American Immigration In The Late 1800s

Chaya, The number of immigrants spiked during this time. Some immigrants came to have a better life and some immigrants came to America seeking refuge. In the course book on page 612, it mentions how in 1888, more than half a million Europeans landed in America. New York City accounted for 75 percent of them.

In the nineteenth century, the United States was regarded for being the land of opportunity and shelter for immigrants. For many immigrants, the promise of not having to withstand the pressures of political, economic, and religious persecution in Europe helped boost thousands of people to come to the coast of Staten Island. Despite what the Americans conceived their roles towards immigrants to be, the perception of the immigrants to the real story of how they survived in America does not support the claim that America is a land of opportunity and shelter.

Out of the 7.6 million Europeans that arrived between 1900 and 1909, 72% came from Austria-Hungary, Russia, and Italy. Ellis Island in New York was the major port for immigrants crossing the Atlantic Ocean during 1892, and Angel Island in California for those arriving through the Pacific Ocean. Americans began to worry about the rapid expansion of immigrants, whose customs seemed strange to most of the native population. As a result, anti-immigrant movements and the uprising of nativism arose. Immigration reached its peak from 1900 to 1915 when nearly 15 million people entered the U.S; that is as many as in the previous forty years. Nearly 120,860 Caribbean immigrants arrived during 1919 where the majority was Filipinos. Immigration experienced

During westward expansion the government wanted, ( as well as many other Americans did,) to move west. To make capitalism spread west they passed the Homestead Act . “...The Homestead Act encouraged western migration by providing settlers 160 acres of public land…” (Mr. Lintner September 11th). Then they had to live on that land for 5 years.

A massive amount of Americans moved west of the Mississippi River between the Civil War and the end of the 1800s for many reasons. I think the biggest reason for the movement was all of the new land. People even lined up at the border of Oklahoma in 1889 waiting to claim land. Another reason people moved west was to earn lots of money. When gold was discovered in a town, a tremendous amount of people moved to that town so it became a boomtown.

The railroad was spread out all over the U.S. in order to build this railroad they had to clear all of the buffalo out of the way of the path, so the white people started to kill the buffalo. Without the buffalo the indians would die. In the 1800’s , the Plains Indians moved westward to allow them to  make a better living and have a good life on the frontier because of the Homestead Act. The homestead Acts were several U.S. laws that gave the citizens ownership of land.

During the “Gilded Age” period of American history, development of the Trans-Mississippi west was crucial to fulfilling the American dream of manifest destiny and creating an identity which was distinctly American. Since the west is often associated with rugged pioneers and frontiersmen, there is an overarching idea of hardy American individualism. However, although these settlers were brave and helped to make America into what it is today, they heavily relied on federal support. It would not have been possible for white Americans to settle the Trans-Mississippi west without the US government removing Native Americans from their lands and placing them on reservations, offering land grants and incentives for people to move out west, and the

People in America during this time seeking for opportunities out west that they did not think they had in the east. During this time, gold was discovered in California that attracted many people not just from America, but all over the world. Plus, the government encouraged people to go mining for gold by giving miners cheaper land to live on out west. As stated in the Homestead Act of 1862, United States Congress, a law providing free land for citizens of the United States in western territories. This act encouraged people to mine for gold in California so they could have cheaper land than they would anywhere else.

People were drawn to the West because it was scene as the last resort to make a living when all else failed in the East. Communication with friends and family who had moved west led these pioneers to believe the journey would be easy and the reward for getting west would be best. And the greatly available land was the strongest pulling factor to people interested in adventuring west. Migration was a personal choice that depended on several key factors, “Age of the head of household; economic status; personal attitudes; and projected costs and benefits of the resettlement.” Most historians agree that the majority of the people who migrated west were middle class and mostly immigrants to the US.

America’s Diverse Population In the nineteenth century, rates of immigration across the world increased. Within thirty years, over eleven million immigrants came to the United States. There were new types of people migrating than what the United States were used to seeing as well. Which made people from different backgrounds and of different race work and live in tight spaces together; causing them to be unified.

There were both positive and negative components of westward expansion from 1800 to 1875. By the late of 1800s, the land of the United States was mostly purchased. In seventy five years, the United States continuously expanded westward, which was encouraged by the idea of Manifest Destiny. New land in the United States led to more economic, social, and political opportunities. Gaining more land also led to disputes between the states and wars with other countries.

Within the past one and a half centuries, ever since the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, it allowed the United States to take a large portion of land. Since then, many Mexicans have been trying to emigrate themselves over to America, leaving behind their homelands. Mexican immigration in the early 1900 's was a huge issue that impacted the United State, in areas such as urban population, employment and many other ways. The mass number of

Americans had rarely accepted outsiders as equals, and that was the case with immigrants coming to the U.S in the 1840s to the 1920s. A time in America where immigrants were not considered inferior to native white Americans did not exist. The hatred of anything non-American, especially with the coming of World War I in 1914, would only cause more Americans to despise immigrants. Part of this was rooted simply in racism, which existed towards groups other than African Americans, but much of it was simply that Americans considered themselves the chosen people while everyone else was below them. Thus, despite immigrants being accepted into America, those immigrants were still treated far worse than white citizens between the 1840s and 1920s, for the prejudice against them was obvious even in the laws created.

As the closing of the frontier began, Americans celebrated the 400th anniversary of Columbus 's arrival to the new world. It was a chance for America to exhibit its power. The fair showcased the products of progress. According to Ben Wattenberg, “There was a 22,000-pound block of cheese from Canada, and the world 's largest cannon, from Germany” (pbs.org). Wattenberg also stated that by the turn of the century, social scientists created a system using numbers to define the standards of beauty and the status of the ideal man and woman.

The mid-19th century saw an unprecedented wave of immigrants coming into the country. At its peak, Ellis Island, the main processing station for immigrants, handled an astounding 5,000 people every day. Because of the language and culture barriers faced by each group of people, they often settled amongst themselves. Very quickly, country-specific neighborhoods began popping up throughout New York and the surrounding area. This helped to alleviate the stresses with moving to a new country; however, most immigrants came to the United States penniless and lived in low-income housing as their jobs rarely supported themselves let alone their families. Most of these jobs were labor-intensive, and oftentimes, very dangerous. “These urban immigrants