Western Settlement
and Immigration
South Pass
Independence
Portland
Ft. Boise
Ft. Laramie
Ft. Kearney
“Give me your tired, your poor, your
huddled masses yearning to breathe
free, the wretched refuse of your
teeming shore. Send these, the
homeless, tempest-tossed to me: I
lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
The New Colossus
Emma Lazarus
Timeline of Events
• 1862
– Homestead Act passed by Congress
– Morrill Act passed by Congress
• 1864
– Massacre at Sand Creek
• 1868
– Treaty of Fort Laramie
– Red River War
Timeline of Events
• 1869
– Suez Canal is opened
– Central Pacific and Union Pacific
complete the transcontinental railroad
• 1870
– Red Cloud, chief of the Oglala Sioux,
states his people’s case in
Washington, D.C.
– Franco Prussian War breaks out
Timeline of Events
• 1872
– Secret ballot is adopted in Britain
• 1874
– Gold is found in the Black Hills of
South Dakota
• 1880
– James Garfield is elected president
Timeline of Events
•1881
−Garfield is assassinated, Chester Arthur
becomes president
−France occupies Tunisia
• 1884
– Grover Cleveland is elected president
• 1887
– Dawes Act passed by Congress
Timeline of Events
1889
– Oklahoma opened for settlement; the
land rush begins
• 1890
– Sioux are massacred at Wounded Knee
– Morrill Act of 1890 passed by Congress
• 1893
– Diminished U.S. gold reserve triggers the
panic of 1893
– France takes over Indochina
Timeline of Events
• 1896
– William McKinley is elected president
– William Jennings Bryan runs for
president
• 1899
– Berlin Conference divides Africa
among European nations
• 1900
– Boxer Rebellion takes place in China
Culture of the Plains Indians
• After the Spanish brought horses to
New Mexico in 1598, the Native
Americans way of life was forever
changed.
• With horses, and eventually guns, Native
Americans were able to travel farther
and hunt more efficiently.
• By the mid-1700’s most of the tribes
had left their farms to roam the plains
and hunt buffalo.
Plains Indians Hunting Buffalo
Culture of the Plains Indians
• Increased mobility often led to wars
with other tribes who trespassed on
other tribes’ hunting grounds
• A plains warrior gained honor by killing
his enemies, and “counting coup”
– Process of touching a live enemy with a
coup stick and escaping unharmed
• When a truce was called, tribes would
trade, share news, or enjoy harvests
Culture of the Plains Indians
• Indians used Buffalo for many things—
– They made tepees from buffalo hides
– Used the skins for clothing, shoes, and
blankets
– Buffalo meat was dried into jerky or mixed
with berries and fat to make a staple food
called pemmican
• The Buffalo provided their basic needs
and was central to life on the Plains
Family Life
• Native Americans usually lived in small
extended family groups with ties to
other bands that spoke the same
language
– Men were the hunters and warriors
– Women butchered the game and prepared
the hides—sometimes they were allowed
to choose their husbands
Native
American
Families
Family Life
• Children learned proper behavior and
culture through myths, games, and
good examples
• No individual was allowed to dominate
the group
• Leaders of a tribe ruled by counsel
rather than by force
• Land was for use by the whole tribe—
no private ownership of land
Religion
• Plains Indian tribes believed that powerful
spirits controlled events in the natural world
• Men or women who
showed particular
sensitivity
to the spirits
became medicine men
or women,
or shamans
Settlers Push Westward
• The White man stated that the Indians
had given up their claim when they did
not settle down and “improve” the land
• The Prospect of striking it rich was one
powerful attraction
– The discovery of gold in Colorado sent tens
of thousands of miners to the region
Settlers Push Westward
• Mining Camps and tiny frontier towns
– Filthy, ramshackle living quarters
– Rows of tents and shacks with dirt streets
– Fortune seekers of every description
crowded the camps and boomtowns
– Women tried their luck as laundresses,
freight haulers, or miners
– Cities like Virginia City, Nevada, and Helena,
Montana were built on Indian lands
Railroads Move West
• The arrival of the railroad in the west
influenced the government’s policy toward the
Native Americans
• 1834-the federal government passed an act
that designated the entire Great Plains as one
enormous reservation
• 1850-the government changed their policy and
divided the land designating specific boundaries
for each tribe
• Native Americans continued to hunt on their
traditional lands regardless of the treaties
The building of
an empire, and
the destruction
of a people
Massacre at Sand Creek
• In 1864, the Cheyenne, believing they were
under the protection of the government,
peacefully returned to Colorado’s Sand Creek
Reserve for the winter
• General S.R. Curtis, commander of the west,
wrote to colonel John Chivington that read, “I
want no peace till the Indians suffer more.”
