American history is one that includes many races, ethnicities, and nationalities, along with peoples of various occupations and statuses in society. Much of history has been written by the wealthy elite, and the 20th century, by the upper middle classes. As such, it has been dominated by elite WASPs who often ignore and/or display hatred for the plight of the poor and immigrants. The Gilded Age, also known as “The Age of Industry” is the second Industrial Revolution that was responsible for the rise of industrialization, industrial labor, immigration and urbanization. Industrialization contributed to the rise of industry. Railroads were the first big business; it was the single most important factor deriving economic growth. They created time …show more content…
There was an increase in birth rates, decrease in death rate and immigration. However, most of this population growth was due to a group of individuals Americans disliked, immigrants. During this time there were two waves of immigration, old stock immigrants and new stock immigrants. Pre-1890 was the first wave of immigrants coming from Northern and Western Europe. They were Irish, German, and Scottish; with the exception of the Irish, they were skilled, educated, had money, Protestant Christians who opposed the Catholic Christ and they either knew or could learn English fairly well. Post-1890, Slaves, Greeks, Italians, and Russians were coming from Eastern and Southern Europe into the United States; they were unskilled, poor, orthodox or catholic, and did not speak much English. These were known as the new stock immigrants, who were not expected to assimilate into American …show more content…
Ingersoll gave a speech in support of Chinese freedom. In his speech he expressed his disapproval of the racist attitudes that led to the renewing of the Exclusion Act. He mentioned how at one point Americans disliked the Irish, Italians, and Germans but now they have the right to vote and can become citizens, which allowed them to become powerful enough to protect themselves and govern cities in America.
The Need for Immigration & The Immigration Act of 1924 In the 1920’s there was a resurgence of Nativism that led to massive immigration restriction. The National Origins Act of 1924 had a goal to limit specific nationalists, ethnic, and religious groups that could enter the United States. They did so by allowing only a certain percentage come into America per year. For example, based on the number of immigrants during the Gilded Age if there were four million individuals of Anglo-Saxon descent living in the U.S., only eighty thousand, two percent, could come into