The Tucson Railroad was built primarily by chinese workers, who were paid $1 a day, significantly less than that of their Anglo partners. Within three years, 80 percent of the Central Pacific workforce was made up of Chinese workers, and they proved to be essential to the task of laying the line through the Sierra Nevadas. A begrudging agreement by head workers was that the Chinese were conscientious, sober, and hard workers. Chinese workers also moved with their families to the growing city of Tucson to open restaurants. The chinese became a source of prosperity, and though highly criticized and targeted by racism, they fed Tucson and added to its plant growth and harvested much greenery.
The Chinese labor increased (taking American jobs). Started gold mining, factory work, and taking rural jobs. Around 80,000 gold-seekers came to the U.S. for the California Gold Rush. Properties (taking American properties). Homes.
Central Pacific Railroad started from San Francisco, and used Chinese laborers for their work, pushing through the Sierra Nevada mountains. In 1867, to encourage quick progression, Congress deemed the land remaining between the two companies, which was the Utah plains, to be paid at mountain rate. This motivated the Union Pacific crew to lay 360 miles of track, and the Central Pacific crew to lay 425 miles of track within the year (Stockwell, 2011). Unfortunately, this hasty pace came at a cost.
California and immigrants were blamed for a lot of the economic issues. Tensions where rising which led to violent outburst and riots (Ciment, J., & Radzilowsk, J., 2013). Tensions really started to rise when Union Pacific Coal Department changed its policy of paying Chinese miners lower wages than white miners. This policy caused the Chinese to be hired over the white miners.
As a result, from 1860 to 1900 alone, the number of urban areas in the United States expanded fivefold (Source 2). The immigrants who desperately needed employment and the greed of factory owners made the rise of sweat shops astonishing. Around the country low-paid immigrants, including women and children, worked for excessively long
In 1694, Thomas Savery invented what would revolutionize the united states indefinitely, he called it the steam engine. This invention lead to the first steam engine locomotive which many would say was a beneficial turning point in the industrialization of america’s economy,allowing the steam engine to be used on the railways. Although the railroads did impact the United States and certain groups in positive ways,there were also negative effects that occurred. During this time period, there were many chinese immigrants that entered the United States who made up most of the workers that built the tracks.
In order to protect the white working class, racial laws were created and directly targeted towards Chinese immigrants to protect their whiteness. Chapter seven explains the new threat of the arrival of Japanese immigrants in California. During the beginning of the anti-Chinese sentiment and white working-class racism, Japanese immigrants were also under the romanticized belief of
Chinese immigrants came to the U.S for the california gold rush, this event provided many jobs, hope for a good future, and hope to give a good life to their families. Nativists
In between California and the rest of the country were the Great Plains which were not heavily populated so there was no easy way of trade and transportation to the growing western territories. A group of men called the “Big Four” which consisted of Collis Huntington, Leland Stanford, Charles Crocker and Mark Hopkins, decided what the country needed was a transcontinental railroad. Their company, The Central Pacific Railroad company would hire 15,000 Chinese men to work on constructing the railroad due to the fact that they would work for less than the average American. This made transportation cheaper and quicker than ever
Until the mid-seventeenth century, most of the Americans lived on the east coast, while Native Americans dwelled in the central North America and over west towards California. A majority of Americans believed that being white gave them the divine right to own and civilize the rest of the continent. They treated people of color like they were objects interfering with their land. The justification for their western expansion was coined as manifest destiny, and was bucked up from the United States ' constant feats. Though manifest destiny is known for its racial motivations and "pride" in the Americans ' country, it was made up by an economic core and the Americans were ready to sprawl through the regions.
The California Gold Rush was amongst one of the many attractions that America offered. However, the Chinese immigrants had many difficulties on their way to following the American Dream. An obstacle they had to overcome was the laws of their imperial monarchy of the time, the Qing dynasty of China. Their rule, which lasted from 1875 to 1908, had opposing views on the working class of China migrating to America and is what postponed immigration for many Chinese people. Those who were able to immigrate were second and third class and often came without much wealth, enduring the poor living conditions on their transportation, with small cabins and terrible food.
Thesis: The Chinese Exclusion Act. A document that was first signed in 1882 by President Chester A. Arthur. This was and still is important because it was the first law that restricted immigration into the United States. This document was signed because Congress was concerned about keeping white “racial purity,” even though the Chinese population consisted of only 0.002 (two thousandths) percent of the whole population.
Thomas White’s essay discusses the complexity of railroad laboring in the Great Northwest during the early 1900s. Expanding, White’s essay additionally highlights the laborers’ racial competition between and amongst one another as well as railroad corporations generating disputes as a manipulation tactic for stopping unionization. As for the argument, White’s thesis discusses segments of unskilled and skilled workers’ realities and their economic impact pre-World War I of laboring on the railroad through viewpoints of race, ethnicity, and assembly for a workers union. As for Gunther Peck’s essay, Peck’s focus is towards the collaboration, yet resentment among diversities of immigrant mine workers at Utah Copper Company in Bingham, Utah in late 1890s to the early 1900s. Peck also explains how radicalism projected the fight for unionization in mining and the desire to rid of padrone hiring.
The Chinese immigrant labor of the Central Pacific track were people who came to the Americas for work in California in 1805. The reasons of overpopulation and poverty from their homeland as majority came from Tyson and Guantanamo .They took jobs like laborers,worked from home as servants, and fisherman. They faced prejudice and laws limiting opportunity and had enough work for 4,000 men. However, the contractors could barely handle 800 workers and many of Irish immigrants who left were replaced with the chinese immigrants. The amount of labors of the immigrants grew to 12,000 in 1868.
When we arrived to California we realized that it was all a big lie. We were inferior to actual citizens. Discrimination and unfairness also played a role in the labor force. It was to the same extent as the African Americans treatment. This