• Chivington and his troops descended on the
Cheyenne and Arapaho at dawn on November
29, 1864 and killed over 150 inhabitants,
mostly women and children
Death on the Bozeman Trail
• The Bozeman Trail ran directly through Sioux
hunting grounds in the Bighorn Mountains
• Sioux Chief, Red Cloud, was unsuccessful in
appealing to end the settlement on the trail
• In December 1866, the warrior Crazy Horse
ambushed Captain Fetterman and his company
at Lodge Trail Ridge
• Over 80 soldiers were killed—the Native
Americans called this the Battle of the
Hundred Slain; while, the whites called it the
Fetterman Massacre
Death on the Bozeman Trail
• Skirmishes continued until the trail was closed
by the government
• In return, the Sioux were forced to sign the
Treaty of Ft. Laramie (1868)
– It forced them to live on a reservation along the
Missouri River
• Sitting Bull, leader of the Hunkpapa Sioux,
never signed the treaty
• Although Ogala and Brule Sioux signed the
treaty, they expected to continue using their
traditional hunting grounds
Traveling the Bozeman Trail
Red River War
• The Comanche and the Kiowa engaged in six
years of raids until the Red River War of
1874-1875 broke out.
• The Army responded by herding the people of
friendly tribes onto reservations while opening
fire on all others
• General Philip Sheridan gave orders to “destroy
their villages and ponies, kill and hang all
warriors, and bring back all women and
children.”
• Those tactics destroyed any resistance on the
southern plains
Gold Rush
• Four years after the Treaty of Ft.
Laramie, miners began settling the Black
Hills for gold
• The Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho
protested to no avail
• In 1874, Colonel George Custer reported
that the Black Hills had gold “from the
grass roots down.”
• Red Cloud and Spotted Tail vainly
appealed again
Custer’s Last Stand
• June 1876, the Sioux and Cheyenne
held a sun dance
• Sitting Bull had a vision of soldiers
and some Native Americans falling
from their horses
• When Custer and his men reached the
Little Big Horn River, the Native
Americans were ready
Custer’s Last Stand
• Led by Crazy Horse, Gall, and Sitting Bull, the
warriors outflanked Custer’s men and crushed
them.
• Within an hour, Custer and all of his men were
dead
• By late 1876, however, the Sioux were beaten
• Sitting Bull and a few followers took refuge in
Canada, where they remained until 1881
• Eventually, to prevent starvation, he was
forced to surrender
• In 1885, Sitting Bull appeared in William F.
“Buffalo Bill” Cody’s Wild West Show
Assimiliation
• The Native Americans still had many
supporters
• Helen Hunt Jackson exposed the
government’s many broken promises in
her 1881 book, A Century of Dishonor
• Many supporters supported assimilation,
a plan in which the Native Americans
would give up their culture and be a part
of the white culture
Assimilation
• Congress passed the Dawes Act of 1887 aiming
to “Americanize” the Native Americans
• The Act broke up the reservations and gave
some of the land to individual Native Americans
–
–
–
–
160 acres to each head of household
80 acres to each unmarried adult
The remainder of the land was sold to settlers
The money received for the remainder of the land
would be given to the Indians
• By 1932, whites had taken about 2/3rd’s of the
territory that had been set aside for Native
Americans
• No money from the sale of the land was ever
given to the Indians
Assimilation
• Most significant blow to tribal life on the
plains was the destruction of the buffalo
• Tourists and fur traders shot buffalo for
sport
• The food source, clothing, shelter, and
fuel for the Indians was quickly
disappearing
• In 1800, there were 65 million buffalo
on the plains—by 1890, fewer than 1000
remained
Wounded Knee
• The Sioux were suffering so they turned to a
Paiute prophet who promised that if they
performed a ritual called the Ghost Dance
their lands and way of life would be restored
• The Ghost Dance spread quickly alarming
military leaders
– They ordered the arrest of Sitting Bull
– Sitting Bull’s body guard, Catch-the-Bear shot one
of the officers
– The officers then killed Sitting Bull
• In the aftermath, Chief Big Foot led the
