1. IMMIGRANTS!
chapter 8, section 2

2. Where did America’s workers come from during this time of unusual industrial growth?
New farm technology decreased the need for farm labor
Former farmers moving to the cities to escape the poor working conditions in rural America, and…
IMMIGRANTS!

3. Why did they come? PUSH PULL Crop failures Land shortages Unemployment
Rising taxes
Political persecution
Religious persecution
1890s pogroms against Russian Jews
PULL
Free land
Homestead Act
Availability of FACTORY JOBS
Personal freedoms
Educational opps
Not forced to serve long years in Army
Participation in democratic gov’t
American farmers and immigrants contributed to a huge rise in urban population
URBANIZATION!

4. Who was coming to America?
1st Wave
10 million from central & NW Europe
3 million from Germany
3 million from British Isles
Looked white, mostly Protestant, blended well

6. Who was coming to America?
2nd Wave
10 million from southern & eastern Europe
4 million Italians
3 million Jews (mostly Russia)
Greeks, Slavs, Armenians
Darker skin, different religions, did not blend in as well

8. Their Journey 1-3 weeks across Atlantic 70% came thru New York City
Steerage
70% came thru New York City
Physical exams upon entrance
Find families
Ghettos
Westward migration

9. Non-Europeans Chinese Mid-1800s recruitment to railroads
Separate communities
Treated with suspicion
Chinese Exclusion Act
1882, 1892, 1902, permanent until 1943
Immigration laws discriminated most
against incoming Asians

10. Non-Europeans Japanese Later than Chinese
1894 treaty granting free entry
200,000 by 1920
Immigration laws discriminated most
against incoming Asians

11. Non-Europeans Mexican Early 20th century
New irrigation in SW, labor needed
1910 Mexican Revolution
Immigration Restriction Act of 1921
Did not apply to North Americans