Immigration in the United States during the Industrial Revolution

IMMIGRATION IN THE UNITED STATES DURING THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

Population changes, growth of cities, and new inventions produced interaction and often conflict between different cultural groups

Hope for opportunity

Jobs, Land, a Better Life

Reasons for Increased immigration“HEAR”

PULL FACTORS

End to Oppression.•Freedom from Tyranny

• Freedom from oppressive governments

HEAR

Adventure.The great unknown; stories of the “West.”

HEAR

Religious Freedom.

Escaping Discrimination.Southern & Eastern Europeans:

Ex: Catholics, Jews,

HEAR

Problems Faced by immigrants

Immigrant challenges:

•In need of jobs•language barrier•discrimination •poor living conditions, •trouble adjusting to “city” life, or a new culture.

Discrimination against immigrants

Chinese

Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882: prohibited skilled and unskilled laborers from China from entering the United States

Really….kept the Chinese out of the United States

Irish

Irish came to United States during the potato famine (1840s) and steadily to the United States throughout the rest of the 1800s.

• Irish were very poor, considered illiterate, and were mainly manual workers (unskilled andsemi-skilled)

• Ended up a the bottom rung of American society

Filth, Disease, Illness, Fires, Bad Water, Poverty, and Homelessness

Challenges faced by growing cities

Tenements:

•Crowded, Small Apartments run by “slum lords.”

•Usually poorly built and dangerous.

A tenement house…

Like several in many large cities,

it was overcrowded, in

disrepair, and often had only one

bathroom with running water per

floor

Ghettoes: Run down city neighborhoods.

•These parts of the city are where the poorest of the poor lived.

•Rapid industrialization and urbanization led to overcrowded immigrant neighborhoods.

Efforts to solve problems faced

by immigrants/poor

1. Settlement Houses: The Hull House in Chicago founded by Jane Addams.

Jane Addams devoted her life to helping the new immigrants and the underprivileged

She also won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931

The Hull Mansion pictured here is the sole remaining building at the location of the

original Hull-House. The rest were demolished to make way for the Chicago

campus of the University of Illinois.

Immigrant children at Jane Addams' Hull House in Chicago

Political Machines:

Powerful political parties who helped immigrants in exchange for vote

•Helped immigrants get jobs, housing, food, etc.

•Helped immigrants become citizens•Political Machines often accepted bribes

and “kickbacks”• Political Machines often used illegal

ways to gain power.

The most famous of these political machines was “Tammany Hall” run by “Boss” Tweed

• Specialized Industries (like steel mills, meat packing, and textiles).

• Immigration to America increased.• Migration from rural (farms) to urban

(city) areas.• (Sudden) rapid industrialization and urbanization led to overcrowded immigrant neighborhoods and tenements

Why did cities grow so rapidly