Dbq Essay 1880s

The 1880s in the United States was a time where immigration patterns drastically changed. More foreigners were pouring into the nation at a more rapid rate than ever before. These immigrants were met with mixed bag of responses, from militant anti-immigrant groups to welfare groups that met immigrants with relatively open arms. The response of the American public and government to new immigrants is exemplified in the minimal government checking, the exploitation of new immigrants, and the social reform characteristic of the time period.

To commence, the United States government approached the influx of new immigrants by essentially ignoring the issues they faced. In The Census and Immigration, it was stated, “the law is evidently utterly helpless as it now stands in shutting out paupers, who are coming here in greatly increased numbers” (Source F). Although the American government was involved with checking new immigrant criminals, it got involved in little else. Overwhelmed city and state governments were able to do even less. Since the official government was not providing sufficient aid to new immigrants in the 1880s, the new immigrants were forced to seek for help from unofficial governments.

Those who immigrated to the United States were primarily lower class Europeans, seeking stable employment and a livelihood for their family. This “scum of Europe” was “content to swarm in shanties like hogs, ... to suffer sore eyes and bodies rather than buy a towel and a washtub, to endure typhoid fever rather than undergo the expense of the most primitive sanitary device” (Source H). Profit-seekers used this influx of desperate immigrants for cheap labor and political favors. New immigrants faced a frosty greeting, with the majority of the country against them before they even stepped foot on American