U.S. History II

Immigration, 1877-1924

A Century of Immigration: 1820 - 1920

5,907,893 Germans16.4% of all immigrants25-36% between 1830-

18904,578,941 Irish

12.7% of all immigrants35-45% between 1830-

18604,195,880 Italians

3,000,000 between 1901-1920

2,147,859 Scandinavians

Why They Left – Push Factors

Lack of jobsAgriculture no

longer viableEscaping

persecutionDodging the

draft

Irish Tenants Evicted

Why They Came – Pull Factors

Wages 2-3 times higher in U.S.

Friends & relatives already here

Greater economic, social, & political freedom

Immigrants on board

How They Came – Means

RecruitmentPadronesSteamships“Birds of Passage”

HMS Majestic, White Star Line, 1889

Cabin vs. Steerage Accommodations

Ellis Island, New York

Covered Entrance

Great Hall

Inspection

Hearing Room

Where Immigrants Settled

Urban Immigrants

Ethnic Ghettoes

Never completely homogenous

Dumbbell tenements

Created organizations to preserve cultureChurchesSchoolsBenevolent

associationsSinging clubs Mulberry St., Manhattan

Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2000

Tenement Sweatshop

Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2000

Nativist AttacksNativists distinguished between good

“old immigrants” & bad “new immigrants”“old” immigrants hailed as pioneers who

settled as families on the land, assimilated & became citizens

“new” immigrants were single men who worked in factories, lived in slums, & were less intelligent & more degenerate

Immigrants blamed for evils of urban, industrial AmericaConservatives claimed they were labor

radicals – socialists, anarchistsUnions saw them as strikebreakersSocial workers decried their unsanitary

living conditionsAcademics claimed they were racially

inferiorTR warned of danger of “race suicide”

Anti-immigrant cartoon from The Ram’s Horn, 10/31/1896

Immigration Restriction Legislation

Page Act (1875) – prostitutes & convicts excluded from entry

Asian Exclusion:1882 – Chinese Exclusion Act1907 – Gentlemen’s Agreement with Japan1917 – Asiatic Barred Zone created1924 – all “aliens ineligible to citizenship” excluded

Foran Act (1885) – contract labor outlawed (except professionals)

1891 – federal Immigration Bureau createdFederal inspection centers like Ellis Island builtCourts ruled that immigration decisions were

administrative – not subject to due process or judicial review

Restrictive Legislation, continued

1882, 1891, 1903 & 1907 acts excluded those with a variety of physical or mental defects

1917 act imposed literacy test on all immigrants

“Emergency” Quota Act (1921) – quotas set at 3% of 1910 census figures for each nationality

Reed – Johnson National Origins Act (1924)Initial quotas set at 2% of 1890 census

figuresIn 1929 “national origins” quotas took

effect, based on estimates of ethnic heritage of white population