Immigration Push & Pull Factors, Settlement

Immigration Push Factors

• European population doubled between 1750 and 1850, causing shortages of food, jobs, and homes.
• Religious oppression drove immigrants from places like Holland, Germany, Poland, and Russia.
• Wars and political instability motivated emigration.
• Droughts and crop failures, such as the Irish potato famine in 1845, led to mass emigration.

Immigration Pull Factors

• America was perceived as the land of freedom, offering religious and political liberty.
• More land and work opportunities were available in the U.S.
• The promise of higher wages attracted immigrants.

Immigrant Settlement Patterns

• Before 1880-1890, free land was a draw, but later immigrants moved to cities.
• Many settled in cities, leading to overcrowding and tenement housing.
• Key entry points were New York Harbor, Castle Garden, and after 1892, Ellis Island.
• Chicago became a destination for meatpacking jobs.

Immigrant Experience

• Immigrants traveled by steamship, with journeys like Sadie Frown's taking 12 days.
• Sponsorship from companies or family members aided some immigrants.
• Some were lured by companies and advertisements.
• Some immigrants had travel dues deducted from their wages.
• Factory work and poor living conditions were common hardships for immigrants.

Immigration by Country and Time Period

• 1790s: Primarily Northern and Western Europe, with the English being the largest group.
• 1840s-1880s: Continued dominance of Northern and Western Europe, with a surge from Ireland and Germany.
• 1880s-1900s: Shift to Southern and Eastern Europe, including Italy, Poland, Russia, and Austria-Hungary, such as Jews fleeing religious persecution and Italians escaping poverty.

Old Immigrants vs. New Immigrants

• Old Immigrants:
  • Origins: Northern and Western Europe, including Great Britain, Germany, Ireland, and Scandinavia.
  • Time: Pre-1880s.
  • Religion: Predominantly Protestant, except for the largely Catholic Irish.
  • Skills and Occupation: Many were skilled workers, some settling as farmers in rural areas.
• New Immigrants:
  • Origins: Southern and Eastern Europe (Italy, Greece, Poland, Russia) and Asia (China).
  • Time: Post-1880s.
  • Religion: Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Jewish, some from undemocratic governments.
  • Skills and Occupation: Often poorer, less educated, and primarily unskilled workers.

Work and Labor

• Immigrants served as a source of industrial labor as factories expanded
• Immigrants were more willing to work for lower wages + in worse working conditions
• Immigrants played a crucial role in building infrastructure, such as railroads.
• Factories: Immigrants settled in cities and worked in steel mills, textile mills, and slaughterhouses.
• Railroads: Chinese and Mexican immigrants helped construct railroads.
• Mining: Irish and Chinese immigrants were common in coal mines.

Nativism

• Nativism: The belief that native-born citizens are superior to immigrants, leading to anti-immigrant sentiment
• Supported by groups like the Know-Nothing Party.
• Nativism highlights tensions between established Americans and newcomers
• Know-Nothing Party: Advocated for policies favoring native-born Americans due to fears that immigrants undermined American culture and jobs
• Anti-Catholicism: Some nativists feared that Catholic immigrants would prioritize the Pope's authority over the U.S., undermining democratic ideals and Protestant values.

Immigration Legislation

• Naturalization Act of 1790: Granted citizenship to children born outside the U.S. to U.S. citizens; citizenship available to any free white person with good moral character after 2 years of residence.
• 14th Amendment: All persons born or naturalized in the U.S. are citizens, entitled to due process and equal protection.
• Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882: Federal government limited immigration based on race, barring Chinese immigration and preventing Chinese residents from becoming citizens.
• Emergency Quota Act of 1921: Set national origins quotas based on 3% of the foreign-born residents from a country already living in the U.S., using the 1910 census.
• Immigration Act of 1924 (Johnson-Reed Act): Revised the 1921 Act to 2% of the 1890 census, restricting Southern and Eastern Europeans and barring Asian immigration, while favoring Northern and Western Europeans and placing an annual cap on immigration at 150,000.
• 1943 Chinese Exclusion Repeal Act: Ended the ban on Chinese immigration, allowing Chinese residents to become citizens after over 60 years of exclusion.
• Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965: Abolished national-origins quotas, allowing immigration from all over the world with 170k visas per year, and 120k visas per year to the Western Hemisphere.
• Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986: Granted amnesty to illegal immigrants who had been in the country since before 1982 and criminalized hiring illegal immigrants.
• Groups targeted: Chinese immigrants and others were targeted due to fears of job competition.

