The Transformation of American Society

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The Transformation of American Society

• CH 7 Section 1

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The Lure of America

• From 1800 to 1880 more than 10 million immigrants
  came to the US (old immigrants)
• The new immigrants came between 1891 and 1910, 12
  million immigrants
• 60 of the people living in the 12 largest cities
  were foreign or had foreign parents
• 70 were from southern or Eastern Europe

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(No Transcript)
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Some of the countries represented

• Czech
• Greek
• Hungarian
• Italian
• Polish
• Russian
• Slovack

• Arabs
• Armenians
• Chinese
• French Canadians
• Japanese

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• They came to escape poverty or persecution
• They also came seeking economic opportunity
• Some were tricked by the railroads offering jobs
  and land
• Steamships offered low fares to get more people
  to come over
• Steerage The poorest accommodations located on
  the lower levels below deck is how most traveled

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Ellis Island
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Ellis Island

• This is the first soil that immigrants coming
  into New York set foot on
• It opened in 1892
• To get to it the immigrants passed the Statue of
  Liberty
• All those with serious mental problems or disease
  were deported
• All those with criminal backgrounds or no way to
  support themselves were sent back

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A New Life

• Most immigrants were forced into low paying jobs
  in the poorest neighborhoods and slums
• They would settle into immigrant communities
  where most spoke the same language
• They were encouraged to join the American
  mainstream which was often done by their children

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Inner city Slum
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The Nativist Response

• They saw the immigrants as a threat
• They saw them as too different to fit in
• They were blamed for crime, poverty and violence
• They thought they stole the money from native
  born Americans because the worked for so cheap

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Chinese Exclusion

• The new Workingmens party of California headed
  by Denis Kearney
• They encouraged Anti-Chinese sentiments
• This led to mobs attacking Chinese killing some
  and burning the property of others
• Most Chinese came in thorough California Why?

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Angel Island
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The Chinese Exclusion Act

• Passed by congress in 1882 in California
• It denied citizenship to those born in China
• It prohibited the immigration of Chinese laborers
• Neither the Chinese Exclusion Act or the violence
  kept out Chinese immigrants

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Immigration Restriction League

• Sought to impose a literacy test on all
  immigrants
• A measure was passed by congress but vetoed by
  President Cleveland
• Despite the Nativist arguments the immigration
  had a positive effect
• Rapid industrialization would have been
  impossible without them

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Review

• What is Steerage?
• The Workingmen's party were anti who?
• What did the Immigration Restriction League want?
• What was the first land that most New York
  immigrants stepped on?

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The End