American Immigration: Movement, Urbanization, & Frontier Life

1. Immigration Movement in America

2. Essential Question • Why do people migrate? • How is urban life different from rural life?

3. 3 Types of Immigration People moved around the United States in 3 different directions during the 1800’s. • Movement to the U.S. from a foreign nation • Movement to the cities from rural areas • Movement to the western frontier

4. Arriving in America • “Birds of Passage”: young men who worked a short period of time then returned home. • Old Immigration: Immigrants came from Northwest and Central Europe. • New Immigration: Immigrants arrived from Eastern and Southern Europe. • Once they arrived, most immigrants settled in the city where they entered because the could not afford to move. • Nativism: feeling of favoring native-born Americans

5. Excluding Asians • Asian workers became targets of poor treatment because their culture was different than Europeans. • Asians found the path to acceptance was difficult. • Chinese Exclusion Act: prohibited Chinese laborers from entering the country if they did not already have family here • Gentlemen’s Agreement: compromise with Japan to end segregation of Japanese students in San Francisco’s schools in exchange for Japan to stop issuing passports to laborers.

6. Going to the City • Between 1880-1910, the population of Americans living on the farm fell from 72% to 54%. • By 1890, 150,000 African Americans had moved to northern cities. • As the poor farmers moved into the cities, the wealthier city residents moved to the suburbs. • To handle the increasing population, poor tenement housing was constructed. • Ghettos, area in which one ethnic or racial group dominated, emerged.

7. Results of City Growth • Political Machines: unofficial city organization designed to keep a particular group in power • Worked through an exchange of favors • Successful because they bribed immigrants to support the party with promises of food, shelter and jobs • Most notorious was New York’s Boss Tweed of the Tammany Hall political machine.

8. A Picture of City Life

9. Moving to the Western Frontier • Life was not as easy on the western frontier as advertised. • Homestead Act: gave free land to settlers willing to farm the land for 5 years • Complaints: • Tariffs made manufactured goods too expensive. • Railroads charged farmers more than manufacturers to ship goods.

10. Reforming the Wild West • The Grange: organized farmers to buy supplies in bulk and to represent the farmers against the government. • Populists: political party formed to fix the problems faced by the farmers • Increase the circulation of money • Progressive Income Tax: taxes increase as income increases • Government ownership of transportation and communication systems • Eight-hour work day (to attract urban supporters)