Gilded Age Immigration Notes

• Who were the two candidates for President in 1884?

  Republican James G. Blaine and Democrat Grover Cleveland (was Governor of New York)
• What were the two scandals that plagued each candidate?

  Blaine was accused of receiving bribes. Cleveland was accused of fathering a child out of wedlock (it's true)
• Who were the Mugwumps?

  Republics fed up with corruption--they voted for Cleveland
• What were some of Cleveland's political values?

  Support big business and tight money, but lower tariff and railroad regulation
• How did this affect railroads?


  Charged lower rates or gave rebates to favored customers. Munn v. Illinois that allowed states to regulate got overturned.
• What did the Interstate Commerce Act accomplish?

  1887: Allowed interstate railroad regulation
• Who became President in 1888?

  Benjamin Harrison
• Why did businesses generally support him?

  Harrison backed tariff, so businesses supported him
• Who became president in 1892? What was unique about this?

  Cleveland returned. He brought an influx of immigrants. Only man to serve 2 non-consecutive terms (22nd and 24th)
• What happened in 1893?

  Economic slowdown leads to financial crisis. Coxey's army demanded work
• Who became President in 1896? What ultimately happened to him in his second term?

  McKinley. Re-elected but assassinated in 1900 by Leon Czolgosz
• About how many people lived in American in 1860?


  15 million Americans
• How many immigrants come to American between 1865 and 1920?

  30 million immigrants
• What were the three major reasons so many came during this time period?

  Religious, economic, and political
• What were the leading countries of origin during the first wave of immigration?

  Germany, 2.8 million

  England, 1.8 million

  Ireland, 1.4 million
• What were the leading ethnic groups during the second wave?

  Italians, Greeks, Slavs, Jews, Armenians, Russians
• Where was the major point of entry for immigrants?

  70% came through New York City. 1892, processing began at Ellis Island. Also Boston, Philadelphia, and San Fransisco
• Why might some immigrants be refused entry?

  Sickness or disease
• Where did immigrants tend to settle?

  Ghettos in cities--small, ethnic communities
• What office was formed in 1891? What did it do?

  Superintendent of Immigration to decide who gets in and who doesn't
• What political party was strongly anti-immigration?

  Know-nothings. Popularized in the 1850s. 1st wave, mostly Irish and German. 2nd, mostly Asians.
• What ethnic group was severely restricted from 1882-1943?

  Chinese--due to the Chinese Exclusion Act. Japanese as well.
• What factors caused an increase in immigration in the Southwest?

  1902--New Lands Act reclamation and irrigation of land created new jobs and drew Mexican immigrants north.

  1910-- Mexican Civil War ^