fearful Sioux away
Wounded Knee
• On December 28, 1890, the 7th Cavalry
rounded up about 350 starving and freezing
Sioux and took them to a camp at Wounded
Knee Creek in South Dakota
• They then demanded the Indians to give up
their weapons
• A shot was fired, from which side is unknown
• The soldiers opened fire with deadly cannon
– Within minutes, 300 unarmed Native Americans
were dead
• The soldiers left the corpses to freeze on the
ground
• The Battle of Wounded Knee brought the
Indian wars-and an entire era-to a bitter end
Medicine Man killed at Wounded Knee
Vaqueros and Cowboys
• American Settlers first learned how to round up, rope,
brand, and care for the herds of the open range
• The Texas Longhorns were sturdy, short-tempered
breeds accustom to the dry grasslands of southern Spain
– Spanish ranchers raised longhorns for food
• The cowboy way of life stems directly from the Mexican
vaquero, who was the first to wear spurs, “chaps”, and
the first to eat jerky
• The Spanish bronco caballo, or “rough horse” became
known as a bronco
• The strays, or mestenos, were the same mustangs that
the American cowboy tamed and prized
• The Mexican rancho became the American ranch
• And, the words Corral and Rodeo were borrowed from
Spanish
Vaqueros and Cowboys
The American Cowboy
• The demand for the American Cowboy
was not high until the railroad reached
the Great Plains
• Cowboys did not generally drive their
cattle far from their homesteads
– One exception in 1854; two ranchers drove
their cattle 700 miles, and put them on
stock cars bound for New York. When the
cars were unloaded, the stampede that came
afterward was too much for the city
– Parts of the country were still not ready for
the mass transportation of animals
Growing Demand for Beef
• After the Civil War, the demand for beef skyrocketed due to rapidly growing cities
• The Chicago Union Stockyards opened in 1865,
and by spring 1866, the railroads were running
regularly through Sedalia, Missouri
• Ranchers shipped cattle from Sedalia to Chicago
and markets in the east
• Farmers became angry when ranchers and their
cattle trampled crops; therefore, in 1866,
farmers blockaded cattle in Baxter Springs,
Kansas resulting in the selling of cattle at cutrate prices or dying of starvation
The Cow Town
• In 1877, ranchers found a more
convenient route
– Illinois rancher, Joseph McCoy, approached
several Western towns with plans to create a
shipping yard where the trails and rail lines
came together
– Abilene, Kansas enthusiastically accepted the
plan
– McCoy built cattle pens, a three-story hotel,
and helped survey the Chisholm Trail-the
major route from San Antonio to Kansas
The Cowboy Way
• The meeting of the
Chisholm ushered in the
hey-day of the Cowboy
• Even though folklore
depicted the Cowboy as
Anglo-American, as many
as 25% were African
American, and at least
12% were Mexican
• Most of the Cowboy Way
was a romanticized myth
The Cowboy Way
• Cowboy’s worked 10-14 hours/day on a
ranch, and 14+ hours on the trail
• Some cowboys were as young as 15; most
were broken-down by the time they were 40
• A cowboy might own his saddle, but his trail
horse most likely belonged to his boss
• Cowboys were valued for the skill of roping
and riding rather than the color of their skin
• A cowboys gun would most likely be for
protecting the herd, not chasing outlaws
Legends of the West
• James Butler, “Wild Bill” Hickok served as
a scout and a spy during the Civil War
and, later, as a marshal in Abilene,
Kansas—he was shot and killed while
holding a pair of aces and a pair of eights
in a poker game—a hand still known as
“dead man’s hand”
• Martha Jane Burke, “Calamity Jane”, was
an expert sharpshooter who dressed as a
man and may have been a scout for Custer
“Wild Bill” Hickok and Calamity Jane
Settling the Great Plains
• It took over 250 years from the first
settlement of Jamestown until 1870—to
turn 400 million acres of forests and
prairies into flourishing farms
• Settling the second 400 million took only
30 years
Railroads
• 1850-1871, the federal government made
huge land grants to railroads—170 million
acres, worth half a billion dollars—for
laying track in the West.
