1. Immigrants & Urbanization
Chapter 15
What were the economic, social and political effects of immigration?

2. The New Immigrants

3. The Lure of America Old Immigrants 1800-1880 - 10 million
Protestants from western and northern Europe

4. The Lure of America New Immigrants 1891-1910 12 million
60% of urban (12 largest cities) were foreign born
Southern and Eastern Europe
Czech, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Russia, Slovak
escape poverty, persecution, economic opportunities
Chinese
arrived on the west coast
seeking fortune
railroads, then farmed, mining and domestic service

5. The Lure of America New Immigrants Japanese West Indies and Mexico
worked on plants in Hawaii
after annexation to the west coast
West Indies and Mexico
Jamaica, Cuba, Puerto Rico
jobs were scarce
eastern and southeastern U.S.
Mexico
political turmoil
National Reclamation Act
farm workers

6. The Lure of America The Journey Railroad & Steamship Promoters
Tempting/False picture (steamships charged a fare)
Poorest accommodations – Steerage

7. Arriving in America Ellis Island, New York Harbor
1892 to million immigrants passed
physical exams
who cannot stay?
document check and interview
no felonies
ability to work
some money
$25 after 1909
2% sent back

8. Arriving in America Angel Island – San Francisco Bay
between 1910 and 1940 about 50,000 Chinese immigrants
Endure harsh questioning and long detention in filthy buildings

9. A New Life Endure Hardships Immigrant Communities Benevolent Societies
crowded cities
low paying, unskilled work
poor houses and slums
Immigrant Communities
New York City…pockets of countries/cultures
Benevolent Societies
religious institutes set up to help those in need
Cultural Practices
Old vs. Young

10. The Immigrant Worker Worked in areas such as… “Dirty Work”
mines, steel mills, textiles, garments, laundries, etc.
“Dirty Work”
Children in sweatshops
When layoffs occur…Americans get the boot!
why?

11. The Nativist Response Americans see them as a threat
“wild motley throng” (wild mixed crowd)
blamed for poverty, crime, violence
Chinese Exclusion Act
taken care of on the west coast
“the Chinese must go” (violence)
denies citizenship to those born in China
prohibited the immigration of Chinese laborers
Immigration Restriction League
impose literacy test
President Cleveland vetoes

12. Without Immigrants
Rapid industrialization would have never been possible
America would lack the cultural dimensions that it has today

13. The Challenges of Urbanization

14. Snapshot of 1900 to 1909 76,000,000 Americans in 46 states
by the end of the decade
Policeman arrests woman for smoking in public 
$46,000,000+ in the U.S. treasury 
8,000 cars - 10 miles of paved roads 
1900
96 auto deaths
115 lynching
San Francisco Earthquake
700 dead and
over $4,000,000 in damage 
Average worker made $12.98/week for 59 hours 
Life expectancy
47.3 female
46.3 male
33 African American 

15. Urban Growth

16. Upper Class Life “noveau riche” – newly rich Conspicuous consumption
made fortunes very quickly and made those of wealth look more like middle class
Conspicuous consumption
Spent wealth freely so that everyone would know how successful they were
Philanthropy
Giving wealth to art galleries, libraries, universities, museums, opera companies, symphonies, theatres
Some saw as a way to do good, others used it to flaunt their wealth

17. Upper Class Life

18. Upper Class Life

19. Middle Class Life
Includes accountants, clerks, engineers, managers, and salespeople
Professionalism
Huge demand for educated and trained specialized workers
Professional schools ad organizations founded
Set standards, issue licenses, review practices

20. Middle Class Life Middle-Class Women
New jobs for women…salesclerks, secretaries, stenographers
Business owners hire young, single women to fill open positions
Pay lower wages than men
Most married women worked in the home
ready made clothing, running hot and cold water
More time to focus on children and take part in cultural events
Reading and social clubs

21. How the Poor Lived Huge population of laborers keeps the wages low
Housing shortages and rising rent
Tenements
1.6 million New Yorkers – more than half the population
As many as 12 families to a floor
Poorly ventilated, dark
Outside…raw sewage, piles of garbage
“The stink is enough to knock you down”
Sickness and death were common

22. The New York Slums
A picture taken in 1903 of a group of New York City tenement houses. Close quarters, inadequate conditions, and other factors defined the living conditions of such a time.

23. The New York Slums
A picture, taken in 1908, of a New York tenement housing a family of seven.

24. The New York Slums
A picture, taken in 1908, of a New York tenement housing a family of seven.

25. The New York Slums
A picture, taken in 1900, of investigators examining an overcrowded tenement house fit for nine. When burden by the prices of food, clothing, and even rent, most immigrants in New York were
forced to live under unfit conditions in order to make ends meet.

26. African Americans Greatest difficulties of all the poor Discrimination
Super low paying jobs
Outrageous rents for appalling apartments
Police harassment
…but preferred life in the North to the South
“They sleep in peace at night; what they earn is paid to them, if not they can appeal to the courts. They vote without fear of the shot-gun, and their children go to school”

27. The Drive for Reform Settlement Houses Social Gospel
Jane Addams - Hull House
Provided educational and cultural opportunities to the poor and improved living conditions in the neighborhoods
Social Gospel
Protestant ministers called for people to apply Christian principles to address social problems
Churches provided classes, counseling, job training, libraries and other social services

28. Politics in the Guilded Age
Politics in the Gilded Age

29. Political Bosses & Political Machines

30. Political Machines Benefits Failings
Provides public services to growing cities
Helps immigrants upon the arrival to the country
Provides jobs for local voters
Often uses corruption, such as voting fraud, to achieve their goals
Corruption interfered with important functions of city government
Encouraged graft