Differences in Immigration: 1820-1920 vs. Today

• 1820-1920:
  • Origins: Primarily Northwestern Europe, later Southern and Eastern Europe.
  • Societal Integration: Immigrants settled in ethnic communities, facing discrimination and contributing to societal diversity.
• Today:
  • Origins: majority no longer from Europe. More Immigrants from Mexico, China, India, and the Philippines.
  • Societal Integration: Immigrants are more dispersed and integrate into a more diverse society.

Foreign-Born Population Statistics

• 1890:
  • Highest percentage of foreign-born population at 14.8%, totaling 9.2 million people.
• Current Statistics:
  • The U.S. currently has the highest number of immigrants, with 48.2 million.
  • The foreign-born percentage is approximately 15.8%.
  • In 2010, the majority of the foreign-born population was from Mexico (11.7 million), China (2.2 million), India, and the Philippines.

Rise of Big Business: Rapid Industrialization Factors

• Urbanization:
  • Growth in size and influence of cities.
  • Shift of people from rural areas to cities due to industrialization.
  • Urban populations increased sevenfold after the Civil War.
  • By 1920, the U.S. was a majority urban nation.
• Migration:
  • Black southerners moved to industrial cities to escape poverty and oppression.
  • Rural Americans sought opportunities in cities.
• Immigration:
  • Immigrants from Canada, Latin America, Japan, China, and especially Europe.
  • After 1880, more immigrants came from Southern and Eastern Europe.

Wealth Distribution in the Gilded Age

• Uneven Distribution:
  • Top 1% controlled most of the wealth.
  • Mark Twain and Charles Warner coined "The Gilded Age” to satirize greed and corruption.

Defenses of the Gilded Age

• Social Darwinism:
  • "Survival of the fittest" applied to society.
  • Justified the triumph of individualism and competition.
• Meritocracy:
  • Great wealth was seen as open to all.
  • Captains of industry created wealth and jobs.
• Philanthropy:
  • Wealthy individuals were seen as social benefactors.
  • They gave back to the community through charity.
• Horatio Alger:
  • Wrote "rags to riches" stories promoting hard work and luck.
  • If you aren’t successful you just aren’t working hard enough.

Criticisms of the Gilded Age

• Wealth Concentration:
  • By 1900, 1% controlled 88% of wealth.
  • This concentration was seen as unhealthy and unjust.
• Political Corruption:
  • Great wealth contributed to anti-democratic practices.
• Monopolies and Trusts:
  • Bad for the economy.
• Harsh Conditions:
  • Low wages, child labor, urban crowding, and poor health.

Problems During the Gilded Age

• Unequal distribution of wealth.
• Poor working conditions, long hours, few safety precautions, and child labor.
• Few protections for consumers.
• Overcrowding, sickness, disease, and unsanitary conditions.
• Racism and discrimination.
• Inadequate health care.
• Moral vices
• Political corruption

Robber Barons

• Robber Barons: Wealthy industrialists who built fortunes in steel, oil, and railroads.
• Condemned for unethical tactics, consumption of natural resources, influencing government, wage slavery, squashing competition, and selling stock at inflated prices.

Gospel of Wealth

• Author: Andrew Carnegie.
• Arguments: Successful people had a responsibility to do great things with their wealth.
• The richest Americans should engage in philanthropy to close the gap between rich and poor.

Major Industries and Leaders

• Cornelius Vanderbilt (1794-1877):
  • Ferries and railroads.
  • Steel rather than iron.
  • Superior services at lower rates.
• Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919):
  • Carnegie Steel Co.
  • Controlled 25% of U.S steel production.
  • Employed vertical integration.
• John D. Rockefeller (1839-1937):
  • Controlled 90% of U.S oil refineries, forced small refineries out of business, had monopoly
  • Standard Oil Co.
  • Horizontal and then vertical integration.
  • Oil production centered in Cleveland, Ohio.

