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Urbanization is……. The growth of cities. European Immigration. 1890s over half of the immigrants were from Eastern and Southern Europe “New Immigrants” Russians, Poles, Slavs, Slovaks, and Italians Come to the US because US abundance of jobs Came to avoid military service in home country
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1890s over half of the immigrants were from Eastern and Southern Europe “New Immigrants” • Russians, Poles, Slavs, Slovaks, and Italians • Come to the US because • US abundance of jobs • Came to avoid military service in home country • Many including Jews came to escape religious persecution
Restrictive laws on immigrants were dropped • Could now take savings with them • Peasants could leave villages • Skilled workers could leave the country • Chance to break the class structure of Europe, US a democratic nation, social mobility
Immigrants came to the US by ship • Most booked passage in steerage • The cheapest accommodations on a steamship • Crowded, no ventilation, food served from a communal pot • Trip lasted on average 14 days
Most immigrants from Europe arrived at Ellis Island in New York City • Immigrants were processed • Stood in long lines to be inspected by a doctor, any medical problems the immigrant was pulled aside • If there was a major medical problem the immigrant would be separated from family and sent back to Europe
Immigrants pass inspection move on to one of the large cities in the nation • 1890s immigrants made up a large percentage of the city populations • Jacob Riis, Danish journalist, commented on city life; “color sections of a city by ethnicity, show the divisions of people” • Immigrants went to live in neighborhoods made up of people from their home country
New York City; “Little Italy”, the Jewish Lower East Side • In ethnic neighborhoods the native language was spoken, recreated churches, synagogues, social clubs, and newspapers like the home country • The adjustment to the US depended on mastery of the English language, skills, money, or if the immigrant settled among their ethnic group • About 1/3rd returned to Europe, came to the US to make money and then return home
Mid 1800s the population of China, 430 million • China experienced unemployment, famine, and poverty • Chinese immigrants cross the Pacific to the US • 1860s, the Central Pacific hired Chinese workers , caused immigration to increase • Chinese immigrants settled on the West coast
Worked as laborers, servants, or in skilled trades • Some worked as merchants • Native-born Americans kept them out of many businesses, forced the Chinese to open their own businesses • A second group of Asian immigrants, the Japanese began to immigrate to the US
Japanese immigrants were small in number until 1900 • 1900-1910 Japan concentrated on creating an economic and industrial empire • Disrupted the Japanese economy, caused hardships for the people, many left for the US • 1910, Asian immigrants arrived through San Francisco, housed in a 2 story structure on the wharf
At times as many as 500 immigrants squeezed in the structure • January, 1910; California opened a barracks at Angel Island to process immigrants • Most Asian immigrants were young males, waited for results of immigration hearings, often took months
The influx of new immigrants renewed nativist sentiment in the US • During the 1840s and 50s nativists focused on Irish immigrants • Late 1800s to early 1900s anti-immigration sentiment for Asians, Jews, and Eastern Europeans • The nativists opposed immigration because
1. many of the immigrants form Eastern Europe were Catholic, too much power of the Catholic Church over government • 2. labor unions were opposed to immigration, immigrants worked for low wages, worked as strike breakers, undermined American-born workers
In the Northeast and the Midwest 2 groups emerged as anti-immigration organizations • 1. American Protective Association, founded by Henry Bowers, hated Catholics and foreigners, committed to stop immigration, membership peaked at about 1 million, membership declined with the recession of 1893
2. in the Western US, anti-Chinese feelings were very strong, racial violence occurred, Dennis Kearney founded the Workingman’s Party of California in the 1870s, opposed Chinese immigration, the party won two seats in the California state legislature, made opposition to Chinese immigration a national issue
Historically past presidents had vetoed laws to limit immigration • Prejudice against immigrants led to the passage of federal immigration law • 1882, banned convicts, paupers, and the mentally ill from entering the US, placed a 50 cent tax on each immigrant • 1882, the Chinese Exclusion Act, banned Chinese immigration for 10 years, Chinese in the US could not become citizens
The Chinese in the US protest the law • A letter writing campaign, and filed a lawsuit in federal court • The efforts had little impact • Congress renewed the Exclusion Act in 1892, made it permanent in 1902 • The Chinese Exclusion Act was not repealed until 1943
1905, Theodore Roosevelt commissioned a study on how immigrants were admitted into the US • The commission recommended an English literacy test • Two years later another commission recommended a literacy test in any language • The recommendations reflected the bias of people against the “new immigrants”
The new immigrants thought to be less intelligent than the old immigrants • Presidents Taft and Wilson vetoed laws to require literacy from immigrants • The literacy requirement passed in 1917 when the Congress overrode Wilson’s second veto • The law was to reduce immigration from southeastern European nations
During the 30 years after the Civil War urban populations grew from 10 million to over 30 million • Immigrants lacked money to buy farms, forced to stay in cities, no education, took low paying jobs • Rural Americans moved to the cities, urban areas more employment opportunities and better paying jobs
Cities offered bright lights, running water, indoor plumbing, museums, libraries, and theaters • Great Migration, after the Civil War, African Americans began to move North in search of jobs and to escape discrimination and racism
Millions moved to the cities • Engineers and architects developed new technologies to house and transport the growing urban populations • population up, demand for land increased as did the price • Cities began to grow upward instead of outward
Tall steel framed buildings, skyscrapers • The Home Insurance Building in Chicago, ten stories high, the first skyscraper • New York City with limited land forced to build upward • Louis Sullivan, skyscraper design, simple lines, spacious windows used plate glass
1837-1857, a clerk, sailor in the China trade, a farmer • Moved to New York City in 1848 • Became the superintendent of New York’s Central Park in 1857 • Served as administrator and architect-in-chief of Central Park’s construction • Designs for urban life, wanted to preserve areas of natural beauty for future public enjoyment
Served as first head of the commission in charge of preserving Yosemite Valley • Led in establishing the Niagara Reservation • 1872-1895 Olmstead’s firm carried out 550 projects, college campuses, the Capitol grounds and residential communities
Mass transit late 1800s, horse-car moved 70% of all urban traffic by 1890 • San Francisco the first city to use cable cars pulled on tracks with underground cables • 1887 Frank J. Sprague developed an electric trolley car • 1898, Richmond, Virginia had the first electric trolley line
Congestion so bad, some cities looked to move transit off of the streets • Chicago, elevated railroad • New York City, first subway system
In the cities the wealthy, middle class, and the working class all lived in different areas of the city • The boundaries between the neighborhoods was very evident
The wealthy lived in the middle of the city • They build homes modeled after castles, manor houses, French Chateaus, Tuscan Villas, a Persian pavilion • In New York City, Vanderbilt’s grandson commissioned the construction of a $3 million chateau
Industrialization made great wealth for some • Created a growing middle class • Doctors, lawyers, social workers, architects, and teachers • The middle class moved away from the central part of the city • Took advantage of the commuter rail lines, moved to “streetcar suburbs”
Middle class salaries roughly twice that of the factory worker
In New York 75% of the residents lived in dumbbell tenements