• In one grant, both the Union Pacific and
Central Pacific received 10 square miles of
public land for every mile of track laid in
a state and 20 squares miles of land for
every mile of track laid in a territory
Railroads
• In the 1860’s, the two companies began a
race to lay track
– The Central Pacific moved eastward from
Sacramento
– The Union Pacific moved westward from
Omaha, Nebraska
• Civil War veterans, Irish and Chinese
immigrants, African Americans, and
Mexican Americans did most of the work—
laying up to 8 miles of track a day
Railroads
• On the Central Pacific line, more than 90
percent of the workers—about 12,000
men—were Chinese
• They labored under extremely difficult
conditions—including avalanches and 40
foot snow drifts—for as little as $30-35
a month
• White workers often received about the
same amount, but received board and
lodging
Railroads
• By the spring of 1869, both railroads had
reached Utah
• 15 years later, the country boasted five
transcontinental railroads
• The east and west were forever linked
• The railroads sold some of their land for 5-10
dollars an acre
• Some companies successfully sent agents to
Europe to recruit buyers
• By 1880, 44 percent of the settlers in Nebraska
and more than 70 percent of those in Minnesota
and Wisconsin were immigrants
Government Support for Settlement
• Another powerful attraction of the West
was the land itself
– In 1862, Congress passed the Homestead Act,
offering 160 acres of land free to any citizen
or intended citizen who was head of the
household
– From 1862 to 1900, 600,000 families took
advantage of the government’s offer
– Several were Exodusters—African Americans
who moved from the post-Reconstruction
South to Kansas
Government Support for Settlement
• Despite the massive response, private
speculators and railroad and state government
agents sometimes used the law for their own
gain
• Cattlemen fenced open lands, while miners and
woodcutters claimed national resources
• Only about 10 percent of the land was actually
settled by the families
• In addition, not all the plots were of equal value
– 160 acres in Iowa or Minnesota could provide a decent
living, but farmers with drier land needed more to
make up the difference
Government Support for Settlement
• Eventually, the government strengthened
the Homestead Act
• 1889—a major land giveaway in Oklahoma
attracted thousands of people
• In less than a day, over 2 million acres
were settled
• Some land-hungry settlers settled it
before it was declared open—since they
claimed the land sooner than they were
supposed to, Oklahoma became known as
the “Sooner” State
The Closing of the Frontier
• Henry D. Washburn and fellow explorer, Nathaniel P.
Langford asked Congress to help protect the wilderness
from settlement
• In 1870, Washburn, who was surveying land in
northwestern Wyoming described the area as
“…possessing unlimited grandeur and beauty”
• In 1872, the government created Yellowstone National
Park
• 7 years later, the government forced railroads to give up
their land that was equal in area to New York, New
Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia
combined
• Settlers continued to buy government land, and 10 years
later the Census Bureau declared that we no longer had
a continuous frontier—the frontier no longer existed
Taming the Prairie
• Frontier settlers faced extreme hardships
• Since trees were scarce, most settlers
built their homes from the land itself
– Homes were dug into the sides of ravines or
small hills—a stovepipe jutting from the ground
was often the only clear sign of such a dugout
home
– Other homes were called Sod houses, because
they were made from sun dried bricks of
mud—they were cool in the summer and warm
in the winter, but they were small and offered
little light or air
• They were havens for rodents, pests and snakes,
and leaked constantly
Taming the Prairie
• Virtually alone on the prairie, settlers had to be
self-sufficient
• Women worked along side the men in the fields,
plowing the land and planting and harvesting the
fields
–
–
–
–
–
–
They sheared sheep and carded wool for clothing
Hauled water from the well they helped to dig
Made soap and candles from tallow
Canned fruits and vegetables
Skilled in doctoring
Sponsored schools and churches to build strong
communities
Taming the Prairie
• Inventions to aid in homesteading:
– 1837: John Deere invented a steel plow that could
slice through the heavy soil
– 1841: the grain drill to plant the seed
– 1847: Cyrus McCormick began to mass-produce a
reaping machine
– 1869: the spring-tooth harrow to prepare the soil
– 1874: barbed wire to fence the land
– 1878: the corn binder
• By 1890, there were 900 manufacturers of farm
equipment
• In 1830, it took 183 minutes to produce a
bushel of grain—by 1900, it took 10 minutes
using the new tools
Steel Plow
Mechanical Reaper
Spring tooth harrow
Corn Binder
Taming the Prairie
• The federal government supported farmers by
financing agricultural education
• The Morrill Act of 1862 and 1890 gave federal
land to the states to help finance agricultural
colleges
• The Hatch Act of 1887 established agricultural
experiment stations to inform farmers of new
developments
• Researchers develped grains for arid soil and
techniques for dry farming, which helped the
land to retain moisture
• These innovations enabled the dry eastern plains
to flourish and become “the breadbasket of the
nation”
Farmers in Debt
• Elaborate machinery was expensive
• Farmers often had to borrow money to buy
it
• When prices for wheat were higher,
farmers could repay their loans
• When prices were lower, farmers needed
to raise more crops to make ends meet
• This situation gave rise to a new type of
farming—bonanza farms created by
railroad companies and investors
Bonanza Farms
• 15,000-50,000 acres for single-crop
spreads
• By 1900, the average farmer had nearly
150 acres under cultivation
• Between 1885 and 1900, the plains
experienced drought, and large single crop
operations couldn’t compete with smaller
farms that could be more flexible in the
crops they grew
• The Bonanza Farms slowly folded into
bankruptcy
Bonanza Farms
Bonanza Farms
