The Gilded Age 1878-1889

1. The Gilded Age 1878-1889 • The growth of industry and a wave of immigrants marked this period in American history. • The production of iron and steel rose dramatically and western resources like lumber, gold, and silver increased the demand for improved transportation. • Railroad development boomed as trains moved goods from the resource-rich West to the East. • Steel and oil were in great demand. All this industry produced a lot of wealth for a number of businessmen like John D. Rockefeller (in oil) and Andrew Carnegie (in steel), known as robber barons (people who got rich through ruthless business deals). • The Gilded Age gets its name from the many great fortunes created during this period and the way of life this wealth supported. 

2. Immigration The masses come to America

3. The Era of "Old" Immigration1820-1860 • The earliest waves of settlers to the Americas, up through the first half of the 19th century, constitute the era of "old" immigration. • These settlers came to America mostly from western and northern Europe.

4. Who were they? • English, Scotch, Irish - mostly colonial settlers who were English citizens or lived in English territories • Dutch, German, Swedish, Scandinavians -  many western and northern European nations contributed to the early growth of the colonies and the newly formed United States • Africans - many early immigrants came to the Americas as slaves, to work the plantations of the agricultural south, this continued until the ending of the slave trade in the early 19th century

5. Why Did They Come? • Political Reasons - Many of the governments of Europe were dominated by nobility and landed elite. • The common man found that he had little to no say in the government of his homeland. • As a result many came seeking a political voice or freedom from an oppressive government. • Others such as the Germans and French in the early 1800's were seeking to escape political unrest and violent political turmoil at home. • Social Reasons – • Religious freedom is the greatest example of social motivation in immigration. The Pilgrims, the Quakers and many other groups came to the Americas seeking freedom from religious intolerance in their homelands. This tradition of religious freedom had become a fundamental principle in American government. 

6. Why Did They Come? • Economic Reasons - Seemingly the greatest motivating factor for most immigrants. • Vast numbers of the earliest American settlers came to America seeking land, as much of the land in Europe was controlled by nobles or the church, leaving little opportunity for the common farmer to achieve success. The vastness of the Americas and easy access to land, drew many of these opportunity seekers. • The Irish immigrants of the early 1800's sought land and escape from the deadly potato famine that gripped their homeland. • African slaves were brought over for economic reasons, ones that did not serve them, but instead served the economic interests of the slave owner.

7. What Impact Did They Have? • The contributions of early immigrants cannot be overstated. The very foundation of America is built upon the ideas, skills and culture they brought with them. • The English settlers formed the governments, language and major cultural traditions that would become America. • Many Irish workers constructed transportation routes (railroads, etc...) • Germans and others brought farming techniques and education traditions.

8. To Sum Up! • Old immigrants were: • From northern or western Europe • English, Irish, Swedish • Protestant (Baptist, Calvinists, Methodists) • Literate and skilled • Came in families • Quick to assimilate • Experienced in ways of democracy • Had some money in their pockets (some wealthy) • Tall and fair • Spoke English • Similar customs and traditions as Americans

9. “New Immigration” 1880-1921

10. Turn of the Century Immigration to the U.S. • 1910 • 16% from NW Europe • 73% from Eastern and Southern Europe • 11% from Rest of the World • 1880 • 49% from NW Europe • 27% from Eastern and Southern Europe • 24% from the Rest of the World

12. Characteristics of the “New Immigrant” • From Southern and Eastern Europe • Many young males • Many Catholics and Jews • Mostly unskilled agricultural laborers • Little money or education • “I once thought to write a history of the immigrants in America. Then I discovered that immigrants WERE American history.” --Oscar Handlin (Journal 1)

13. Push Factors (Get OUT!) • Economic decline in Europe Effect of Industrial Revolution (lost their property as a result of the commercialization of agriculture) • Rising populations, decreasing death rate More people + fewer resources = TROUBLE!! • Political and Religious Persecution in Eastern Europe *Legal restrictions on Jews Pogroms=an organized massacre of helpless people; specifically:such a massacre of Jews *Minorities that had come to Europe to fill jobs of the Ind. Rev. were persecuted by the natives who didn’t want them there

14. Pull Factors • The Lure of Life in America (Work, land, and LIES!!) • “That was the time, you see, when America was known to foreigners as the land where you’d get rich. There’s gold on the sidewalk– all you have to do is pick it up!”-Lithuanian immigrant • Birds of Passage: • Many of the millions of immigrants who arrived in the United States in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries did so with the intention of returning to their villages in the Old World. Known as “birds of passage,” many of these eastern and southern European migrants were peasants who had lost their property as a result of the commercialization of agriculture. They came to America to earn enough money to allow them to return home and purchase a piece of land. 

