Mass immigration- impact on society and politics

Mass immigration- impact on society and politics

1. Nation of immigrants

   • 9 million foreign-born Americans by 1890
     • still hadn't reached its peak
   • American society transforming
     • had been changed by earlier generation of immigrants
       • e.g. Irish In Boston, Scandinavians in the Great Lakes region and Chinese labourers brought in to help with building the transcontinental railroads
       • bewildering mix of people and culture settled in the great metropolitan cities like Chicago and New York
   • Between 1890 and 1914, even greater flood of immigrants arrived
     • Most earlier immigrants came from Northern Europe
       • Britain, Ireland, Germany and Scandinavia
     • After 1900 surge of immigrants from southern and eastern Europe
       • Jews from Russian Empire, peasants from southern Italy, Spain and Portugal, and millions from south-east Europe
         • The influx of these millions accelerated transformation of USA - rapid economic growth due to population explotion
   • After 1890, the flood of immigration reached its peak
     • motivated by push and pull factors
       • Many immigrants lured to America by positive dream of improving their life
         • economic migrants
       • Others forced to be uprooted- due to political or religious persecution
         • Russian Jews, economic collapse in own country, fear of starvation (many from Italy for this reason)
   • two million African Americans migrated northwards between 1900-1910

2. The Impact of immigration on society

   • 'melting pot'- traditional view of assimilating new citizens
     • forging new nation from those seeking a better life in the New World
     • in actuality, it was more like a 'mosiac'
       • immigrants often clung together in localised communities
       • for example, almost every city in the east had a 'Little Italy'
       • Catholic Irish and Polish immigrants often lived in Boston and Chicago
       • Jews from tsarist Russia dominated garment industry in New York until it was taken over by Italians
   • After 1890- mass immigration led to fundamental changes in both US society
     • Although many earlier immigrants lived in rural areas, greatest impact within cities
       • by 1900- population of USA grown to 76 million
         • 38 cities with a population of 100,000 or more
         • after 1900, increase in urban population was dramatic
     • birth rate actually declining compared with earlier in the 19th century
       • but the death rate was 16.5 per thousand- lowest in the world
   • tide of immigration led to tensions, discriminations and conflict
     • many cases of friction between the new immigrants and the old
       • often worsened through religion
     • many that had arrived from Northern Europe in 19th century were protestants
       • those that had come after the 1900 were mostly Catholics or Jews

3. Mass immigration and politics

   • political power remained chiefly with WASPs
     • many instances of anti-Catholic prejudices holding back the political aspirations of immigrant communities

4. Discrimination

   • also rivalries between different ethic groups as the competed for things such as jobs and housing
     • Irish-Americans provide one notable example of an ethnic community sticking together and maximising political influence

5. Prohibition

   • big social issue for immigrants
     • reflected impact of immigration on American society
       • showed gulf between small US towns and the new booming cities
   • had religious overtones because not only the Irish but also many in the new wave of immigrants after 1890 were Catholic
   • drinking, especially for men, essential part of many immigrants social lives

6. people against immigration

   • cultural conflict over prohibition overlapped with other reactions against immigration
     • ideas of nativism and the movement to stop the flow of immigrants grew stronger
       • especially after 1910
         • an aspect of this was the revival of the KKK during and after WW1
           • reformed in 1915
   • African Americans met with hostility
     • much like the discrimination from the South
       • migration had little impact on social attitudes or politics
     • segregated even in WWI
   • local acts of violence
     • 11 Italian-American lynching's in New Orleans 1891
   • trade unions against immigration
     • kept pay levels low
     • most members immigrants/ sons of immigrants
   • Quota Act 1921
     • regulated immigation
     • 3% per year of foreign-born people of the same nationality who already lived in the USA in 1910
   • it would be another generation, after another world war, before long-term trends finally opened the door for civil rights movements
     • 1950s and 60s
   • small-town America worried about 'alien' influences undermining traditional and religious values
     • such ideas gained widespread support during years of 20th century
       • when immigration levels peaked
   • issue gained national prominence 1912 election
     • but Taft, Wilson and Roosevelt were against setting quotas on immigration