• The labor needed to plow and harvest
the bonanza farms was seasonal
• A farm required only a few hands
most of the year might need 150 men
for the April plowing and 400 for the
fall harvesting
• Harvesting crews moved from one
farm to another, from south to north,
during the summer
Farmers in Debt
• Farmers also felt pressure from the rising cost
of shipping grain
• Railroads charged Western farmers a higher fee
than they did farmers in the East
• Also, they sometimes charged more for short
hauls than longer ones due to the lack of
competing transportation
• Farmers grew as much grain as possible, on as
much land as they could acquire, which resulted
in going further into debt
• Farmers were not defeated by the high prices
and the conditions on the plains—instead it drew
many farmers together
Economic Distress
• During the Civil War, the government had issued
$500 million in greenbacks—worthless paper
money that could not be exchanged for gold
• They started to retire the greenbacks which
caused farmers discontent, because they were
now having to pay back their loans with hard
money that was worth more than what they had
originally borrowed
• At the same time, they were receiving less for
their crops and the railroad companies were
charging more for transporting their crops
Greenbacks
Economic Distress
• Between 1867-1887 the price of a bushel
of wheat fell from $2.00 to $.68
• In effect, farmers lost money at every
turn
• Farmers pushed the government to issue
more money into circulation
• Bland-Allison Act of 1878 required the
government to buy and coin at least $2$4 million worth of silver each month
– It wasn’t enough to support the increase in
the money supply that the farmers wanted
Problems with Railroads
• Farmers mortgaged their farms for credit
to buy seed and supplies
• Suppliers charged high rates of interest,
sometimes charging more for items bought
on credit than they did for cash purchases
• Farmer got caught in a cycle of credit
that meant longer hours and more debt
every year
Farmers’ Alliances
• 1867—Oliver Hudson Kelley started the Patrons
of Husbandry, an organization for farmers that
became popularly known as Grange
• Its original purpose was to provide a social
outlet and an educational forum for isolated
farm families
• By the 1870’s, Grange members spent most of
their time and energy fighting railroads
• The Grange’s battle plan included teaching its
members how to organize, set up farmers’
cooperatives, and sponsor state legislation to
regulate railroads
Farmers’ Alliances
• The Grange gave rise to other organizations who
sympathized with farmers
• Alliances sent lecturers from town to town to
educate people about topics such as lower
interest rates on loans and government control
over railroads and banks
• Membership grew to more than 4 million—mostly
in the South and West
• The Southern Alliance was the largest—about
250,000 African Americans belonged to the
Colored Farmers’ National Alliance
• Some alliance members promoted cooperation
between black and white alliances, but most
accepted the separation of the organization
Populism
• Known as the movement of the people—
born with the founding of the Populist, or
People’s Party
• July 2, 1892, a Populist Party convention
in Omaha demanded reforms to lift the
burden of debt from farmers and other
workers and to give the people a greater
voice in their government
Populism
• The proposed changes were so attractive to
struggling farmers and desperate laborers that
in 1892 the Populist presidential candidate won
almost 10 percent of the total vote
• In the West, the people’s party elected five
senators, three governors, and about 1,500
state legislators
• The Populist programs eventually became the
platform for the Democratic Party and kept alive
the concept that the government is responsible
for reforming social injustices
Panic of 1893
• During the 1880’s farmers were overextended with debts
and loans
• Railroad construction had expanded faster than markets
• February 1893, the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad
went bankrupt, followed by the Erie, Northern Pacific,
Union Pacific, and the Santa Fe
• Gold supply had worn thin, partly due to the governments
obligation to buy silver
• People panicked and traded paper money for gold
• The panic spread to Wall Street where prices of stocks
fell rapidly
• Price of silver plunged, causing silver mines to close
• By the end of the year 15,000 businesses and 500 banks
had collapsed
Panic of 1893
• Investments declined, and consumer
purchases, wages, and prices also fell
• Panic deepened into depression as 3
million people lost their jobs
• By 1894 1/5th of the workforce was
out of work
• Many farm families suffered by
hunger and unemployment
Silver or Gold
• Two major political parties became deeply
divided in a struggle between different
regions and economic interests
• Bankers and business owners of the
industrialized Northeast were Republicans
• Farmers and laborers of the agrarian
South and West were Democrats
• The central issue between the two would
be the basis of the nation’s monetary
system
GOLD BUGS AND SILVERITES
Bankers and Businessmen
Farmers and laborers
Gold standard less money in
circulation
Bimetallism
More money in circulation
Loans would be repaid in
stable money
Products would be sold at
higher prices
Deflation
•Prices fall
•Value of money increases
•Fewer people have money
Inflation
•Prices rise
•Value of money decreases
•More people have money
Silver or Gold
• Backing of currency was an important
campaign issue because people
regarded paper money as worthless if
it could not be turned in for gold or
silver
• Because silver was more plentiful than
gold, backing currency with both
metals would make more currency
(with less value) available
Bryan and the “Cross of Gold”
• 1896 campaign—
– Republicans nominated William
McKinley
– Democratic Party nominated
William Jennings Bryan
• Gave the famous “Cross of Gold”
speech
– “We will answer their demand
for a gold standard by saying:
You shall not press down upon
the brow of labor this crown
of thorns, you shall not
crucify mankind upon a cross
of gold.”
