Gilded Age Questions And Answers
Kimberly Nelson
Slingerland
4th block
9/13/14
The Gilded Age Essential Question
The US was founded by immigrants. With the exception of Native Americans, every US citizen was an immigrant, or had forebears who immigrated to the US, whether by force or free will. From the 1850’s to the 1870’s, about two-million settlers predominantly from Northern and Western Europe immigrated to the US. These people are known as the “Old Immigrants”.
The immigration peak in the US lasted from 1880-1920. During this time period, about five-million newcomers predominantly from Southern and Eastern Europe immigrated to the US. The people are known as the “New Immigrants”. The “new” nationality groups that arrived during this time included Greek, Italian, Polish, …show more content…
Russian, and many others.
Despite the terrible conditions and labor of factory work and their terrible housing, many immigrants agreed that their wages and the food they were presented with surpassed their former realities.
Very few of these immigrants spoke any English whatsoever, so up to 25% of all European immigrants of the Gilded Age never intended to become US citizens. These people, known as “Birds Of Passage”, simply earned enough to send money to their families, and then returned to their former lives.
Many US citizens, including the old immigrants, resented the new immigrants for taking the jobs that they had, and accepting a much smaller wage. While factory owners were giddy over the rush of cheap labor, laborers often treated the new competition with hostility.
Slowly, these "Nativists" successfully minimized the flow of immigration. In 1882, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, excluding the Chinese ethnic group entirely. Twenty-five years later, Japanese immigrants were excluded as well. These Asian ethnic groups were the only ethnicities to be totally excluded from the US. The exclusions of immigrants continued to grow. Criminals, the mentally ill, anarchists, and alcoholics were progressively banned from admission to the US by Congress. In 1917, US Congress required the completion of an English literacy test to be admitted in the
US. In the 1920’s, admission to the US was denied to millions. That rejection was based on the US’s population of 1890, thus being designed to favor the previous immigrant groups, the “Old Immigrants”. However, millions had already come, and American diversity mushroomed during the time when the Statue of Liberty beckoned the world's "…tired…hungry, huddled masses yearning to breathe free," –The New Colossus, Emma Lazarus. Each group brought bits and pieces of their old culture and made contributions to a new, unique one that was a little bit +of everything, a culture unlike any other. To that extent, America is a melting pot.
Slingerland
4th block
9/13/14
The Gilded Age Essential Question
The US was founded by immigrants. With the exception of Native Americans, every US citizen was an immigrant, or had forebears who immigrated to the US, whether by force or free will. From the 1850’s to the 1870’s, about two-million settlers predominantly from Northern and Western Europe immigrated to the US. These people are known as the “Old Immigrants”.
The immigration peak in the US lasted from 1880-1920. During this time period, about five-million newcomers predominantly from Southern and Eastern Europe immigrated to the US. The people are known as the “New Immigrants”. The “new” nationality groups that arrived during this time included Greek, Italian, Polish, …show more content…
Russian, and many others.
Despite the terrible conditions and labor of factory work and their terrible housing, many immigrants agreed that their wages and the food they were presented with surpassed their former realities.
Very few of these immigrants spoke any English whatsoever, so up to 25% of all European immigrants of the Gilded Age never intended to become US citizens. These people, known as “Birds Of Passage”, simply earned enough to send money to their families, and then returned to their former lives.
Many US citizens, including the old immigrants, resented the new immigrants for taking the jobs that they had, and accepting a much smaller wage. While factory owners were giddy over the rush of cheap labor, laborers often treated the new competition with hostility.
Slowly, these "Nativists" successfully minimized the flow of immigration. In 1882, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, excluding the Chinese ethnic group entirely. Twenty-five years later, Japanese immigrants were excluded as well. These Asian ethnic groups were the only ethnicities to be totally excluded from the US. The exclusions of immigrants continued to grow. Criminals, the mentally ill, anarchists, and alcoholics were progressively banned from admission to the US by Congress. In 1917, US Congress required the completion of an English literacy test to be admitted in the
US. In the 1920’s, admission to the US was denied to millions. That rejection was based on the US’s population of 1890, thus being designed to favor the previous immigrant groups, the “Old Immigrants”. However, millions had already come, and American diversity mushroomed during the time when the Statue of Liberty beckoned the world's "…tired…hungry, huddled masses yearning to breathe free," –The New Colossus, Emma Lazarus. Each group brought bits and pieces of their old culture and made contributions to a new, unique one that was a little bit +of everything, a culture unlike any other. To that extent, America is a melting pot.