Section 2 The North’s People

What do you think is the most important reason people came to the United States from Europe?
A.
To find freedom and liberty
B.
To find more abundant jobs
C.
To escape religious persecution
D.
To find adventure
A. A
B. B
C. C
0% 0%
B A
D. D
0%
C
0%
D

How did immigration have an impact on cities, industry, and culture in the
North?

• Many immigrants came to
America for freedom and liberty
• Immigrants settled in cities found jobs in mills and factories
• Between 1820 and 1860,
America’s manufacturing increasingly shifted to mills and factories
• Machines took over more production tasks
• The tasks were brought under one roof creating the factory system
• Textiles and clothing
• Also shoes, watches, guns, sewing machines, and agricultural machinery

• As the factory system developed, working conditions worsened
• Average 11.4 hours per day
(8 today)
• Dangerous conditions, and longer workdays caused onthe-job accidents
• Leather belts connected the factory’s water powered driveshaft
• The belts had no protective shield
• Workers, especially children, suffered injuries from the spinning belts
• Lost fingers and broke bones

• Factories were miserably hot in the summer
• The machines gave off heat and there was no air conditioning
• In the winter there was no heat, so workers were cold
• Factory owners were often more concerned about profits than safety
• No laws existed to regulate working conditions or to protect workers

• Fearing the growth of the factory system, skilled workers formed trade unions
• Worsening conditions also led unskilled workers to organize trade unions
• Mid 1830’s- skilled workers in NY City staged a series of strikes
• They refused to work in order to put pressure on employers
• Workers wanted higher wages and a 10 hour work day
• They formed the General
Trades Union of New York

What prompted workers to organize trade unions?
A.
Steadily worsening conditions and poor pay
B.
Too many immigrants taking factory jobs
C.
Discrimination against women and African Americans in the workforce
D.
The rise of the Know-Nothing Party
A. A
B. B
0% 0%
B A
C. C
D. D
0%
C
0%
D

• In the early 1800’s it was illegal to strike
• Striking workers could be punished for breaking the law, or fired from their jobs
• 1842- A
Massachusetts court ruled that workers had the right to strike
• Other rights would not happen for years

• In the North, slavery largely disappeared by the 1830s
• Racial prejudice and discrimination remained
• Few African Americans were allowed to vote
• Rhode Island and
Pennsylvania passed laws to keep free African Americans from voting
• Most communities would not allow free African Americans to attend public schools
• African Americans were forced into segregated schools and hospitals

• A few African Americans rose in the business world
• Henry Boyd owned a furniture manufacturing company in Cincinnati
• 1827Samuel Cornish and
John B. Russwurm founded
Freedom’s Journal , the first
African American newspaper, in NYC
• 1845- Macon B. Allen became the first African
American licensed to practice law in the US
• Most African Americans were extremely poor

• Paid ½ as much as men
• Some women workers tried to organize in the 1830s and
1840s
• Sarah G. Bagley founded the
Lowell Female Labor Reform
Organization
• They wanted a 10 hour work day
• Because most of the petitioners were women, the legislature did not consider the petition
• Women like Sarah Bagley paved the way for later movement to correct injustices against female workers

• Growth of factories and immigration led to the growth of Northern cities
• Natural born citizens and immigrants flocked to the cities (factories)
• American manufacturers welcomed immigrants, many whom were willing to work for low pay
• Many river villages grew into large cities
• St. Louis, Pittsburgh,
Cincinnati, and Louisville
• They became centers of trade linking the Midwest with the
Northeast
• Larger cities became larger
(NYC- 800,000 Philadelphia-
500,000 in 1860)

• Immigration increased greatly between 1840 and
1860
• Between 1846 and 1860 more than 1.5 million Irish immigrants arrived
• They came to the US because of a potato famine in Ireland
• More than a million people died during the famine
• Most Irish were farmers and were too poor to buy land so they settled in the
Northeast and took low paying factory jobs in the cities
• Also worked on the railroads
• Irish women worked as servants and in factories

• The 2 nd largest group of immigrants from 1820 to
1860 were German
• Many Germans arrived with enough money to buy farms or open their own business
• They prospered and founded their own communities
• Some Germans settled in NY and Pennsylvania
• Many moved to the
Midwest and the western territories

• Immigrants brought their way of life with them to the
US
• There were few Catholics in the US in the early 1800s
• Most Irish immigrants and about ½ of German immigrants were Roman
Catholic
• Many Catholic immigrants settled in cities in the
Northeast
• The Church provided spiritual guidance and served as a center of community life for the newcomers

• 1830s and 1840s- Antiimmigrant feelings rose
• Some Americans feared that immigrants were changing the character of the US too much
• People who opposed immigration were known as nativists
• Nativists believed immigration threatened the future of “native” citizens
• Some accused immigrants of taking jobs from “real”
Americans and would work for lower wages
• Others accused immigrants of bringing crime and disease to
American cities
• Immigrants who lived in city slums were likely targets of prejudice

• Nativists formed secret anti-Catholic societies
• Formed a new political party- The
American Party
• When asked about their political party they would answer “I know nothing.” So they became known as…
• The Know-Nothing Party
• The Know-Nothings called for stricter citizenship laws
• Waiting period for citizenship from 5 to 21 years and to ban foreign-born citizens from holding office
• Mid 1850s- The party split into Northern and Southern branches because of…
• Slavery

The American Party was sometimes called the Know-
Nothing Party because
A.
Its opponents believed party members knew nothing about the important issues.
B.
Party members did not support education.
A. A
C.
Party members responded to questions about the group by saying “I know nothing.”
A B C. C
D.
Party members were mainly Catholics who knew nothing about Protestantism.
D. D
0%
C
0%
D

How did immigration have an impact on cities, industry, and culture in the
North?
-The cheap labor provided by immigrants spurred factory and city growth.
-Their languages, customs, religions,
(especially Roman Catholicism), and ways of life spread into US culture

A. True
50% 50%
B. False
T ru e
F al se

A. True
50% 50%
B. False
T ru e
F al se

A. True
50% 50%
B. False
T ru e
F al se

Women's early efforts to achieve equal pay did not help other movements in later years.
A. True
B. False
50% 50%
T ru e
F al se

A. True
50% 50%
B. False
T ru e
F al se

A. factories.
B. strikes.
C. trade unions.
D. famines.
25% 25% 25% 25%
fa ct or ie s.
s tr ik es
.
tr ad e un io ns
.
fa m in es
.

A. factories.
25% 25% 25% 25%
B. strikes.
C. trade unions.
D. famines.
fa ct or ie s.
s tr ik es
.
tr ad e un io ns
.
fa m in es
.

A. famine
25% 25% 25% 25%
B. free land
C. labor unions
D. prejudice
fa m in e
fr ee
la nd
la bo r un io ns
p re ju di ce

The second largest group of immigrants to arrive in the United States between 1820 and 1860 came from
A. Ireland.
25% 25% 25% 25%
B. Germany.
C. Great Britain.
D. Mexico.
Ir el an d.
G er m an y.
G re at
B ri ta in
.
M ex ic o.

A. foreigners.
25% 25% 25% 25%
B. anti-aliens.
C. nativists.
D. aliens.
fo re ig ne rs
.
a nt i-a lie ns
.
n at iv is ts
.
a lie ns
.

0
0
0
0
0
Participant 1
Participant 2
Participant 3
Participant 4
Participant 5

0
0
0
0
0
Team 1
Team 2
Team 3
Team 4
Team 5