End of Populism
• Bryan faced a difficult campaign
• His free-silver stand led gold-bug democrats to
nominate their own candidate
• It also weakened his support in cities, where
consumers feared inflation because it would raise
prices of goods
• In addition, Bryan’s meager funds could not
match the millions backing McKinley
– He tried to make up for the lack of funds by
campaigning in 27 states—sometimes making as many
as 20 speeches a day
– McKinley campaigned from his porch, while others
went out and spoke on his behalf
End of Populism
• With McKinley’s election, Populism ended,
burying the hopes of the farmers
• The movement left two powerful legacies,
however: a message that the downtrodden could organize and have political
impact, and an agenda of reforms, many
of which would be enacted in the 20th
century
IMMIGRANTS AND
URBANIZATION
“Give me your tired, your poor,
your huddled masses yearning to
breathe free, the wretched refuse
of your teeming shore. Send
these, the homeless, the tempesttost to me, I lift my lamp beside
the Golden Door!”
--Emma Lazarus
Through the “Golden Door”
• 1870-1920—approximately 20 million
Europeans arrived in the U.S.
• Before 1890 many came from Western and
Northern Europe, but after 1890, many
more came from the Southern and Eastern
parts
• Many came to escape religious persecution
• Others left because of rising population in
an overcrowded Europe
• Many others left to have independent lives
in America
Through the “Golden Door”
• While the East Coast was flooded with
Europeans, Chinese immigrants came in on the
West Coast
• 1851-1883—about 300,000 Chinese arrived
• Many came to seek their fortunes after the
discovery of gold in 1848 sparked the California
gold rush
• Chinese immigrants helped build the nation’s
railroads, including the first transcontinental line
• After the railroads, they turned to farming,
mining and domestic service
• Chinese immigration, however, was limited by a
congressional act in 1882
Through the “Golden Door”
• In 1884, the Japanese government allowed
Hawaiian planters to recruit Japanese workers,
and Japanese emigration was born
• The U.S. annexation of Hawaii in 1898, led to a
boom in Japanese immigration to the West Coast
• As word of high U.S. wages spread, more and
more Japanese came
• In 1907 30,000 left Japan and moved to the
West Coast
• By 1920, 200,000 lived on the West Coast
Through the “Golden Door”
• 1880-1920—about 200,000 arrived in the
eastern southeastern U.S. from the West
Indies-Jamaica, Cuba, Puerto Rico
• Many left because jobs were scarce
• Mexicans immigrated to find work and freedom
from political turmoil
• The 1902 National Reclamation Act, which
encouraged irrigation, created new farmland in
the Western States and drew Mexicans to work
• About 700,000 Mexicans—7% of the population—
came to the U.S. over the next 20 years
A Difficult Journey
• By the 1870’s almost all immigrants traveled to
the U.S. by steamship
• The trip across the Atlantic took about a week
• From Asia across the Pacific, 3 weeks
• Many traveled in steerage, the cheapest
accommodations in a ship’s cargo hold
• Rarely allowed on deck, immigrants were crowded
together in the gloom, unable to exercise or
catch a breath of fresh air
• Sleeping in louse-infested bunks and share
toilets with many others
A Difficult Journey
• Under these conditions, disease
spread quickly
• Many died before reaching the new
world
Ellis Island
• After the long journey, immigrants still had to
face the anxiety of not knowing whether or not
they would be admitted to the U.S.
• They had to pass inspection at immigration
stations like Ellis Island in the New York harbor
• About 20% were detained for a day or two at
Ellis Island before being inspected
• However, only about 2% were denied entry
• The processing was an ordeal that might take 5
hours or more
Ellis Island
• First, they had to pass a physical test by
a doctor
• Anyone with a serious health problem, or
contagious disease, like tuberculosis, was
promptly sent home
• Next, the government inspector who
checked the documents and questioned
immigrants to determine whether they met
the legal requirements for entering the
U.S.