15. This sketch of "Gotham Court" from Jacob Riis's How the Other Half Lives shows the bitter side of tenement life. Muckrakers • The pen, or the camera, is sometimes mightier than the sword. • It may be a cliché, but it was all too true for journalists at the turn of the century. The print revolution enabled publications to increase their subscriptions dramatically. • What appeared in print was now more powerful than ever. Writing to Congress in hopes of correcting abuses was slow and often produced zero results. • Publishing a series of articles or photographs, had a much more immediate impact. • Collectively called MUCKRAKERS, a brave group of reporters and photographers exposed injustices so grave they made the blood of the average American run cold.

16. Jacob Riis documented lives of immigrants with photographs

17. Journey Across the Atlantic Steerage on the SS Pennland 1893

18. Steerage Conditions • Crowded, unsanitary, little food, enclosed! –Journal 3

19. Arrival in America—AT LAST!! 75% go thru Ellis Island (1892-1920) aka “Island of Tears” --”Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore…I lift my lamp beside the golden door.” –Statue of Liberty inscription

20. Unloading and Baggage

21. Time For Inspections

22. Medical Inspections

23. Legal Inspections– Registry Hall

24. The Final Inspection Journal Entry 4

25. Leaving Ellis Island • Make travel arrangements • Exchange money • Collect baggage • 2/3 going elsewhere; 1/3 stay in NY • Welcome to America…Now what???

26. Ethnic Enclaves • 2/3 settle in urban centers (community, familiarity) • Newspapers, customs, food, churches, clothing “Here no one goes to bed on an empty stomach because one Pole will save another, if he can.” –Polish immigrant

27. Living Conditions 5 cents a spot

28. Tenement Living 60% die before 1st birthday 120 rooms for 1231 people Journal Entry 5

29. Settlement Houses • Many of the immigrants who came to the U.S during this period of time spoke a language other than English and had customs and religious beliefs that were far different from those of many Americans. • Settlement houses began in the 1880s in London in response to problems created when large numbers of people began moving into cities, working in factories, and emigrating from other countries.

30. Hull House and Jane Addams • Settlement houses were often started by middle-class, educated people who moved into poor city neighborhoods in order to provide assistance. • By 1900, the U.S. had over 100 settlement houses. • The first settlement house in the U.S. was started in Chicago, Illinois, by Jane Addams and was known as Hull House. • Hull House was located in a densely populated neighborhood that had German, Greek, Irish, Italian, Polish and Russian immigrants.

31. Purpose of Settlement Houses • Those who lived in settlement houses taught immigrants English and what they needed to know in order to become citizens. • They also helped people find jobs and learn the customs and traditions of the U.S. • It was a way to help them transition into life in their new home.

32. Working Conditions • Immigrants Seek Industrial Jobs • High supply/high demand • Prefer to agricultural work • 80% unskilled workforce

33. Sweatshops • Sweatshop workers often work long hours for very low pay. •  Child labor is common. • Sweatshops may have hazardous materials and situations. • Employees may be subject to employer abuse without an easy way, if any, to protect themselves. 146 people died as a result of the fire in a shirt factory fire

34. Struggling Families

35. Child Labor Journal Entry 6

36. Nativism •  ”the political position of demanding a favored status for certain established inhabitants of a nation as” • Motive for Nativism • Fear, hostility, and suspicion • Prejudices based on race, ethnicity, religion • Old Immigrants vs. New Immigrants “The immigrants are an invasion of venomous reptiles…long-haired, wild-eyed bad-smelling, atheistic, reckless foreign wretches, who never did a day’s work in their lives.” –from a newspaper editorial • Some similarities to today’s resistance to immigrants (i.e. jobs)

37. American Opinion is Expressed • Political cartoons sometimes played on Americans' fears of immigrants. This one, which appeared in a 1896 edition of the Ram's Horn, depicts an immigrant carrying his baggage of poverty, disease, anarchy and Sabbath desecration, approaching Uncle Sam.

38. Americans’ Treatment of Immigrants/Nativism

39. The ‘Golden Door’ Slams Shut • Call for laws restricting immigration • 1917 Immigration Act provided for literacy tests for those over 16 • Quota Act of 1921-limited immigrants to 3% of each nationality present in the US in 1910 • In 1924 quotas were changed to 2% based on numbers in US in 1890 Journal Entry 7

40. Put it all together!