Second Great Wave of Immigration: Key Facts and Legislation

1.QDefine the Second Great Wave of Immigration.

Between roughly 1880 and 1920, over 20 million immigrants came to the United States, and the overwhelming majority came from Southern and Eastern Europe, from countries like Italy, Poland, Hungary, and Russia. Most traveled on steamships from European ports to the East Coast and settled in Northeastern cities like New York, Boston, and Philadelphia, while others moved inland to Midwestern cities like Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Detroit, and Chicago. Far fewer settled in the South, including Atlanta, because the factory boom was concentrated in the Northeast and Midwest. Factory jobs pulled immigrants in, while poverty, an economic depression in Italy, religious persecution of Jews in Russia, and the threat of being drafted into the Russian army pushed them out. Most were unskilled and ended up working long, hard factory jobs for poverty wages. They also faced a lot of prejudice when they arrived, including nativism, anti-Catholicism, and anti-Semitism.

2.QWhen did the Second Great Wave of Immigration take place?

Roughly 1880 to 1920, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

3.QAbout how many immigrants came to the US during the Second Great Wave of Immigration?

Over 20 million.

4.QWhere did the majority of Second Great Wave immigrants come from?

Southern and Eastern Europe, from countries like Italy, Russia, Poland, and Hungary.

5.QHow was the Second Great Wave different from the first great wave of immigration?

The first wave came before the Civil War (1840s-1850s) and was mostly Irish and German immigrants. The second wave (1880-1920) was over 20 million people and mostly came from Southern and Eastern Europe.

6.QWhat push factors caused so many Second Great Wave immigrants to come at once?

An economic depression in Italy, religious persecution in Russia (which pushed Jewish immigrants out), the general threat of being drafted into the Russian army, and poverty and political persecution more broadly.

7.QWhat was the main pull factor that lured Second Great Wave immigrants to the US?

Jobs created by the expansion of factory-based manufacturing, especially in Northeastern and Midwestern cities.

8.QHow did most Second Great Wave immigrants travel to the United States?

On steamships from European ports to the East Coast.

9.QWhy did most Second Great Wave immigrants stay on the East Coast, and how did some end up in the Midwest?

Most were poor, so they stayed where they landed. After saving some money, some bought railroad tickets and moved inland to the Midwest.

10.QName Northeastern and Midwestern cities where Second Great Wave immigrants settled.

Northeast - New York, Boston, Philadelphia. Midwest - Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago.

11.QWhy did relatively few Second Great Wave immigrants settle in the South, including Atlanta?

The factory boom, and therefore the jobs, was concentrated in the Northeast and Midwest, not the South.

12.QWhat kind of work did most Second Great Wave immigrants do?

Most were unskilled, so they worked long, hard factory jobs for poverty wages.

13.QWhat forms of prejudice did Second Great Wave immigrants face when they arrived?

Nativism, anti-Catholicism, and anti-Semitism.

14.QHow was the Second Great Wave of Immigration connected to the growth of manufacturing?

It unfolded alongside the factory boom, since expanding factories in Northeastern and Midwestern cities created the jobs that drew immigrants in.

15.QHow much did the number of Americans living in cities grow between 1860 and 1910?

From 6 million to 44 million people, and by 1920 more than half of Americans lived in cities (by Census Bureau categories of the time).

16.QBesides immigration, what other migration fueled the growth of American cities?

Internal migration, as millions of American farmers left the countryside for factory jobs in cities.

17.QWhat were living conditions like in working-class city neighborhoods where many immigrants lived?

Overcrowded, not enough food and clean water, lots of sickness, fever, and crime, and little space for kids to play. About 40% of streets had no sewers and 30% had no water mains.

18.QDefine Nativism.

Nativism was basically anti-immigrationism, the belief that only people born in the United States should be able to live in the country. It flourished in the late 19th and early 20th centuries during the Second Great Wave of Immigration. Native-born white Americans complained that immigrants took their jobs and lowered wages by being willing to work for less pay. Many saw Southern and Eastern Europeans as inferior to people with Northern and Western European ancestry, and were also hostile toward Catholic and Jewish immigrants. Nativist organizations formed and lobbied federal lawmakers to restrict or ban immigration, but against Southern and Eastern Europeans they didn't succeed until the 1920s, when the government cut off most immigration. Against the Chinese, they succeeded much earlier with the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.

19.QWhat were the main complaints nativists had about immigrants?

That immigrants took jobs from native-born Americans and lowered wages because they were willing to work for less pay.

20.QWhich immigrants did nativists see as inferior, and why?