Ellis Island
• The requirements included: proving they
had never been convicted of a felony,
demonstrating that they were able to
work, and showing that they had some
money (at least $25 after 1909)
• From 1892-1924-Ellis Island was the
chief immigration station in the U.S.
• An estimated 17 million immigrants passed
through
Ellis Island
• Steerage passengers were allowed to
bring only a hundred pounds of goods
• Immigrants had to leave many
possessions behind
• The Museum display at Ellis Island
includes many of those belongings left
behind
Angel Island
• While Europeans arrived at Ellis Island on the
East Coast, Asians were arriving on the West
Coast through Angel Island in San Fransico
• Between 1910-1940, about 50,000 Chinese
immigrants entered the United States through
Angel Island
• Processing was harsher than that at Ellis
Island—immigrants endured harsh questioning and
long detention in filthy, ramshackle buildings
while they waited to find out whether they would
be admitted or rejected
Cooperation for Survival
• Once admitted, immigrants faced the challenges
of finding a place to live, getting a job, and
getting along in daily life while trying to
understand an unfamiliar language and culture
• Many sought out people with similar cultural
values, religious beliefs, and spoke their native
language
• People pooled their money to build churches or
synagogues
• Committed to their own cultures but also trying
hard to grow into their new identities, many
immigrants came to think of themselves as
“hyphenated” Americans
Cooperation for Survival
• As hard as they tried to fit in, these new
Polish-, Italian-, and Chinese-Americans
felt increasing friction as they rubbed
shoulders with people born and raised in
the U.S.
• Native people often disliked the
immigrants’ unfamiliar customs and
languages
• They were viewed as a threat to the
American way of life
The Rise of Nativism
• Many native-born Americans thought of
their country as a melting pot, a mixture
of people of different cultures and races
who blended together by abandoning their
native languages and customs
• One response to the growth in immigration
was nativism, or overt favoritism toward
native-born Americans
• Nativism gave rise to anti-immigrant
groups and let to a demand for
immigration restriction
The Rise of Nativism
• Many nativists believed that Anglo-Saxons—the
Germanic ancestors of the English—were superior
to other ethnic groups
• They did not object to immigrants from the
“right” countries
• “Right” countries—British, German, and
Scandinavian
• “Wrong” countries—Slav, Latin, and Asiatic
Races
• Nativists sometimes objected more to
immigrants’ religious beliefs than to their ethnic
backgrounds
The Rise of Nativism
• Many were Protestants, and felt that Roman
Catholics and Jews would undermine the
democratic institutions established by Protestant
founders
• The American Protective Association, a nativist
group founded in 1887, launched vicious antiCatholic attacks, and many colleges, businesses,
and social clubs refused to admit Jews
• In 1897, Congress, influenced by the
Immigration Restriction League—passed a bill
requiring a literacy test for immigrants
• Those who could not read more than 40 words in
English or their Native tongue would be refused
entry
The Rise of Nativism
• Although President
Cleveland vetoed
the bill, it sent a
powerful statement
of public sentiment
• In 1917, Wilson
could not stop a
similar bill from
being passed
Anti-Asian Sentiment
• Nativism also found a foothold in the labor
movement, particularly in the West, where
native-born workers feared that jobs
would go to Chinese immigrants, who would
accept lower wages
• The depression of 1873 intensified antiChinese sentiment in California
• The Founder of the Workingmen’s Party,
Denis Kearney, headed the anti-Chinese
movement in California
Anti-Asian Sentiment
• In 1882, the government slammed the
door on Chinese immigration for ten years
by passing the Chinese Exclusion Act
• This act banned entry to all Chinese
except students, teachers, merchants,
tourists, and government officials
• In 1892, Congress extended the law for
another 10 years
• In 1902, Congress restricted immigration
indefinitely, and it was not repealed until
1943
The Gentlemen’s Agreement
• The fears that had led to anti-Chinese agitation
were extended to Japanese and other Asian
people in the early 1900’s
• In 1906, Japanese children were segregated by
being placed in separate schools
• When Japan raised protest about how their
emigrants were being treated, President
Roosevelt, worked out a deal
• Under the Gentlemen’s agreement of 1907-08,
Japan’s government agreed to limit emigration of
unskilled workers to the U.S. in exchange for
the repeal of the San Francisco segregation
order
Urban Opportunities
• The technological boom in the 19th century
contributed to the growing industrial
strength of the United States
• The result was rapid urbanization, or
growth of cities, mostly in the regions of
the Northeast and Midwest.
• Most of the immigrants became city
dwellers, because cities were the cheapest
and most convenient places to live.
