizens
Not repealed until 1943
Urbanization
 With
most new jobs being in factories, many
Americans moved to the cities
 A city is a town with a population of over 2500
 In a span of 50 years, American went from having
131 cities to having over 1700
 Most immigrants lacked the money to pay for
higher education and thus were forced to remain
working long hours for little pay
 Cities offered things that rural areas did not have


Running water/plumbing
Things to do
A New Look for Cities
 Skyscrapers



As populations rose, so did the buildings
Demand for land was high, so they build up, not out
Louis Sullivan was responsible for the design and
building of the first skyscrapers
 Mass





Transit
Initially used horsecars
Evolved into cable cars
Next came the electric trolley car
Elevated railroads (Chicago)
subways
Separation of Classes
 High


Society
Lived in the heart of the biggest cities
extravagant designs
 Middle


Class
Many moved to the suburbs
Made about twice as much as factory workers
 Working


Class
Usually lived in tenements which are multi-family
apartments
Sent children to work
Urban Problems
 Large



groups of people living together led to
violence
Fires
Disease
 Contaminated

water supply
pollution
 No
safety standards
 Horse waste
 Immigrants
and alcohol were blamed