More handpicked essays just for you.
Immigration in american history 1880 1914
Immigration in american history 1880 1914
The Background of Immigrants in America
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Immigration in american history 1880 1914
Immigration and Nativism
New immigrant started to come into the United States in massive waves. The old immigrants came from England Germany and Scandinavia. They came from small farms and villages. Nativists disliked the new culture diversity that the immigrants brought to the United States.
Starting in the 1880’s people from England, Germany, Italy, Scandinavia, Russia, Austria-Hungary, and Poland left their homes to get away from religious or political persecution, war, bad living conditions, and to get jobs. The reason they chose the United States is because it provided good paying jobs, and better economic opportunities. Also because of the Gold Rush and because the U.S. advertised. About 8.5 million immigrants moved to the United States between 1880-1920. Italians moved mostly because of the Gold Rush. They lived in urban places in the east while North Italians went west. Not many immigrants moved south because in the north there were more job opportunities because there were larger cities in the north. Immigrants took low paying jobs with low wages. They mostly lived in slums. The south was mostly agriculture and farmlands.
…show more content…
Americans blamed declining wages and economic problems on the Chinese people. The Chinese people were not allowed to become citizens of the U.S. for ten years. The United States government was worried about “racial purity”. In 1892, the act was renewed for another ten years. In 1902 Chinese immigration was permanently illegal. The Chinese population dropped dramatically. Because of the Chinese exclusion act, the United States made other immigration acts toward undesirable people such as the Middle Easterners, and the Hindu and East Indians. Only in 1943 were the Chinese allowed to become citizens, and
One particular ethnic group that suffered severe discrimination was the Chinese people. They first came to America for several reasons. One of them was the gold rush in California in 1849, in which they were included in a group of immigrants called the “Forty-Niners” (179). From gold mining, they switched to other jobs with resulted in the rise of anti-Chinese sentiments. People felt that Chinese people were taking the jobs away from them, because Chinese people worked for much smaller salaries that businesses preferred. This mindset gave way to the creation of The Chinese Exclusion Act passed in 1882, which prohibits more Chinese immigrants from coming to America. In addition, the act states “no State or court of the United States shall admit Chinese to citizenship”. Like the Naturalization Act, the Chinese Exclusion Act was created to hinder Chinese people from becoming citizens so that America could remain homogenously white (186). It also aimed to stop Chinese people from establishing a bigger community in the country in hopes of eliminating the threat of competition to their white counterparts (186). Like African-Americans, Chinese people were considered racially inferior and have struggled to prove that they were worthy to be called true Americans, rather than
Many came for gold and job opportunities, believing that their stay would be temporary but it became permanent. The Chinese were originally welcomed to California being thought of as exclaimed by Leland Stanford, president of Central Pacific Railroad, “quiet, peaceable, industrious, economical-ready and apt to learn all the different kinds of work” (Takaki 181). It did not take long for nativism and white resentment to settle in though. The Chinese, who started as miners, were taxed heavily; and as profits declined, went to work the railroad under dangerous conditions; and then when that was done, work as farm laborers at low wages, open as laundry as it took little capital and little English, to self-employment. Something to note is that the “Chinese laundryman” was an American phenomenon as laundry work was a women’s occupation in China and one of few occupations open to the Chinese (Takaki 185). Chinese immigrants were barred from naturalized citizenship, put under a status of racial inferiority like blacks and Indians as with “Like blacks, Chinese men were viewed as threats to white racial purity” (188). Then in 1882, due to economic contraction and racism Chinese were banned from entering the U.S. through the Chinese Exclusion Act. The Chinese were targets of racial attacks, even with the enactment of the 1870 Civil Rights Act meaning equal protection under federal law thanks to Chinese merchants lobbying Congress. Chinese tradition and culture as well as U.S. condition and laws limited the migration of women. Due to all of this, Chinese found strength in ethnic solidarity as through the Chinese Six Companies, which is considered a racial project. Thanks to the earthquake of 1906 in San Francisco, the Chinese fought the discriminatory laws by claiming citizenship by birth since the fires
America was a newly discovered land that attracted many European immigrants in the 1600s. A majority of these immigrants came from England. Many reasons contributed to this sudden increase of immigrants to the American colonies. Many Europeans were looking for better social, political, and economic opportunities, and they felt and hoped that America was their dreamland.
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.
In the early 16th century immigrants from England fled their country in search of a better life. They fled their homelands for many reasons; poverty, religious intolerance and persecution, others in search of an adventure or for a new start. They packed up their families and possessions some even brought their servants, embarking on a perilous journey across the Atlantic Ocean and reached the land known today as America. The first of the immigrants landed in two regions; the Massachusetts bay and the Chesapeake Bay. Both these regions would soon be colonies known as Massachusetts and Virginia, both major colonies. Throughout the years more and more people started to flee their homelands in Europe and come to America.