Modern Corporations

• Railroads: First modern corporations in the 1820s and 1830s, driven by the need for large-scale capital and infrastructure.
• Incorporation and Limited Liability:
  • Incorporation: Forming a business as a separate legal entity.
  • "Limited liability": Shields owners' personal assets from business debts
  • Together they spurred investment by reducing risk and encouraging entrepreneurship

Industrial Terminology

• Cartels: Informal agreements to decrease competition by agreeing on prices.
• Trusts: A board of trustees would run many companies in the same industry to form a monopoly.
• Holding Companies: A company that owns companies bought up stock in other companies, eliminating the need to trust other owners.
• Trusts like Standard Oil, U.S. Steel, and American Tobacco were regulated through the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890.
• Monopolies:
  • Where a single company controlled an entire industry.
  • Became a major concern.

Welfare Capitalism

• Welfare capitalism: A strategy for businesses to improve worker morale and prevent unionization by offering benefits and fostering loyalty.
• Largely unsuccessful and reinforced management authority.

Horizontal and Vertical Integration

• Horizontal integration: When a company acquires/merges with other companies operating in same industry, aiming to increase market share, reduce competition, and achieve economies of scale
• Vertical integration: When a company buys all the middlemen - buying everything needed for production of their product so they don’t need to outsource

Scientific Management

• Pioneered by Frederick Taylor
• is designed to create a system where waste is avoided
• Positive effects:
  • Increased productivity, reduced costs and rationalization of work.
• Negative effects:
  • Worker exploitation, monotony, dehumanization of work, increased stress, and union opposition.

Social Darwinism

• Social Darwinism: Justifying inequalities by claiming that certain groups or races are inherently superior.

Horatio Alger’s Stories

• Reinforced the myth that hard work and luck lead to success

Women and Child Workers

• Women:
  • Lower wages than men, 20% of manufacturing workers by 1900.
  • Primarily worked in domestic service and textile factories.
• Child Labor:
  • Many children worked in coal mines or agriculture.
  • Employers ignored child labor laws.

Richest American Ever

• John D. Rockefeller
• Built his fortune in the OIL industry

Labor Terminology

• Organize: To create a union or bring a union to a workplace
• Strike: Refusal to work in protest against low pay or bad work conditions
• Strikebreaker: Someone who works (or provides workers) during a strike
• Arbitration: A neutral third party hears both sides of a dispute and makes a decision
• Picket: When a group of strikers gather at the entranceway of the place of employment
• Collective Bargaining: Method whereby representatives of employees (unions) and employers determine the conditions of employment

Key Strikes and Incidents Over Time

• Great Railroad Strike of 1877:
  • First major national strike.
  • Triggered by a 10% wage cut.
  • President Hayes sent federal troops; over 100 were killed.
• Haymarket Square (1886):
  • Protest after police killed four striking workers.
  • Bomb thrown, killing police; anarchist speakers sentenced to death.
• Homestead Strike (1892):
  • Carnegie's plant near Pittsburgh.
  • Wages cut, Pinkerton Detective Agency called in to protect scabs.
  • National Guard intervened.
• Pullman Strike (1894):
  • Pullman Palace Car Co. near Chicago.
  • Wages cut, American Railway Union struck.
• Flint Sit-Down Strike 1937: more than 2000 strikers occupying a factory to protest pay and job cuts. Community supported them with food and medical care.
• 1981 Air Traffic Controllers Strike
  • PATCO struck for conditions, pay, 32 hour work week
  • Reagan - Taft - Hartley Act of 1947 declared it a “peril to national safety” and fired over 11,000 workers who did not return

Notable Acts

• Taft-Hartley Act of 1947:
  • Passed over Truman's veto.
  • No closed shops.
• Shifts in Public Perception:
  • Public perception has shifted significantly, from initial suspicion and opposition to a more positive, though still evolving, view
• Molly Maguires: Secret society of Irish-American coal miners known for activism against mine owners.

