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The growth of industry and a wave of immigrants marked this period in American history.
The production of iron and steel rose dramatically and western resources like lumber, gold, and silver increased the demand for improved transportation.
Railroad development boomed as trains moved goods from the resource-rich West to the East.
Steel and oil were in great demand. All this industry produced a lot of wealth for a number of businessmen like John D. Rockefeller (in oil) and Andrew Carnegie (in steel), known as robber barons (people who got rich through ruthless business deals).
The Gilded Age gets its name from the many great fortunes created during this period and the way of life this wealth supported.
Writer and humorist, Mark Twain, wrote the novel The
Gilded Age ridiculing Washington D.C. and many of the leading figures of the day

The masses come to America

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The earliest waves of settlers to the
Americas, up through the first half of the
19th century, constitute the era of "old" immigration.
These settlers came to America mostly from western and northern Europe.

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English, Scotch, Irish - mostly colonial settlers who were English citizens or lived in English territories
Dutch, German, Swedish, Scandinavians - many western and northern European nations contributed to the early growth of the colonies and the newly formed United States
Africans - many early immigrants came to the
Americas as slaves, to work the plantations of the agricultural south, this continued until the ending of the slave trade in the early 19th century

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Political Reasons - Many of the governments of Europe were dominated by nobility and landed elite.
◦ The common man found that he had little to no say in the government of his homeland.
◦ As a result many came seeking a political voice or freedom from an oppressive government.
◦ Others such as the Germans and French in the early 1800's were seeking to escape political unrest and violent political turmoil at home.
Social Reasons –
◦ Religious freedom is the greatest example of social motivation in immigration. The Pilgrims, the Quakers and many other groups came to the Americas seeking freedom from religious intolerance in their homelands. This tradition of religious freedom had become a fundamental principle in American government.

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Economic Reasons - Seemingly the greatest motivating factor for most immigrants.
◦ Vast numbers of the earliest American settlers came to America seeking land, as much of the land in
Europe was controlled by nobles or the church, leaving little opportunity for the common farmer to achieve success. The vastness of the Americas and easy access to land, drew many of these opportunity seekers.
◦ The Irish immigrants of the early 1800's sought land and escape from the deadly potato famine that gripped their homeland.
◦ African slaves were brought over for economic reasons, ones that did not serve them, but instead served the economic interests of the slave owner.

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The contributions of early immigrants cannot be overstated. The very foundation of America is built upon the ideas, skills and culture they brought with them.
The English settlers formed the governments, language and major cultural traditions that would become America.
Many Irish workers constructed transportation routes (railroads, etc...)
Germans and others brought farming techniques and education traditions.

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Old immigrants were:
◦ From northern or western Europe
 English, Irish, Swedish
◦ Protestant (Baptist, Calvinists, Methodists)
◦ Literate and skilled
◦ Came in families
◦ Quick to assimilate
◦ Experienced in ways of democracy
◦ Had some money in their pockets (some wealthy)
◦ Tall and fair
◦ Spoke English
◦ Similar customs and traditions as Americans

Turn of the Century Immigration to the U.S.
1880
1910
•49% from NW Europe
•16% from NW Europe
•27% from Eastern and
Southern Europe
•73% from Eastern and
Southern Europe
•24% from the Rest of the
World
•11% from Rest of the
World
1880 1910
Northwestern Europe
Southern and Eastern
Europe
Rest of the World
Northwestern Europe
Southern and Eastern
Europe
Rest of the World

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From Southern and Eastern Europe
Many young males
Many Catholics and Jews
Mostly unskilled agricultural laborers
Little money or education
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“I once thought to write a history of the immigrants in America. Then I discovered that immigrants WERE American history.”
--Oscar Handlin
(Journal 1)

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Economic decline in Europe
Effect of Industrial Revolution (lost their property as a result of the commercialization of agriculture)
Rising populations, decreasing death rate
More people + fewer resources = TROUBLE!!
Political and Religious Persecution in Eastern
Europe
*Legal restrictions on Jews
Pogroms= an organized massacre of helpless people; specifically :such a massacre of Jews
*Minorities that had come to Europe to fill jobs of the Ind. Rev. were persecuted by the natives who didn’t want them there

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The Lure of Life in America (Work, land, and LIES!!)
◦ “That was the time, you see, when America was known to foreigners as the land where you’d get rich. There’s gold on the sidewalk– all you have to do is pick it up!”-Lithuanian immigrant
Birds of Passage:
◦ Many of the millions of immigrants who arrived in the
United States in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries did so with the intention of returning to their villages in the Old World. Known as “birds of passage,” many of these eastern and southern European migrants were peasants who had lost their property as a result of the commercialization of agriculture. They came to America to earn enough money to allow them to return home and purchase a piece of land.