Southern and Eastern Europeans, because nativists believed people with Northern and Western European ancestry were superior. They were also hostile to Catholic and Jewish immigrants.

21.QWhat did nativist organizations push the federal government to do?

Restrict or ban immigration by limiting how many immigrants could enter the country.

22.QWhen did nativists finally succeed in restricting immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe?

In the 1920s, when the government cut off most immigration.

23.QWhat was the nativists' first major legislative success?

The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.

24.QIn what time period did nativism flourish?

The late 19th and early 20th centuries, during the Second Great Wave of Immigration.

25.QDefine the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.

Around the Civil War, several thousand Chinese immigrants settled in the Western US, lured mainly by jobs building railroads, and arrived through western ports like California. By 1880 there were roughly 75,000 Chinese immigrants in California, far fewer than the Second Wave Europeans but still a significant trend. Nativists in the West complained that the Chinese took jobs from native-born Americans and lowered wages by working for less, and white Americans treated them with intense racism. In 1882, nativists convinced federal lawmakers to ban immigration from China. The law was originally supposed to last 10 years, but it was renewed repeatedly, made indefinite in 1902, and not repealed until 1943. It wasn't completely watertight, and a small number of illegal immigrants got through, one of the first instances of illegal immigration in US history.

26.QWhat originally drew Chinese immigrants to the US?

Jobs, mainly building railroads in the Western US, in the years around the Civil War.

27.QWhere did Chinese immigrants arrive and settle?

Western ports, especially California.

28.QAbout how many Chinese immigrants lived in California by 1880?

Roughly 75,000.

29.QWhy did nativists in the West want to stop Chinese immigration?

They said Chinese immigrants took jobs from native-born Americans and lowered wages by working for less, and many white Americans saw them as racially inferior.

30.QHow long was the Chinese Exclusion Act originally supposed to last?

10 years.

31.QWhat happened to the Chinese Exclusion Act after its original 10 years?

It was renewed repeatedly, made indefinite in 1902, and not repealed until 1943.

32.QWhen was the Chinese Exclusion Act finally repealed?

1943.

33.QWhy is the Chinese Exclusion Act tied to the history of illegal immigration?

The law wasn't watertight, so a small number of Chinese immigrants still got in illegally, one of the first instances of illegal immigration in US history.

34.QWhich labor organization supported Chinese exclusion, and why?

The Knights of Labor, because they believed Chinese immigrants were taking jobs and lowering wages.

35.QDefine Political Machines.

As cities grew rapidly in the late 19th century, new forms of city governance took root, and the most famous was the political machine. A political machine was basically a federation or alliance of neighborhood powerbrokers called ward bosses, who at the time were all men. Cities were divided into wards, and city government was made up of representatives from each ward. Through wheeling and dealing, ward bosses gained enough loyalty from working-class voters in their wards to control how those voters voted on election day. When enough ward bosses joined together in an alliance, they could hold a huge amount of sway in local politics and control decisions for the whole city. They were called machines because of the almost mechanical way they could deliver votes and control elections, and they grew common in large cities in both the East and West.

36.QDefine Ward Bosses.

Ward bosses were political powerbrokers who held power in working-class urban neighborhoods in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They were called ward bosses because their power was rooted in wards, the small political districts from which voters elected city representatives like city council members. They gained power by offering services such as food, coal, or maybe a government job to people in their ward in exchange for loyalty on election day. People were so poor that a boss only had to help a few people to spark hope in others that voting his way might get them a favor someday, so bosses didn't actually provide much assistance. A good ward boss could predictably deliver a majority of his ward's votes for his favored candidate. Alliances of ward bosses came to be called political machines.

37.QWhat is a ward?

A small political district within a city from which voters elected city representatives, like city council members.

38.QWhy were political machines called machines?

Because of the almost mechanical way they could deliver votes and control elections.

39.QWhat services did ward bosses offer in exchange for votes?

Things like food, coal, or maybe a government job.

40.QWhy didn't ward bosses have to provide much actual help to earn loyalty?

People were so poor that helping just a few sparked hope in others that voting the boss's way would get them a favor someday too.

41.QWhat was the source of a ward boss's political power?

His ability to predictably deliver a majority of his ward's votes for his favored candidate on election day.

42.QHow were ward bosses and political machines related?

Political machines were alliances of ward bosses. When enough bosses teamed up, they could control city elections and decisions.

43.QWhy did political machines emerge in the late 19th century?

Rapid city growth made cities much harder to govern, so new forms of governance like the machine took root.

44.QWhere did political machines appear?

In large cities in both the East and West, and they became increasingly common in urban America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

45.QWho could hold power in political machines at the time?

