Industrialization & Immigration Quiz

Historical Context: Industrialization & Immigration

• Assembly Line: A production method where each person performs one task, with items moving along a conveyor belt.
• Mass Production Impact: Machines and mass production in factories increased the rate of product creation and reduced costs.
• Monopolies' Effect: Monopolies eliminated competition, gave companies control, and allowed them to charge higher prices to consumers. The government generally took a hands-off approach (laissez-faire).
• Robber Barons Defined: Individuals who became wealthy through unethical and often brutal business practices, paying workers low wages, and creating harsh work conditions.
• Industrialists (Chart): Cornelius Vanderbilt (Railroads), John D. Rockefeller (Oil), Andrew Carnegie (Steel), J.P. Morgan (Banking)

Factors Affecting Immigration

• New Immigrants' Origins: Southern and Eastern Europe, and Asia.
• Factors for Immigration: Poverty, famine, political persecution and religious persecution, and job opportunities in the United States.
• Low Immigration Periods: Wars and economic depressions (e.g., Civil War, Great Depression)
• Ellis Island: A major immigration processing center in the U.S.
• Urban Settlement Reasons: Many immigrants were unskilled laborers seeking work in factories, so they settled in urban areas.
• Business Support for Immigration: Businesses encouraged immigration because immigrants provided a cheap workforce.

Assimilation

• Assimilation: The process of blending into a new culture, or adapting to the customs and beliefs of a new population.
• Examples of Assimilation: Changing or adapting religions, food, or clothing style, languages.

Nativism/Immigration Restrictions

• Nativism: Fear and opposition towards immigrants.
• Nativist Complaints: Concerns about immigrants taking jobs, draining resources, and changing American culture.

Urbanization/Living Conditions

• Urban Problems: Crowded, filthy tenements (apartment buildings with small rooms), poverty, and a need for mass transit.
• Tenements: Multi-family dwellings with cramped living quarters, often in poor conditions. Primarily occupied by immigrants and low-income workers.
• Factory Working Conditions: Long working hours, low pay, dangerous machinery, and unsafe conditions.
• Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire: A major disaster that exposed the horrific working conditions in factories and the need for better safety measures.

Test your knowledge on the fundamental changes brought about by industrialization and the waves of immigration to America. Explore topics such as assembly lines, mass production, monopolies, and the key industrialists of the era. Additionally, understand the driving factors behind the influx of new immigrants during this transformative period.