 The pen, or the camera, is sometimes mightier than the sword.
 It may be a cliché, but it was all too true for journalists at the turn of the century. The print revolution enabled publications to increase their subscriptions dramatically.
 What appeared in print was now more powerful than ever. Writing to Congress in hopes of correcting abuses was slow and often produced zero results.
 Publishing a series of articles or photographs, had a much more immediate impact.
 Collectively called MUCKRAKERS , a brave group of reporters and photographers exposed injustices so grave they made the blood of the average American run cold.

Steerage on the SS Pennland 1893

•Crowded, unsanitary, little food, enclosed!
–Journal 3

75% go thru Ellis
Island (1892-1920) aka “Island of Tears”
--”Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore…I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”
–Statue of Liberty inscription

Journal Entry 4

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Make travel arrangements
Exchange money
Collect baggage
2/3 going elsewhere; 1/3 stay in NY
Welcome to America…Now what???

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2/3 settle in urban centers (community, familiarity)
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Newspapers, customs, food, churches, clothing
“Here no one goes to bed on an empty stomach because one
Pole will save another, if he can.” –Polish immigrant

5 cents a spot

120 rooms for
1231 people
60% die before 1 st birthday
Journal Entry 5

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Many of the immigrants who came to the
U.S during this period of time spoke a language other than English and had customs and religious beliefs that were far different from those of many Americans.
Settlement houses began in the 1880s in
London in response to problems created when large numbers of people began moving into cities, working in factories, and emigrating from other countries.

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Settlement houses were often started by middle-class, educated people who moved into poor city neighborhoods in order to provide assistance.
By 1900, the U.S. had over 100 settlement houses.
The first settlement house in the U.S. was started in Chicago, Illinois, by
Jane Addams and was known as Hull
House.
Hull House was located in a densely populated neighborhood that had
German, Greek, Irish, Italian, Polish and Russian immigrants.

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Those who lived in settlement houses taught immigrants English and what they needed to know in order to become citizens.
They also helped people find jobs and learn the customs and traditions of the U.S.
It was a way to help them transition into life in their new home.

Immigrants Seek Industrial Jobs
1. High supply/high demand
2. Prefer to agricultural work
3. 80% unskilled workforce

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Sweatshop workers often work long hours for very low pay.
Child labor is common.
Sweatshops may have hazardous materials and situations.
Employees may be subject to employer abuse without an easy way, if any, to protect themselves.
146 people died as a result of the fire in a shirt factory fire

Journal Entry 6

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Motive for Nativism
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Fear, hostility, and suspicion
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Prejudices based on race, ethnicity, religion
Old Immigrants vs. New Immigrants
“The immigrants are an invasion of venomous reptiles…longhaired, wild-eyed bad-smelling, atheistic, reckless foreign wretches, who never did a day’s work in their lives.” –from a newspaper editorial
Some similarities to today’s resistance to immigrants (i.e. jobs)

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Political cartoons sometimes played on
Americans' fears of immigrants. This one, which appeared in a
1896 edition of the
Ram's Horn, depicts an immigrant carrying his baggage of poverty, disease, anarchy and
Sabbath desecration, approaching Uncle
Sam.

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Call for laws restricting immigration
◦ 1917 Immigration Act provided for literacy tests for those over 16
◦ Quota Act of 1921-limited immigrants to 3% of each nationality present in the US in
1910
◦ In 1924 quotas were changed to 2% based on numbers in US in 1890
Journal Entry 7

New immigrants and old--what people said
The old immigrants. . .
The new immigrants. . .
came from northern or western Europe came from southern or eastern Europe were Protestant were literate and skilled came over as families were quick to assimilate were experienced in the ways of democracy had some money in their pockets were tall and fair were not Protestant--were Catholic, Orthodox, Jewish were illiterate and unskilled came over as birds of passage were clannish and reluctant to assimilate were radicals or autocrats arrived impoverished were short and dark