Only men, usually popular working-class men with a lot of status in their neighborhoods.

46.QWhy did progressive reformers see political machines as an obstacle?

They believed that as long as political machines held power, their reforms would never actually happen.

47.QHow did progressive reformers try to kick out political machines?

They reduced the power of bosses, pushed to move away from ward-based voting toward larger (statewide) voting systems, and supported civil service exams so jobs went to qualified people instead of friends of ward bosses.

48.QDefine the Homestead Act of 1862.

The Homestead Act of 1862 was a generous federal program that gave land in the West to anyone who claimed it and lived on it for five years, or let settlers buy it for $1.25 per acre after living on it for six months. It was part of a broader government-sponsored effort to encourage Americans to settle the West. Real estate speculators bought up much of the land to profit off the act, which took land away from farmers who actually needed it. Even so, the cheap land still encouraged large numbers of people to move west. It reflected the federal government's strategy of using cheap or free land to draw settlers westward and assert American control over the region. It worked alongside government support for railroads, which received about 180 million acres of land.

49.QWhat were the terms of the Homestead Act?

Free federal land in the West to anyone who claimed it and lived on it for 5 years, or after living on it 6 months, settlers could buy it for $1.25 per acre.

50.QHow did real estate speculators take advantage of the Homestead Act?

They bought up much of the land for profit, taking land from farmers who actually needed it.

51.QWhy is Western settlement described as a government-sponsored enterprise?

The federal government actively pushed settlement through programs like the Homestead Act and by giving railroad companies land and subsidies, about 180 million acres total.

52.QWhy was the government so eager to settle the West and build railroads there?

Anxiety about rapid population growth in cities, profit from key Western resources, and bringing more territory under the nation's control.

53.QWhen was the transcontinental railroad completed?

1869.

54.QWhat did Northern and Southern states debate about the West before the Civil War?

Who would control it. Southern slaveholders wanted slavery extended into the new Western regions, while Northerners opposed this.

55.QDefine Native American Reservations.

As white Americans moved west, they forced Native Americans off their land, and white settlers saw Native Americans as aggressive and dangerous. The government created many treaties to separate Native Americans from settlers, but broke them over and over again. Eventually the government created reservations to hold Native American populations. Reservations were small plots of land set aside for exclusively Native American use, and they were usually the worst available land. Because of this, reservations led to large amounts of poverty among the Native Americans forced onto them. Reservations were part of the government's larger effort to remove Indigenous Americans and expand across the continent.

56.QWhat happened to the treaties the government made with Native Americans?

They were broken over and over again.

57.QWhy did reservations lead to widespread poverty?

They were small and usually on the worst available land.

58.QHow did white settlers view Native Americans?

As aggressive and dangerous.

59.QWho was Black Elk?

A prominent member of the Oglala Lakota who described the Wounded Knee massacre in Black Elk Speaks (recorded by John Neihardt).

60.QWhat happened at Wounded Knee in 1890, according to Black Elk?

Near the end of the so-called Indian Wars, about 500 soldiers attacked about 100 Lakota warriors and killed many women, children, and babies trying to run away. Black Elk said a people's dream died there.

61.QDefine Sharecropping and Tenant Farming.

After the South lost the Civil War, it lost a core part of its economy, slavery, and many former slaves turned to sharecropping and tenant farming to survive. Sharecroppers worked land owned by someone else in exchange for tools and a share of the crop, while tenant farmers owned their own supplies and kept a larger share. Because both usually grew a single crop and had little cash, they bought tools and supplies from local merchants on credit and paid with part of each year's crop. Merchants took advantage of this by demanding large shares, and unpaid debt carried over and piled up year after year. Contracts and laws forced farmers to keep working the land until their debt was paid, effectively recreating a form of slavery. This wasn't only a Black experience, since many white farmers were trapped too, and while it was most common in the South, it spread across the US.

62.QWhat is the difference between a sharecropper and a tenant farmer?

A sharecropper worked someone else's land in exchange for tools and a share of the crop. A tenant farmer owned their own supplies, so they kept a larger share of the crop.

63.QWhy did many former slaves turn to sharecropping and tenant farming?

After the Civil War they had little money or land, so it was one of the only ways to survive.

64.QHow did merchants trap sharecroppers and tenant farmers in debt?

Farmers grew one crop and had little cash, so they bought supplies on credit and paid with a share of each year's crop. Merchants took huge shares, and any unpaid debt carried over and piled up.

65.QHow did sharecropping effectively recreate a form of slavery?

