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Political machines and their impact
The impact of immigration on the United States
The impact of immigration on the United States
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Political machines were supported by continuing immigration, sustained by patronage, enlarged by wealth, and in the end were weeded out by reformers progress for public rather than private good, and caused by the need for public works and skilled workers, after the population of cities expanded. The political machine was supported by continuing immigration from 1800 to 1920, when more than eighteen million European immigrants flooded into the Untied States in search of economic opportunity and political and religious freedom. At first they came from Northern and Central Europe and then largely from Eastern and Southern Europe. (New Colossus , Pg. 1) New York alone reported that by June 30, 1899 immigrant arrivals from the Russian Empire were around 90,787. Arrivals, from the same year, from all countries of persons of German race were 29,682 and Hebrew arrivals were 60,764. (Changing the Character of Immigration, Pg. 1) Unfortunately, with such a large influx in population during a short amount of time and other variables such as immigrants being unable to speak English, inadequate affordable urban housing, and insufficient jobs a large amount of immigrants ended up in growing slums without the feeling of security or knowledge of how to find help, if there was any, from an unrepresentative government. These factors transformed incoming immigrants into easy prey for patronage from the political machine and sustained it by giving their votes. In the 1930’s mass immigration had stopped and representative government had begun, leading to a decline in patronage needed by then integrated immigrants and a decline in votes for the machine. The principal jobs of the political machines were to seek out the needy and communicate an offer t... ... middle of paper ... ...hey knew nothing about. Therefore, civil service examinations were created in order to hire skilled professionals. These examinations were a needed stipulation for hiring during a time when more technical skills were needed. It also displaced unskilled workers, a number of which were put into place by the political machine. Civil service examinations hurt the machine in many ways. It released workers who were put in by the machine, and then taken out due to being unqualified, from voting in their favor. They created an atmosphere which made it difficult for the machine to use their patronage in order to place unskilled workers in a job. More importantly, it aided in the public realization that with the arrival of a more representative government for everyone, which didn’t ask for individual favors, political machines no longer appealed to them and were not needed.
The urban political machine was a force that provided stability and growth for the “out-of-control” urban populations. Cities grew at uncontrollable rates and organizations like Tammany Hall instituted public improvements and created millions of jobs for the torrential flow of immigrants into Ellis Island7. It can even be argued that Tammany and other political machines made the transition easier for these immigrants, without whom the cities would not have been able to prosper to the extent that they did. The political machine created a type of politics that was purely practical in nature, and although it allowed for an immoral amount of corruption, the contributions it made to growth, stability, and production cannot be understated.
The curse of civil service reform to George W. Plunkitt was that patriotic young men could not get jobs without passing the civil service examinations. Plunkitt's objections about civil service reform are two fold, not only cou...
society can be seen. In the late 1800’s there was a rise in the number
What caused the German immigration to Ameica between 1870-1930? In this paper I'll answer that question plus: what caused the movement, what happined to them when they arrived, and how did they adapt. I'll also tell some of the more gritty stuff by using intimate and detailed quotes used by many real immigrants who came to America anywhere from 1880 to 1930. As you read this, be prepared to learn what really happened to these immigrants and why the streets were paved with anything but gold.
In the years from 1860 through 1890, the prospect of a better life attracted nearly ten million immigrants who settled in cities around the United States. The growing number of industries produced demands for thousands of new workers and immigrants were seeking more economic opportunities. Most immigrants settled near each other’s own nationality and/or original village when in America.
“Columbia’s Unwelcome Guests”, by Frank Beard (February 7, 1885), displays how the unrestricted US policies that were implemented were causing more immigrants to emigrate from Europe. The new aliens are depicted as anarchist, socialist, and the Mafia arriving from the sewers of Italy, Russia, and Germany. In the late nineteenth century, the U.S. government was not only concerned with the racialization of the immigrants entering the country, but also
When discussing the new science of politics laid out in the Federalist papers, it is imperative to understand that proponents of the Constitution had various reasons for writing these papers, not the least of which was convincing critics that a strong central government that would not oppress but actually protect individual freedoms as well as encouraging the state of New York to agree to ratify the Constitution.
