Immigration, Urbanization, and

“Politics as Usual” 1870-1910

US History

Immigration – Rationales

Why did people come- pull

freedom

opportunity

land

Why did people leave – push

religious persecution

food shortages

economic depressions

Incoming Groups• Irish – potato famine brought them here with hopes for religious tolerance,

better wages (N.Y. Massachusetts)

• German – political instability and overpopulation brought them here with hopes for higher wages and farm land(N.Y. Chicago, everywhere)

Chinese – no work brought them with hopes for jobs: “Gold Mountain” and railroads (West Coast and California)

Other – • Scandinavians – (Chicago)• Mexicans – (Texas, New Mexico, Florida)• Italians –( New York)• Cubans, (Central and South Americans – Florida)

The Arrival

• Immigrants must pass inspection or go back

• Medical exam

• Proper documentation?

• Can you work?

• Do you have money? (at least $30)

• Have you ever been convicted of a felony?

Do you have what it takes to become a citizen?

When immigrants want to become Americans, they must take a civics test as part of their naturalization interview before a Citizenship and Immigration Services (INS) officer. The questions are usually selected from a list of 100 sample questions that prospective citizens can look at ahead of the interview (though the examiner is not limited to those questions). Some are easy, some are not. We have picked some of the more difficult ones.

NOTES: The INS plans to revise its list of questions in 2008 (a pilot program is using these new questions at selected INS sites). Also, the questions in the test below are as asked on the official United States Immigration and Naturalization Services Web site. Candidates are not given multiple choices in the naturalization interview, which is conducted orally.

• test

Oceans Apart

• Ellis Island – Most Europeans passed through Ellis Island on their way to living in America (New York, East Coast)

• Angel Island – Asians, Russians, and Slavic nations came through this point of entry --more difficult to enter than Ellis Island, why? (San Francisco, West Coast)

Who built Modern Industrial America?

Homestead Steel (a part of US Steel)

Common Themes in the Gilded Age

• Carnegie Steel, of which Homestead was a part,  is an example of the consolidation of: – big business, – the application of new technologies, – the adoption of innovative organizational methods, – and assembly line production that defined the new role of the industrial worker. 

• Mr. Carnegie was also known proponent of vertical integration.• The 1892 Homestead Strike was infamous as an example of the conflict between

labor and management in the economically troubled 1890s. • Carnegie's steel interests would form the core of America's first billion dollar

corporation, United States Steel, organized by banker J. Pierpont Morgan.  Carnegie, along with Rockefeller, would become two of America's great philanthropists. 

• In the meantime they fell back on Social Darwinism explanations to legitimize their accumulation of great wealth and economic power.  But it would be Rockefeller's Standard Oil trust that became the epitome of "monopoly" in the Gilded Age and set the stage for Progressive reform.

Robber Barons or Industrialists?Discussion questions

• Were Carnegie and Rockefeller robber barons?  • Entrepreneurs that increased America's wealth and power?  • Did the giant enterprises they created stifle competition? In

what way are monopolies inimical to democracy? • Why did workers lack power?  • Did unions such as the AFL advance the cause of organized

labor?  • Did strikes such as Homestead and Pullman help or hurt the

cause of workers?  • Why were unions thought to be the hotbeds of radical thought

such as socialism and anarchism?

American Cities

“It was the best of times, it was the worst times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness…” Tale of Two Cities

Dickens

Growth and Disparity

• American Cities grew at an astounding rate during the Gilded Age. 

• Urban populations increased because of in-migration from rural America to the city

• and because of the migration of millions of new immigrants from abroad, primarily from Europe. 

• Cities were the most visible symbols of both the

wealth and poverty engendered by industrialization.

Mansions vs. Tenements

Just a few short miles apart…

Modern Marvels and Leisure

Brooklyn Bridge

New York