Rapid Immigration

1. Rapid Immigration Matt Ching, Jake Mack, and Ruth Albuquerque

2. Immigration Golden Door: America was seen as the land of opportunities for many foreigners. Europeans: Looking to escape poverty, famine, land shortages, or religious and political persecution. Other Europeans left because of a rising populationfarmers competing for industrial jobs due to lack of land for farming. Chinese and Japanese: Many came to seek their fortunes after the discovery of gold in 1848. Chinese immigrants helped build the nation’s railroads, including the first transcontinental line. When the railroads were completed, they turned to farming, mining and domestic service—some even started their own businesses. The annexation of Hawaii led to a major increase in Japanese immigration to the West Coast. West Indies and Mexico: Immigrants came from Jamaica, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and other islands. Many West Indians left their homelands because jobs were scarce and the industrial boom in America seemed to promise work for everyone. Mexicans also immigrated to the United States to find work and to escape political turmoil.

3. Challenges Journey: Across Atlantic from Europe=1 week; crossing Pacific from Asia=3 weeks. Many immigrants could only afford to travel in the cheapest part of the ship, therefore, immigrants were crowded together and unable to exercise or maintain sanitary standards, disease spread quickly. Some immigrants died before they reached America. To those that survived, America was absolutely breathtaking. Ellis Island: The processing of immigrants took many hours and included a physical examination by a doctor and an extensive questioning and checking of documents by an inspector. Angel Island: Asians—primarily Chinese—arriving on the West Coast entered the United States through Angel Island in San Francisco Bay. The processing at Angel Island was a lot harsher than that of Ellis Island. The immigrants were forced to endure harsh questioning and long waiting periods to find out whether they had been granted admission into the US. Survival: Immigrants faced the challenges of having to find a job a place to live, and adjusting to life in a new country with a different language and culture. However, these immigrants were not willing to give up their own culture; they lived in ethnic groups in parts of the cities—maintain customs, speak their own language, and eat the food they were used to.

4. Benefits for Immigrants Most of the immigrants who streamed into the United States decided to live in cities because cities were the cheapest and most convenient places to live. Cities also offered unskilled laborers steady jobs in mills and factories. Many immigrants left their countries because of religious persecution and were therefore appeased by the concept of religious freedom in the United States.

5. Problems Nativism: obvious favoritism toward native-born Americans. The American Protective Association attacked many Catholics and many businesses, colleges, and social clubs refused to accept Jews. In 1897, Congress—influenced by the Immigration Restriction League—passed a bill requiring a literacy test for all immigrants. Chinese Exclusion Act: banned entry to all Chinese except students, teachers, merchants, tourists, and government officials. Nativists were worried that jobs would go to the Chinese immigrants, who would accept lower wages. Similar treatment for Japanese (Gentlemen’s Agreement). Americanization Movement: designed to assimilate people of wide-ranging cultures into the dominant cultures. This social campaign was sponsored by the government and concerned citizens. Schools and voluntary organizations taught skills needed for citizenship such as English Literacy and American history and government. Subjects such as cooking and etiquette were also included in the curriculum. However, many immigrants did not wish to abandon their traditions.

6. Essential Question To what extent can rapid development of a country be controlled? Rapid development of a country can be controlled to a limited extent because the world has become a global village and technology is changing at a fast pace, thereby removing any barriers.

7. Mini Quiz 1) What did the Immigration Restriction League require all immigrants to pass before they could enter the US? a.    A physical exam b.    An eye exam c.    Background check d. A Literacy test 2) Many people migrated to the United States because of: a. Lack of religious freedom in their homeland b. The job opportunities c. Land shortages d. All of the above

8. Mini Quiz 3) Which of the following ethnic group(s) did NOT take a majority of the population when migrating to the United States? a) Europeans b) Chinese c) Spanish d) Japanese