Significant Legislation for Labor

• Wagner Act (1935):
  • Protected a union’s right to: Collectively bargain, and so that employers can no longer just fire all protesters
• Fair Labor Standards Act (1938):
  • Federal minimum wage (25 cents/hour).
  • Banned wage discrimination based on gender

Major Unions Over Time

• Knights of Labor (1869):
  • Uriah Stephens
  • First major Union; open to almost everyone.
    • Organize skilled and unskilled labor and supported education.
• American Federation of Labor (AFL) - 1881:
• Samuel Gompers organized by specific traders with skilled labor
• Industrial Workers of The World (IWW) - 1905:
• The “wobblies” advocated a revolutionary working-class organization
• Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) - 1934:
  • Broke away from AFL because did not organize unskilled workers
• AFL - CIO = still the most powerful (12.5 million, 57 Unions)

Key Figures and Demise of Labor Unions

• Union membership peaked in the 1950s, and has fallen since.
• Leader Eurene Debs ran for president as a socialist, was imprisoned for Anti - war activism.
• Anti-war activist: IWW Leaders were anti - war during WWI spoke up against the draft and were therefore arrested and lost power.
• Equal Pay Act (1963): Banned wage discrimination based on gender

States With Highest Union Density

• South Carolina, North Carolina, Utah, South Dakota (lowest density)
• New York highest unionised

Union Membership in 1940s

• 34% private (non-agricultural)

• 10 of public employees

Union Membership in 2020

• 6.3% private (non-agricultural)
• 34.8% of public employees

Progressivism Overview

• Progressivism Time frame: 1900s - 1920s
• Progressive Movement Goal: Furthering social and political reform and limiting political corruption and influence of large corporations
• Common Beliefs of progressives: Government should be more accountable to its citizens/limit the power of wealthy interests.

Focus on Social and Personal Responsibility

• Personal Responsibility v. Social Baseline: Gilded age stressed responsibility to self and the progressive era emphasized responsibility to society

Rise of Socialism

• Economic and political philosophy favoring public or government control of property and income.
• Saw a rise in popularity of socialism, but NOT ALL PROGRESSIVES WERE SOCIALISTS

Urban Conditions

• Working Conditions were characterised by long hours, low wages and unsafe environments which resulted in poverty
• Building codes led to tenements which created garbage accumulation +rat infestations.
• Gentrification in poor areas led to influx in middle class people-increased housing prices

Contributions of Jacob Riis

• Notable Photojournalist
• Notable Work:"How the Other Half Lives" revealed harsh reality of slums in New York which drew call for action

Settlement Movement

• Chicago Movement
• Goal to improve the lives of urban poor and immigrants by establishing "settlement houses."

Political Corruption

• Dominated by "Boss System"- corrupt patronage used tangible incentives
• "Boss Tweed" headed NYC Tammany Hall Democratic Machine.
• Political Graft = corruption that leads to someone gaining something of value - politician using authority/influence for personal gain

Significant workplace tragedy

• Triangle Fire exposed terrible working conditions
• Led to "Factory Investigating Commission" to enact fire safety and workplace safety

Muckraking

• Muckraking: Investigative journalism done to expose corruption and social problems in big business and government.
• Notable Muckrakers: revealed harsh reality of slums through photos
• Jacob Riis
• Revealed harsh reality of slums
• Upton Sinclair
• Revealed bad working conditions in meat packing industry
• Ida Tarbell
• Exposed illegal business practices of John D. Rockefeller

Key Points of the Square Deal

• Key Person: Theodore Roosevelt
• Key Goals: Roosevelt's program to keep wealthy and powerful from taking advantage of small business owners and the poor including:
• Corporate regulation- trust busting against Northern securities company
• Consumer protection-Pure Food and Drug Act
• Conservation of natural resources-National Reclamation Act to promote farmland

Notable Progressive Amendments

• Progressive Amendments (Remember: I S A W)
• 16th Amendment (1913)-federal income tax
• 17th Amendment (1913) direct election of senators
• 18th Amendment (1919) =Prohibition of alcohol
• 19th Amendment (1920) =Women’s suffrage

Populism Impact on Legislation

• Voters given more rights
• Allowed initiative, referendum, recall
• Gave women right to vote and direct vote for Senators

Kahoot key points

• Union participation peak = 1950’s
• Wagner act protected the right of unions too: Collectively bargain
• Major strikes of late 19th century resulted in: Victory for Management