Urbanization Cities and Immigrants Standards SS 912 A

Urbanization Cities and Immigrants

Standards • SS. 912. A. 3. 2: Examine the social, political, and economic causes, course, and consequences of the second Industrial Revolution that began in the late 19 th century. End of Course Exam Benchmark. • SS. 912. A. 3. 7: Compare the experience of European immigrants in the east to that of Asian immigrants in the west (the Chinese Exclusion Act, Gentlemen's Agreement with Japan) • SS. 912. A. 3. 11: Analyze the impact of political machines in United States cities in the late 19 th and early 20 th centuries.

Cities • Urbanization-the movement of people from country to city • In 1865 most Americans lived in countryside (farming movement) • By 1920 half lived in cities. NY, Chicago, Philadelphia had over a million residents

Reasons for Urbanization • Push/Pull factors • Railroads and improved roads made it easier for people to move to cities. Cities like Chicago and Atlanta grew because of this. • Many people attracted by the city life and opportunity • Rise of factories and the needs of growing urban populations created more jobs. • Uncertainty of farm life, new farm machinery pushed people away from the farms

Cities Face New Problems • Cities grew too fast and cities lacked services (hospitals, schools, fire, police, garbage) • Overcrowding and slums 1. Tenements-low cost rental housing barely meeting minimal living requirements • Lack of sanitation and pollution=people died from diseases • Traffic congestion • Political corruption

• “The absence of traditional city forms made colonial American cities seem ugly, chaotic, and scattered to European visitors. Colonial cities did not even have names for their streets. In addition to their confusingly unconventional appearance, these New World cities were probably even smellier and dirtier than their British counterparts. Poor urban families raised pigs, which wandered the streets. Though prohibited by ordinance by the end of the eighteenth century, at least in Providence and New York City, pigs foraged freely well into the mid-nineteenth century. They thrived on the garbage, and on the animal and human excrement in the streets. In order to promenade, the elites of Boston and New York created special parks in the mid-eighteenth century, where railings excluded the omnipresent pigs, horses, and oxen”

Political Machines • Political machine- an organization controlled by a “boss” that gets citizens to vote for its candidate on election day. People worked for the “machine” in exchange for political favors and other rewards • Bosses provided jobs and services to immigrants and other poor residents in return for their votes. • Machine makes profit by overcharging on city contracts • Tammany Hall in NYC-most famous political machine • Graft-using political influence for personal gain

Political Machines • William “Boss” Tweed was the most famous boss • Thomas Nast-made anti machine political cartoons

Immigration • Old Immigrants- came before 1880 - from Western Europe (England, Ireland, Germany, France) • Came to escape religious and political persecution or to find new economic opportunities. • Spoke English • Protestant

Immigration • New Immigrants- 1880 -1924 -from Eastern Europe and Mediterranean (Italy, Greece, Poland, Russia) • Did not speak English • Catholic/Jewish • Escape religious persecution

Establishing a New Life • • • Traveled across the Atlantic in steerage (cheapest class on ship) Most landed in Ellis Island, NYC Could be sent back if they had poor health Found unskilled jobs Settled in ghettos (urban neighborhood with immigrants of one nationality-Little Italy, Chinatown) where people spoke language, had same religion, same newspapers

Americanization • Americanized-assimilate (to make similar) into mainstream American society by learning its values and behaviors • Children began to assimilate (made similar to other Americans)

Asia • Pushed by warfare and economic hard times in China • Pulled by the lure of gold, later railroad work • Chinese Immigrants were needed to build transcontinental railroad but once it was completed, they became discriminated

• In 1850 s, a white man murdered a Chinese man and was sent to jail after other Chinese testified against him. California Supreme Court ruled to free him, starting a trend of legal discrimination and abuse • US Naturalization Act of 1870 - only whites and African descent can become US citizens • 1882 - Chinese Exclusion Act-made a ban on immigration for 10 years • Any Chinese immigration was processed at Angel Island in San Francisco

• Japanese pushed by changes in Japan and pulled by lure of greater economic opportunity • Racial prejudice of segregated schools in San Francisco forced a negotiation called “Gentlemen's Agreement” in 1907. • Gentleman’s Agreement- led by President Theodore Roosevelt, the Japanese government agreed to prevent the further immigration of workers with an exception

Nativism • Nativism-the belief that native-born Americans were superior to others, and that immigrants and their diverse cultural influences were undesirable. • True American=native-born, white, English-speaking, Protestant • Anti-immigration societies began to spring up across America, KKK reemerges, effect immigration laws

Farmers • In the Second Industrial Revolution farmers faced many problems including the price of food dropping • Many Americans were still farmers and their anger had social and political effects

Problems of Farmers 1870 -1920 • • • Agricultural overproduction International competition Scarcity of money Profits of “middlemen” High shipping costs High cost of manufactured products Farm debt and cost of money Natural disasters Rural isolation

Farm debt and cost of money • Sherman Silver Purchase Act 1890 law required the federal government to purchase a large amount of silver each month. • Supporters predicted this would lead to an increase in the amount of money in circulation

Natural Disasters • Drought-lack of rainfall

Farmers organize to overcome their problems • Grange movement • Granger laws • Interstate Commerce Act 1887

Grange Movement • Oliver Hudson Kelley- organized the “Grange Movement”- to organize and modernize farming communities • In 10 years it had 1. 5 million members

Granger Laws • Farmers blamed railroad companies, farmers got new laws in their favor • Munn v Illinois- states could regulate private businesses if that business is used for the public good. The private business is a grain elevator which holds grains • Wabash v Illinois-a state could not regulate railroads since they traveled through more than one state. Only congress could regulate interstate commerce

Interstate Commerce Act 1887 • Interstate Commerce Act- the act marked the first step towards federal regulation of unfair business practices.

Populist Party 1892 -1896