6.9 - responses to immigration in the gilded age

• labor unions arguments in opposition of immigration

  economic concerns, resenting employers who used immigrants to depress wages and break strikes
• employers arguments in opposition of immigration

  feared that immigrants would support radical reforms, often blaming them for strikes and the labor movement on foreign agitators
• nativists arguments in opposition of immigration

  alarmed that immigrants would take their jobs but also weaken the culture of the anglo majority
• social darwinists arguments in opposition of immigration

  believed that southern + eastern europeans + all-non europeans were biological inferior to people of english + germanic heritage
• how effective was the various immigration related legislation in restricting foreign-born immigration

  it didn't stop the flow of newcomers, the foreign-born population numbering between 13-15% of the population between 1860-1920. the statue of liberty remained a beacon of hope
• american protective association

  largest anti-catholic organization of the 1890s
• how did political machines aid new immigrants and what did they get in return

  political machines aided by coordinating the needs of businesses, immigrants, and the underprivileged, finding jobs, apartments, and food for immigrants during hard times. in return, immigrants would vote for them on election day
• chinese exclusion act

  banned all new immigration from china
• to what extent were political machines immoral

  they definitely were immoral to an extent, stealing millions from taxpayers in the form of graft and fraud
• contract labor law of 1885


  restricted temporary workers, an effort to protect american workers from competition
• ellis island

  in NY harbor as an immigration center, put harsher medical examinations and required immigrants to pay a tax before entering the u.s.
• political machines

  politicians who welcomed newly arrived immigrants to gain their loyalty in elections
• tammany hall

  a political machine in NY that stole 65% of public building funds
• settlement houses

  tried to relieve the effects of poverty by providing social services for people in ethnic neighborhoods. taught english, early-childhood education, industrial arts
• jane addams

  started hull house in chicago, most famous settlement house at the time
• how effective were settlement houses like hull house in breaking the poverty cycle for immigrants

  it was effective to an extent, more than 400 settlement houses being opened int he largest cities by 1910