In 1808, the United States banned the importation of slaves. In 1853, the US Customs and Border Patrol Agency was established In 1855, an immigration landing depot opened at Castle Garden. Before it's close in 1890, 34 million people entered the United States through Castle Garden.
This essay will examine the reasons why historians have called “The Gilded Age” to the era between 1877 and 1900, in which poverty, massive immigration, racism and corruption were the base metal of a nation that was gilded with industrialization and sudden wealth in order to make it look perfect with a shine finish. During the XIX century, United States suffered an important economic growth that took place after the civil war and the reconstruction era. The end of the war had a very decisive influence in the industrial development of the nation, giving a strong boost to it, causing a strong demand for many goods and a vertical rise in prices. The progress of American industry has had its repercussions to this day.
The Spurious Era In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, the United States saw rapid industrialization and population growth. All over the world, people longed for wealth and happiness just like America saw, so many of them decided to take risks and come to America. But once they got here they found that it was not so great after all. This period was later termed as “The Gilded Age.” I completely agree with the name because of the false image that the immigrants were receiving, the false sense of wealth that middle-class citizens felt, and the fierce robber barons of the economy.
From 1825 until 1850, America went through a memorable period in its history. Before this time, this new nation established itself as a persevering and powerful country as it proved in the war of 1812. From 1825 - 1850, The United States again demonstrated its power and perseverance by expanded into the West to control and govern the country with a spirit of courage. This made the country bigger and stronger through its most difficult and trying times during the process of expanding and provided for the country's future success. This was later called, the Manifest Destiny.
Across the centre of Europe the Celts move gradually west through Germany into France, northern Spain and Britain. This branch contains two sub-branches: Continental Celtic and Insular Celtic. By about 600 BCE, Celtic-speaking tribes had spread from what today are southern Germany, Austria, and Western Czech Republic in almost all directions, to France, Belgium, Spain, and the British Isles, then by 400 BCE, they also moved southward into northern Italy and southeast into the Balkans and even beyond. During the early 1st century BCE, Celtic-speaking tribes dominated a very significant portion of Europe. On 50 BCE, Julius Caesar conquered Gaul (ancient France) and Britain was also conquered about a century later by the emperor Claudius.
In the gilded age there were 3 branches of hardships Immigrants faced were in social, economic and political. There were many social problems for Immigrants. Immigrants lived in Ghettos. Ghettos are places that Immigrants created to live with their race, and culture. A famous example of a ghetto from this time would be Chinatown.
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.
Having survived the atrocities of World War I, the population of the United States embarked on a newer never before experienced pathway in the 1920s. With over 100 million people now living in the United States, the numbers of immigrants coming into the country was again on the rise (Pop Culture:1920, 2015). The number of immigrants frightened the Americans and sent them into a state of anti-immigrant hysteria called nativism (Tindall & Shi, 2013). Although many citizens conveniently disregarded that their ancestry dated from earlier immigration, the Emergency Immigration Act of 1921 was passed by Congress in 1921 to limit and restrict the number of immigrants allowed annually into the United States (Tindall & Shi, 2013). The Emergency Immigration Act was passed because many population groups believed the newer groups of immigrants were foreign radicals
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, majority of the American population saw immigrants as a threat and oppose their entrance. They believe the immigrants will compete with American citizens on jobs and housings that are FOR American citizens. They also believed that because immigrants will work for low wages, most employers would hire cheap immigrants for all kinds of jobs, especially in factories. Immigrants faced racism and discrimination in the workspace, and are viewed as inferior to Americans. However, as an activist, Jane Addams has a different view on the treatment of immigrants and saw them as people who needed support in order to establish their footing the society.
During the 1840s-1850s Americans saw a huge increase in the number of immigrants arriving in America, and this only lead to white American citizens fearing them during that period. There was fear for many reasons, the main reason being Americans feared that immigrants would steal their jobs. Namely these jobs were in New York city and other large coastal
Over the Gilded Time, immigrants just weren't discriminated against, nonetheless were being treated badly at the workplace. Moreover, the distressing working situation of immigrant laborers, specifically how the men who worked with fertilizers dropped directly into vats and even lost their lives. The reports demonstrate, despite the fact that immigrants were advised the United States was obviously a wonderful place to call home, these people endured outstanding challenges. Furthermore, within this period American workers had been discriminating against Chinese laborers. U. S employees had been going on concerning Chinese obtaining American job opportunities.
Most immigrants who came to the U.S had high expectations that they would find wealth but once they arrived they realized their expectations weren’t what they expected. Although, they were disappointed in not finding wealth the conditions in which the U.S was in by the late 1800s were still a lot better than the places they all had left behind to come. The majority of the immigration population anticipation was to find profitable jobs and opportunities. When the large numbers of immigration were migrating to the U.S, it was during the “Gilded Age”, which was the prime time for the country’s expansion of industrialization. This rapid expansion of new industries led to the need of workers which motivated people from other countries to come to
“Old immigrants” came to America or “New world” to have better work and life. Most of the “old immigrants” brought thousands of people from german and Irish or Northern or Western Europe to America. But during the Gilded Age, new and more immigrants were coming to the New world. That means there was a tremendous increase in the volume of immigrants, in their original location, and in the beginning of anti-immigration legislation. It also means that the U.S population will expand because of the immigrants moving into America.
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.
People like foreigners and women were presented with challenges on their journey. In fact, in 1882 the campaign to restrict immigration created the federal Chinese Exclusion Act, which stopped the Chinese from migrating for 10 years. This prevented the Chinese from achieving the American Dream for that time period. Also, the government placed a tax on immigrant mining, charging them $500 a month, in this time (Maranzani). Women also had a difficult time during the Gold Rush.