• Cities also offered unskilled laborers
steady jobs in mills and factories
Americanization Movement
• Designed to assimilate people of wideranging cultures into the dominant culture
of America
• This social campaign was sponsored by the
government and by concerned citizens
• Schools and voluntary associations provided
programs to teach immigrants skills needed
for citizenship—such as, English literacy,
American History, Government, Cooking,
Social Etiquette
Americanization Movement
• Despite these efforts, many immigrants
did not wish to abandon their traditions
• Ethnic communities provided the social
support of ther immigrants from the same
country
• However these neighborhoods became
overcrowded and dangerous
• This was intensified by the migration of
peoples from the country
Migration from Country to City
• Rapid growth in farming technology during the
second half of the 19th century was good news
for some, but bad for others
• Farming was more efficient, but meant that
fewer laborers were needed to work the land
• Many had to move to the city to find whatever
work they could
• Many farmers who lost their jobs were African
Americans—they moved to cities such as Chicago
and Detroit in an effort to escape racial
violence, economic hardship, and political
oppression
Migration from Country to City
• Many found conditions in the Northern
cities not much different
• Segregation and discrimination were
often the reality in Northern cities
• Job competition between blacks and
white immigrants caused further
racial tension
Urban Problems
• Housing—2 options
– Nice house on the outskirts of the city, but would
have transportation options
– Cramped room in a boarding house at the center of
the city
• As the population grew, new types of housing
were designed—
– Row houses—single family homes that shared walls
with the house on either side—packed many families in
one city block
– After working-class families left the central city,
immigrants often took over their old housing,
sometimes with two or three families in one house—
these dwellings were, called tenements, unsanitary and
overcrowded
Urban Problems
• To improve such slum conditions, New York City
passed a law in 1879 that set minimum
standards for plumbing and ventiliation in
apartments
• Land lords started building tenements with air
shafts that provided an outside window for each
room
• Since the garbage was infrequently pick up,
many dumped their garbage into these air shafts
creating a problem with vermin
• To keep the stench out, they often nailed these
air shafts shut—making them more dangerous
than before
Urban Problems
• Transportation
– Mass transit—transportation systems designed
to move large numbers of people along fixed
routes
• Street cars-San Francisco 1897
• Electric subways-Boston 1897
• Water
– Public waterworks were built in the 1840’s1850’s to provide safe drinking water
– But even by the 1860’s, many residents still
did not have plumbing and were required to
get water from faucets on the street
Urban Problems
• The necessity of improving water quality
to control diseases such as cholera and
typhoid fever
• To make city water safer, filtration was
introduced in the 1870’s and chlorination
in 1908
• But this did not provide safe water to all
residents
Urban Problems
• As the cities grew, so did the challenge of
keeping them clean
• Horse manure piled up on the streets, sewage
flowed through open gutters, and factories
spewed foul smoke into the air
• Without dependable trash service, people
dumped their garbage on the street
• Even though private contractors called
scavengers were hired to sweep the streets,
collect garbage and clean outhouses, they often
did not do the jobs properly
Urban Problems
• Crime
– As populations increased, pickpockets and
thieves flourished
– Although, New York City organized the first
full-time, salaried police force in 1844, it and
most other city law enforcement units were
too small to have much impact on crime
• Fire
– The limited water supply in many other cities
contributed to another menace: the spread of
fires
– Major fires occurred in almost every large
American city through the 1870’s
Urban Problems
• With no water, and homes built of wood, most
cities went up in blazes when fires ignited.
• At first, most city firefighters were volunteers
and not always available when they were needed
• Cincinnati established the first paid fire
department in 1853
• By 1900, most cities had professional
firefighters, and the introduction of a practical
automatic fire sprinkler in 1874 and the
replacement of wood as a building material with
brick, stone or concrete also made cities safer
The Great
Chicago Fire,
1871
San Francisco
Earthquake,
1906
Reformers Mobilize
• As problems mounted, social welfare
reformers targeted their efforts at
relieving urban poverty
• Social Gospel Movement, preached
salvation through service to the poor
– Established settlement houses, community
centers in slum neighborhoods that provided
assistance to people in the area
– Provided educational, social, and cultural
services
Reformers Mobilize
• Settlement houses were founded by Charles
Stover and Stanton Coit in New York City in
1886
• Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr founded
Chicago’s Hull House in 1889
• Janie Porter Barrett founded Locust Street
Social Settlement in Hampton, VA—first
settlement house for African Americans
• By 1910, 400 settlement houses were
operational in the U.S.
• The settlement house helped cultivate social
responsibility toward the urban poor