Immigration After 1865

1. Immigration After 1865

2. Objectives Identify the reasons immigration to the United States increased in the late 1800s. Describe the difficulties immigrants faced adjusting to their new lives. Discuss how immigrants assimilated and contributed to American life. Describe efforts to limit immigration.

3. Terms and People steerage – large ship compartment that usually held cattle assimilation – the process of becoming part of another culture anarchist – person who opposes all forms of government

4. How were the experiences of immigrants both positive and negative? As the nation changed during the late 1800s and early 1900s, so did its population. Immigrants faced many challenges in their new home, but they also contributed greatly to the economy and culture of America.

5. Twenty-five million immigrants entered the United States between 1865 and 1915.

6. Some factors pushed immigrants from their homelands. Homeland • Shrinking farmland • Religious persecution • Political revolution Immigrants

7. Other factors pulled immigrants toward the United States. United States Immigrants • New jobs • Cheap land • Democracy and liberty

8. For many different reasons, immigrants from around the world poured into the country. Most came from Europe, especially southern and eastern Europe. Few spoke English, and many had never known democracy.

9. For most immigrants, the long ocean crossing was difficult and dangerous. Ships were overcrowded, and people were jammed into cramped steeragecompartments below deck. Disease and rough seas made many sick.

10. Immigrants arriving from Asia entered through Angel Island, near San Francisco. Europeans entered through Ellis Island, near New York City.

11. Once admitted to the United States, most immigrants settled in cities. Ethnic neighborhoods flourished, helping immigrants assimilate. Immigrants also shared their culture. Foods like bagels and spaghetti became mainstream.

12. Many immigrants valued education, studying English to better their lives and the lives of future generations.

13. Immigrants came to America looking for new opportunities—and they found them. Construction workers Garment workers Steelworkers Jobs Miners Meatpackers Railroad workers

14. Immigrants soon became essential to the growing economy.

15. Despite such success stories, however, increased immigration led to a wave of nativism. • Immigrants can’t assimilate. • Immigrants take away jobs. • Immigrants promote violence and anarchy. Nativist arguments

16. Such feelings led to new laws limiting immigration. This act banned Chinese people from immigrating solely based on their race. 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act Immigration Act of 1917 Excluded, among many others, those who could not read their own language This act kept most of the world’s poor from immigrating.