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How Did Industrialization Grow During The Gilded Age

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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

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Industrialist had a huge impact on the gilded age. The gilded age was a rapid expansion of industrialism and a massive jump in the population of immigrants in america. The industrialist during the gilded age such as Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, and Vanderbilt had a big impact because of their businesses. Vanderbilt was the first of the three to be a leader of industry. Vanderbilt made millions using the railroad system and built an empire with them.

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Despite the fact that the majority of the United States was already made up of immigrants from Europe and many other countries, Americans still viewed these new immigrants from southern and eastern Europe as “other.” These new Europeans were “foreign devils” who were unworthy of even being given the opportunity to assimilate and develop a life in America, so legislature like that of the Immigration Acts of 1918 and 1924 were put in place in attempt to gate-keep. Clancy opened his speech by saying, “Since the foundations of the American commonwealth were laid in colonial times over 300 years ago, vigorous complaint and more or less bitter persecution have been aimed at newcomers to our shores.” The statement still carries truth nearly a hundred years later and many Americans still wish to keep our gates closed and prevent other foreigners from seeking equal

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The Great Migration The early 19th century was an era of emigration to the United States as every nation had its people coming to the United States. Whether it was from an economic, religious or even education standpoint, thousands of immigrants came to the United States. However, not every immigrant was treated the same. There was a constant struggle for independence and less opposition.

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These immigrants were immensely different ethnically and culturally. This immigration resulted in nativism – the fear of immigrants – becoming a major issue. Ordinary citizens of the United States looked to both control and restrict immigrants with a number of laws including the Chinese Exclusion Act which was enacted in the year 1882 (Lamoreaux, 2010). Most of the immigrants resided in ethnic urban neighborhoods. Immigrants were also affected since most of them were poor and lived in poorer neighborhoods and slums where conditions were

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By 1900, almost 30% of major city residents were foreign born. They fled from things such as famine, religious prosecution, or lack of opportunity. The tide of immigration rose to nearly 9 million in the first decade of the 20th. After 1890, 70% of the immigrants to the United States were Slavs and Jews from southern and eastern Europe. Ellis Island was a reception center where refugees, that couldn’t afford first- and second-class cabins, had to check in.

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Between 1870 and 1900, an estimated 25 million immigrants had made their way to the United States. This era, titled the Gilded Age, played an extremely important role in the shaping of American society. The United States saw great economic growth and social changes; however, as the name suggested, the Gilded Ages hid a profound number of problems. During this period of urbanization, the publicizing of wealth and prosperity hid the high rates of poverty, crime, and corruption. European immigrants who had come to the United States in search of jobs and new opportunities had fallen into poverty as well as poor working and living conditions.

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By 1920, for the first time, more Americans lived in urban areas than in rural areas.” (“United States History”). All in all, due to people from many different countries coming to the United States to live, the ethnic makeup of the U.S. population was no longer predominately white. Instead, it became very diverse within the span of the nineteenth and twentieth century. Immigrants derived from many places such as Southern Europe and Eastern Europe, which mainly brought Italians, Greeks, and

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To rid this threat, congress passed the Immigration act in 1924, which greatly reduced the number of Europeans that could enter the country. Now, only 2 percent of each nationality was eligible for citizenship. Asians were completely excluded from the right. (“Anti-immigrant sentiment in the 1920s, 1921-1924” DISCovering U.S. History, Gale;

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Between 1880 to 1920, millions came to U.S. from southern and Eastern Europe and the era would come to be called The Great Wave by historians. Never before had there been such a huge global exodus, with millions immigrating not just to America, but also to Australia, Argentina, New Zealand, anywhere that showed promise. Italians were the largest group of U.S. immigrants, with about 4 million. The Poles were another large number of immigrants with 1 million arriving between the years of 1899 and 1909.

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Just getting out of a war, Americans were scared. In the past, immigrants had been accepted and even welcomed, now they were feared and labeled as a danger (The 1920s Government, Politics, and Law: Overview). Americans cried out for a restriction order keeping immigrants out for fear that they would bring foreign elements to America. The Immigration Act of 1924 limited the amount of immigrants to come to America greatly (Congress, U.S.). Although, some Americans were very against the immigration act and Robert Clancy (an American against both the KKK and Republican decisions) even went as far as to call it "un-American" (Rose.

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During the 19th century a wave of immigrants from Europe arrived throughout the United States. While there was a large and diverse population of immigrants, an overwhelming majority came from Northern Europe. Immigration was clustered around the countries most affected by economic devastation. As Germany and Ireland were both experiencing economic hardships, more than 60 percent of immigrants into the United States came from those two countries. During the 1840s, Irish and German immigrants arrived to America as two new ethnic groups who left their country in search of economic opportunity as farmers and craftsman, however the Irish were stereotyped as poor and unskilled farmers who fled the potato famine, while the Germans were harder to stereotyped since they were skilled professionals who sought political asylum.

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The 1920’s was an interesting time in American history. This era was also known as the roaring twenties. Although it is remembered as a fond time before the Great Depression there was also a lot of conflicts arising, Cultural conflicts in particular were at the center. Prohibition and Immigration were two of the main cultural conflicts during this time period.

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These included literacy tests and a maximum cap on the number of people allowed to enter the country. However, even these changes were seen to be insufficient. The National Origins Act of 1924 was passed, in which the nationalities of immigrants largely determined their likelihood of entering. Western Europeans were shown a greater preference than their counterpart Easterners because of the presence of communism in the east. Immigrants already in the country experienced segregation as well.

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People found themselves in violent situations and worse living conditions than they originally left. In Becoming White: Irish Immigration in the Nineteenth Century by David Gerber and Alan Kraut, in America, immigrants were largely seen as outsiders who were unable to assimilate and integrate into the culture

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In the 1840’s almost half of America’s immigrants were from Ireland, and over 5 million were German immigrants. In a 2000 census more Americans claimed German ancestry than any other. Between 1880 and 1920 America was becoming very urbanized and industrialized which caught the attention of many immigrants, leading to more than 20 million immigrants coming to America. Although the rapid increase in immigrants began to decline one WWI started. Then Congress later established a law requiring all immigrants over the age of 16 to take a literacy test.

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