United States History Chapter 15

1. United States History Chapter 15 Higher Order Thinking Skills Homework

2. 1. Identify immigrants’ countries of origin. • From which parts of the world did immigrants come to the United States? • Between 1890 and 1920 large numbers of immigrants began arriving in the United States from Southern and Eastern Europe, as well as from Asia (China and Japan). • For what reasons did they journey to America? • To make a new life for themselves and their families • To escape religious persecution • To escape famine (Irish Potato Famine) • To escape rampant poverty

3. 2. Describe the journey immigrants endured and their experiences at United States immigration stations. • What difficulties did immigrants face on their journey to the United States? • Long journeys, terrible living quarters on the steamships, rampant disease. • What were the differences and similarities between the two U.S. immigration centers? • Similar in the sense that they were the main entry points for immigrants arriving in the United States • Different in how those immigrants were treated. • Europeans arriving at Ellis Island may face a 5-hour ordeal of inspection and questioning. • Asian faced a long detention in terrible facilities while they waited to find out if they would be admitted to the country. • How did many immigrants cope after arriving in America? • They clung desperately to their native cultures, which created friction with Native born Americans. This created a “hyphenated” culture of Irish-Americans, Chinese-Americans, Polish-Americans, etc.

4. 3. Examine the causes and effects of nativists’ anti-immigration sentiments. • What did nativists believe? • That immigrants did not deserve the same rights as native-born American citizens. They had not fought and died for these rights like “Americans” and their families had. • How did the Chinese Exclusion Act and the Gentlemen’s Agreement limit Asian immigration? • They banned Chinese and Japanese workers from emigrating to the United States.

5. 4. Describe the movement of immigrants to cities and the opportunities they found there. • Why did many immigrants settle in the nation’s cities? • That’s where they arrived, that’s where they could find shelter, that’s where they could find work. • Why did many immigrants avoid settling in the southern United States? • There was already a large population of cheap labor (former slaves) living in the South. Without industrial jobs, there really was not enough work to draw immigrants to the South. • What was the goal of the Americanization Movement? • To get immigrants to abandon their native heritages and traditions and assimilate into a dominant “American” (white, middle class) culture. • For what reasons did a number of Americans move from the country to the cities? • Find Jobs • Escape racial violence and Jim Crow segregation

6. 5. Explain how cities dealt with housing, transportation, sanitation, and safety issues. • What were the housing problems that many poor city dwellers faced? • The Cities were overcrowded • Many people were forced to live in Tenements. • What other difficulties did immigrants and poor residents encounter? • Fire • Crime • Disease • Poor Sanitation

7. 6. Describe some of the organizations and people who offered help to urban immigrants. • What was the social gospel movement? • Founded by Walter Rauchshenbush, it was a movement designed to tie peoples’ salvation to their good deeds. Encouraged people to become involved in social reform movements. • What was the purpose of settlement houses? • To help immigrants and the urban poor adjust to life in the cities. • They provided the educational, cultural, and social services that the government was not. • Who was Jane Addams? • She founded Hull House in Chicago, she was one of the most influential members of the Social Gospel Movement.

8. 7. Explain the role of political machines and political bosses. • What was a political machine? • An organization that worked to organize support for candidates of a particular political party. • What was the role of the political bosses? • Controlled various aspects of the local government such as municipal jobs, licenses, courts, etc. • Many Bosses worked to solve urban problems such as water and sewer, education, small business growth, etc. • Many Bosses became corrupt and used the naturalization of immigrants to further their political goals. • What role did immigrants play in the politics of many big cities? • The Political Machines helped immigrants with the various problems encountered in the cities and with Naturalization. • In return they gave the political machines their loyalty • Oftentimes this resulted in corruption and created civil unrest in the public between immigrants and nativist groups.

9. 8. Describe how some politicians’ greed and fraud cost taxpayers millions of dollars. • What means did many political machines use to maintain power? • Fraud (particularly voter fraud) • Graft (Bribes of government officials) • Corruption • For what reasons was the Tweed Ring so notorious? • For scamming New York City out of huge sums of money (in one case bilking the City of $10 Million).

10. 9. Describe the measures taken by presidents Hayes, Garfield, and Arthur to reform the spoils system. • What were the consequences of the Patronage system? • Unqualified people doing government jobs • Scandal and Corruption • What political reform efforts did Hayes, Garfield, and Arthur undertake? • Civil Service Reform, resulting in the passage of the Pendleton Civil Service Act • What was the Pendleton Civil Service Act? • It created the Civil Service Exam, established a merit system in government hiring, ended the “spoils system”.

11. 10. Explain the positions taken by Presidents Cleveland, Harrison, and McKinley on the tariff issue. • Where did Cleveland and Harrison stand on the tariff issue? • Grover Cleveland believed that lower tariffs led to greater trade with foreign countries and economic growth. • Benjamin Harrison, financed by Big Business, believed that Tariffs were not high enough and higher Tariffs would protect American Industry. • What was the McKinley Tariff Act of 1890? • After Harrison’s election he signed the McKinley Tariff and raised Tariff levels to their highest levels ever. • What happened to tariffs when Cleveland was reelected, and how did things change when McKinley took office? • When Cleveland was reelected he lowered Tariffs again. • When McKinley was elected in 1896 he once again raised Tariffs.