According to Lee, Erika, and Reason (2016), “The Chinese Exclusion Act ...barred Chinese laborers for a period of 10 years and allowed entry only to certain exempt classes (students, teachers, travelers, merchants, and diplomats” (p. 4). The Chinese immigrants were excluded from certain rules and laws like Blacks and other minority groups. Also, they were not permitted to request citizenship or settle in the United States. For decades, the Chinese laborers did not have legal rights to enter into the United States until the decision was overturned. Lee, Erika, and Reason noted, “Chinese activist turned their attention to opening up additional immigration categories within the confines of the restrictions…some 300,000 Chinese were admitted into the United States as returning residents and citizens” (p. 4). The activists fought for the rights of the Chinese people to overturn the decision for leaving and entering as pleased to the United
The Burlingame Treaty of 1868 encouraged Chinese immigration for work on railroads and southern plantations while simultaneously withholding the privilege of naturalization. This encouraged the emergence of ‘coolie’ laborers, whose passage into the United States was paid for under the agreement that they would work as indentured servants for a pre-determined period of time. Although the Chinese helped build the transcontinental railroad, their unusual style of dress still created prejudice against their ethnicity. This lead to the creation of Chinatowns as a necessary cultural barrier used for protection against the rest of society. After encouraging Chinese immigration, the government realized that these immigrants would procreate and needed to decide what immigration status children born in America would hold. The Naturalization Act of 1870 was the solution to this question, declaring any child born in the United States a citizen of the country, regardless of the race of the child. This necessarily lead to more immigration restrictions since a...
As the numbers of Chinese laborers increased, so did the strength of anti-Chinese sentiment among other workers in the American economy. This finally resulted in legislation that aimed to limit future immigration of Chinese workers to the United States, and threatened to sour diplomatic relations between the United States and China.
It has been said that immigration is as old as America itself. Immigration traces back as far as the 1500's when the West faced the coming of the Spanish. At that time, the Americas had been settled by the Indians, who were soon threatened by the first immigrants of America. These Spanish conquerors threatened to undermine the culture of the Indians as well as their way of life. Evidently, immigration started from the beginning of our country's time and has had an everlasting effect on America today.
When the Chinese Exclusion Act was signed into law in May 1882, it was followed by a rapidly decreasing amount of new immigrants to the United States. Regardless of problems that the United States attempted to solve with the Act, violent massacre and persecution of Chinese people in the United States continued. Because of this, many Chinese immigrants that did stay in America continued on for years to receive prejudice and racism in the labor market and cultural society. This then continued to force many Chinese immigrants further and further down the path of segregation and into the protection of Chinatowns and poverty, counteracting the great American idea of the “melting pot.”
Immigration has always been a major part of America. In fact, without immigration the creation of America would not have been possible. The majority of immigrants came to America for religious freedom and economic opportunities. However, for the most part before the 1870’s most immigrants were Protestants from northern and western Europe. These immigrants often migrated to the United States as families and usually lived on farms with family or friends who had already migrated beforehand. A lot of immigrants came to America with a plan or goal in mind. They often had saved up money for the long immigration overseas, were skilled in a certain trade, or had already been educated at a high level. Sadly, this would not last. Immigration became so prominent in America between 1870 and 1900 that the foreign-born population of the United States had almost doubled. A lot of German and Irish Catholics had immigrated in the 1840’s and 1850’s, and more decided to immigrate after the Civil War. A portion of Americans were biased against Catholics. Thankfully, the Irish spoke English and the German Catholics reputation was improved because of their Protestant countrymen’s good reputation. However, their children often lacked any skill or education, but they were able to blend in quite well with the American society. More and more immigrants would migrate to the United States without any skill or education and on top of that they were usually poor. These immigrants were called “new” immigrants and they came from all over the world including Italy, Greece, Poland, Hungary, and Russia. However, you cannot blame immigrants for migrating to America. Many immigrants faced religious persecution in their home countries which pushed them away, otherwi...
Because of the Chinese coming to America and practicing their religion, they set up places of worship and practiced Buddhism. The Pigtail Ordinance was a law that was passed that would make Chinese people who had long hair, to cut it off. This law was the first step that lead to a lot of racism to the Chinese and other Asian cultures and people. The flow of immigration was stopped by the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. This act outlawed all Chinese immigration to the U.S. and denied citizenship to those already settled within the country. Revived in 1892 and extended fully in 1902, the Chinese population decreased till the act was repealed in 1943 by the Magnuson Act.
The United States experienced major waves of immigration during the colonial era, the first part of the 19th century and from the 1880s to 1920. Many people immigrated to America for
Immigration to America began when Christopher Columbus discovered the new land now called the American continent. Immigration increased in the 17th century when people came from Europe, Africa, and Asia to the new land. There were many colonies, such as the British and Dutch. When people came they go to their people and find jobs as farmers. The first immigrants were in the east coast around 1607 to 1775 after the number of immigrants increased. In 1790 - 1850 there were few immigrants who came to America, but in 1850 to 1930 the number of immigrations increased (Dolan 4).
All so called "Native Americans," were once immigrants. There were two waves of immigration between the early 1800’s through the early 1900’s. The first wave of immigrants called the "old immigrants" came to America between 1890-1897. They were primarily from Northern Europe: Great Britain, Germany, and Scandinavia. The second wave of immigrants called the "new immigrants" came to America from 1897-1924. The "new immigrants" primarily came from Southern and Eastern Europe countries such as Poland, Russia, and Italy. Nativist parties, like the Know-Nothings and the Order of the Star Spangled Banner verbalized their distaste and disapproval of immigrants. Actions and regulations against immigration did not begin until near the end of the "old immigration" and the beginning of the "new immigration." Nativists had many fears and concerns regarding immigrants. These concerns included being socially ill-suited to live with the older stock Americans, stealing jobs from the native work force, and bringing new, radical ideas to the country. These fears and concerns caused nativists to come up with schemes to keep immigrants out of the country. These strategies had a great impact on immigration in our country.