American History Unit 3 Vocab

Visa

Official permission from another country to enter, live, or work there for a certain amount of time

Push Factor

Factors that made people want to leave their homeland and immigrate elsewhere, such as war, famine, and religious persecution

Pull Factor

Factors that brought people into countries such as the Homestead Act and Religious Freedom, along with new opportunities.

New immigrant/Old Immigrant

New: Southern and Eastern European immigrants who arrived in the United States in a great wave between 1880-1920, Jewish and Catholic typically

Old: Northern and Western Europeans who were Protestants and came from places like Ireland

Steerage

Third class accommodations on a steamship.

Ellis Island

Island in New York Harbor that served as an immigrant station for millions of immigrants arriving in the United States

Immigration and Naturalization Service

Angel Island

Immigrant processing staton that opened in San Francisco Bay in 1890, was like a prison and typically contained Chinese immigrants

Melting Pot

Society in which people of different nationalities assimilate to form one culture

Nativism

Inclination to favor native inhabitants as opposed to immigrants

Chinese Exclusion Act

1882 law that prohibited the immigration of Chinese Laborers, made to give better jobs, pay, and opportunities to natives.

1907 Gentleman’s Agreement

An Agreement between the US and Japan where they agreed to limit the number and type of Japanese immigrants.

Urbanization

Movement of people from rural to urban areas; expansion of cities and/or an increase in the number of people living in them.

Rural-to-urban Migrant

People who move from an agricultural area to a city

Skyscraper

Very tall building

Elisha Otis

American who invented the safety elevator in 1852. Otis’s “safety hoist” was first designed for freight but was soon adapted for passengers. Installed in NY Store in 1857

Mass Transit

Public transportation systems that carry large numbers of people

Suburb

Residential area on the edge of a city or a large town

Frederick Law Olmsted

Guy who designed Central Park and Yosemite Park in California.

Tenement

Multistory buildings divided into apartments to house as many residents as possible.

Cholera

A severe bacterial infection of the small intestine that causes dehydration, usually caused by drinking contaminated water.