Between 1880 and 1920 almost twenty-four million immigrants came to the United States. Between better salaries, religious freedom, and a chance to get ahead in life, were more than enough reasons for leaving their homelands for America. Because of poverty, no future and various discrimination in their homelands, the incentive to leave was increasing. During the mid-1800's and early 1900's, the labor and farm hands in Eastern Europe were only earning about 15 to 30 a day. In America, they earned 50 cents to one dollat in a day, doubling their paycheck. Those lower wage earners in their homeland were st...
Reformers known as Progressives attempted to undo the problems caused by industrialization. The Progressive movement sought to end the influence of large corporations, provide more rights and benefits to workers, and end the control possessed by party leaders. At the national level, Progressivism centered on defeating the power of large businesses. The Progressive Era was a period in American history in which improving working conditions, exposing corruption, improving the way of life, expanding democracy, and making reforms were the objectives at hand. With the emergence of the Progressive Era, two important figures gradually emerged as well.
During the years of the war, America’s immigration policy and the restriction of Jewish immigrants was very apparent. The January 1943 Telegram Confirming Reports of Mass Executions of Jews in Poland talks about the Immigration Reform Act of 1924 and how it passed tight quotas on immigration. In 1924, the Unites States passed the Immigration Reform act. This act granted as little as two percent of the immigrating population a visa they needed to enter the U.S. Getting a visa could mean life or death for many immigrants. Instead of America helping the Jews escape Germany and Hitler, they blocked them out with more strict immigration policies. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and other officials warned that stricter controls on immigration were needed to prevent foreign threats from invading our nation. But innocent Jews trying to escape death don’t seem that harmful to most people. They also refused to, “ raise their immigration quotas in order to accept large numbers of refugees” (Lichtheim and Riegne 1). Because of this, many European Jews were not expected into America and in return harshly affected by Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. Some even died a horrible deaths in concentration camps just because America was afraid of giving out too many visas. Because of actions like these, the Jews were turned down in their time of need, especially when they
Dissatisfaction continued within the middle class. As new industrial machines emerged, designed for mass product... ... middle of paper ... ... disrupting the equilibrium of American society, they confronted these issues and pushed for political, economic, and social reform. (H)
An outburst in growth of America’s big city population, places of 100,000 people or more jumped from about 6 million to 14 million between 1880 and 1900, cities had become a world of newcomers (551). America evolved into a land of factories, corporate enterprise, and industrial worker and, the surge in immigration supplied their workers. In the latter half of the 19th century, continued industrialization and urbanization sparked an increasing demand for a larger and cheaper labor force. The country's transformation from a rural agricultural society into an urban industrial nation attracted immigrants worldwide. As free land and free labor disappeared and as capitalists dominated the economy, dramatic social, political, and economic tensions were created. Religion, labor, and race relations were questioned; populist and progressive thoughts were developed; social Darwinism and nativism movements were launched.
This paper discusses Jewish involvement in shaping United States immigration policy. In addition to a periodic interest in fostering the immigration of co- religionists as a result of anti- Semitic movements, Jews have an interest in opposing the establishment of ethnically and culturally homogeneous societies in which they reside as minorities. Jews have been at the forefront in supporting movements aimed at altering the ethnic status quo in the United States in favor of immigration of non- European peoples. These activities have involved leadership in Congress, organizing and funding anti- restrictionist groups composed of Jews and gentiles, and originating intellectual movements opposed to evolutionary and biological perspectives in the social sciences.
During the last 10-15 years of the Progressive Era, more than 15 million immigrants arrived in the United States— a number equal to the total number of immigrants that arrived in the previous 40 years. In 1910, three-fourths of New York City's population was made up of either immigrants or first generation Americans. Unlike earlier immigrants, the majority of the newcomers during this time came from non-English speaking European countries. Immigrants mostly traveled in from...
The American Political System The American political system is a federal system, which consists of