Immigration and Urbanization

1870-1920

Big Idea

• New immigrants from southern and eastern Europe and Asia face culture shock and prejudice; as well as opportunities for a better life in the United States.

Ellis Island

• Located in New York Harbor

• Processing site for newly arrived immigrants from Europe

• Immigrants examined by a doctor and took

literacy tests, • 1892-1943, 16 million immigrants passed

through Ellis Island into the U.S.

Ellis Island

Wider View

Angel Island

• Located in San Francisco Bay

• Was a processing site for newly arrived immigrants from Asia

• Immigrants went through much harsher conditions than Ellis Island

Angel Island

Settlement in Ethnic Enclaves

• Immigrants settled in the same areas together and established neighborhoods

• Culture shock: confusion and anxiety caused by living in an unfamiliar place

• Melting Pot Society: mixture of people of different cultures and races who blended together by abandoning their native language and culture

Culture Shock

Some Relief

The Melting Pot Theory

Melting Pot?

Melting Pot?

Immigration Restrictions

• Nativism: favoritism towards native-born Americans

• Fear of eastern and southern Europeans, Roman Catholicism, and Judaism

Fears Concerning Immigration

• Unions feared unskilled immigrant labor • Nativists feared the white race was weakening• Negative Stereotypes were attached to

immigrants• Seen as un-American• Supporters of Radicalism• Supporters of corrupt political machines

Effects of Nativism

• Chinese Exclusion Act: Banned immigration from China in 1882

• Gentlemen’s Agreement: Limited Japanese immigration in 1907-1908

No Money, Mo Problems

Urban Problems Late 18th Century

The Settling

• By 1920, millions of immigrants had settled in major cities

Problems (Housing)

• Row Homes: attached single family homes that shared walls with home next to it

• Tenements: multifamily dwellings were overcrowded and unsanitary

Water Supply

• Millions of urban dwellers lacked access to clean water

• • Major cities often lacked indoor plumbing • • Diseases such as cholera and typhoid spread

Sanitation

• Horse manure, human waste, and garbage in the streets

• Lacked dependable garbage collection and sewer system

Fire

• Major fires broke out in the 1870’s and 1880’s.

• Great Fire of Chicago in 1908

Crime

• New York had paid police by 1844, still ineffective.

• Confidence men took advantage of naïve immigrants

• Murders and robberies went unreported and unsolved

Social Gospel Movement

• The preaching of salvation through service to the poor

Settlement Houses

• Community centers established in poor slum neighborhoods

• Run by middle class, college educated women

Jane Addams

• Chicago’s Hull House in 1889

• • Promoted

Education, culture, and social services

• Taught English, health, and other social courses

• Had visiting nurses visit

Crowded Conditions

Playing Next to Horses

The Emergence of the Political Machine

Rage

Big Idea

• Political machines provided services for poor immigrants and in exchange received support that allowed them to control entire cities.

Political Machines

• An organized group that controlled the activities of a political party in a city

• Offered services to voters and businesses in exchange for support

Political Machines Existed In……..

• Baltimore• New York • Philadelphia• Boston• San Francisco

Role of the Political Boss

• Controlled thousands of jobs (police, sanitation, and fire departments)

• Built parks, schools, and hospitals for people in their wards

• Machines supported by immigrant voters (homes and jobs)

Election Fraud and Graft

• Bosses often padded voter lists with dead people, children, and even animals.

• Philadelphia election: 100 registered voters in a precinct. 252 Votes were returned.

Graft

• Illegal use of political influence for personal gain

• Example

Kickbacks

• Illegal payments • Example

The Tweed Ring Scandal

• William Macy Tweed ran Tammany Hall which led NYC’s Democratic political machine

• Between 1869-1871, the Tweed Ring scammed the city for 200 million dollars

• Tweed Ring finally brought down by public outrage influenced by Thomas Nast’s political cartoons

• Tweed was arrested in 1871 and went to prison

Political Cartoon #1

Political Cartoon #2

Politics in the Gilded Age

Big Idea

• Local and national political corruption during the Gilded Age leads to calls for reform.

Patronage

• The doling out of political jobs and appointments to friends and political supporters

• Corruption at all levels of government

Republican Factions

• Stalwarts: Republicans who favored spoils system

• Half-Breeds: Republicans who opposed the spoils system (moderately)

• Mugwumps: Republicans who would bolt for Democrats in 1884

Rutherford B. Hayes elected president

• What was Hayes’s position on civil service reform? What did he do to promote it?

• Supported civil service reform• Fired members of New York Customs House

who belonged to Conklin’s political machine

James Garfield elected president

• In the debate over civil service reform, did Garfield seem to favor the Stalwarts or the Mugwumps?

• Mugwumps

Garfield assassinated. Chester Arthur assumes presidency.

• What position did Arthur take on civil service reform, and what did he do to support it?

• Supported civil service reform• Helped support passage of Pendleton Act

Pendleton Act passed

• What did the Pendleton Act do?• Authorized a bipartisan civil service

commission to make appointments based on merit system

Grover Cleveland elected president

• What was Cleveland’s position on tariffs, and what did he do to promote this position?

• For low tariffs• Ran for a second term on a low tariff platform

Benjamin Harrison elected president

• What was Harrison’s position on tariffs, and what did he do to support that stand?

• For high tariffs• McKinley Tariff passed, highest tariff in U.S.

history

Cleveland reelected president

• What happened to tariffs during Cleveland’s second presidency?

• They were lowered

William McKinley elected president

• What happened to tariffs during McKinley’s presidency?

• They were raised.