Contracts and laws forced indebted farmers to keep working the land until their debt was paid, tying them to it.

66.QWas sharecropping only experienced by Black Southerners?

No, many white farmers were sharecroppers and tenant farmers too.

67.QWas sharecropping limited to the South?

No, it was most common in the South but spread across the rest of the US.

68.QHow did Black political power change right after the Civil War?

Former slaves formed their own parties, organizations, and governments, and African Americans served in the Senate and other high levels of government.

69.QHow did many white Southerners respond to Black political power after the Civil War?

White groups, mainly the KKK, formed in the 1860s and 1870s to take political control away from Black Southerners by any means necessary.

70.QDefine Plessy v. Ferguson (1896).

Racial segregation existed in many, though not all, Southern places like schools, bathrooms, and libraries, and the federal government initially passed legislation against it. Over time the government backed away from that commitment, and in Plessy v. Ferguson the Supreme Court ruled segregation was constitutional. The case started when Louisiana passed a law that only white passengers could ride in certain railroad cars, and Homer Plessy challenged it all the way to the Supreme Court. In 1896 the Court ruled 7 to 1 that the law was constitutional as long as the provisions for Black and white passengers were equal. This created the doctrine of separate but equal. In practice it was a complete sham, since facilities and services for Black Americans were far worse than those for white Americans.

71.QWhat law sparked Plessy v. Ferguson?

A Louisiana law saying only white passengers could ride in certain railroad cars.

72.QWho challenged Louisiana's railroad car law?

Homer Plessy.

73.QWhat was the Supreme Court's vote in Plessy v. Ferguson?

7 to 1 that Louisiana's law was constitutional.

74.QWhat doctrine came out of Plessy v. Ferguson?

Separate but equal, meaning segregation was allowed as long as facilities for Black and white Americans were equal.

75.QWhy was separate but equal a sham?

Facilities and services for Black Americans were far worse than those for white Americans.

76.QHow did Plessy v. Ferguson show a shift in the federal government's stance on segregation?

The government first passed laws against segregation but backed away over time, and in Plessy the Supreme Court declared segregation constitutional.

77.QWhat was disfranchisement?

The effort to take away African Americans' right to vote, carried out in the South by white supremacist groups like the KKK and through laws and tricks.

78.QWhy was it hard to fully stop Black Americans from voting?

The 15th Amendment had just guaranteed them the right to vote.

79.QWhat was a poll tax?

A fee you had to pay in order to vote, used to keep Black Americans from voting.

80.QHow were literacy tests used for disfranchisement?

Voters had to pass a test designed with extremely hard, unfair questions that most Black Americans couldn't answer.

81.QDefine Jim Crow.

Jim Crow refers to the Southern system of racial segregation and disfranchisement against Black Americans that developed in the decades after the Civil War. The name comes from a degrading blackface character created to mock and demean African Americans. The Jim Crow system was accepted by the US government, as shown by the Supreme Court's ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson. Jim Crow touched nearly every part of daily life in the South, from schools and transportation to restaurants and voting booths, and it lasted for decades. Together, segregation and disfranchisement stripped Black Southerners of their political power and social standing. Despite the constant threat of white violence, Black Southerners resisted Jim Crow as much as they could.

82.QWhat two main things made up the Jim Crow system?

Racial segregation and disfranchisement.

83.QWhere did the name Jim Crow come from?

A degrading blackface character created to mock African Americans.

84.QHow did Plessy v. Ferguson relate to Jim Crow?

It showed the federal government accepted Jim Crow by ruling that segregation was constitutional.

85.QDid Black Southerners simply accept Jim Crow?

No. Despite the threat of white violence, they resisted where and when they could and debated how best to move forward.

86.QHow concentrated was wealth in late 19th-century America?

Between 1860 and 1900, the wealthiest 2% of families controlled more than a third of the nation's wealth, and the top 10% controlled three-quarters of it.

87.QWho were two of the richest men of the era, and what did they control?

Andrew Carnegie, who more or less controlled the US steel industry, and John D. Rockefeller, who more or less controlled the US oil industry.

88.QDefine the Knights of Labor.

The Knights of Labor were the group that galvanized the first labor unions in the US, founded in 1869 as a secret society before going public by the end of the 1870s. They organized workers of all kinds, including women, Black workers (as many as 100,000 Black members), skilled and unskilled workers, and craftsmen, which was remarkably inclusive for the time. Their mission was to overcome the differences separating workers, like gender, race, and skill, and build the Cooperative Commonwealth, a utopian society run by workers without inequality or class difference. They pushed policies like redistributive income taxes, government control of railroads, fair access to utilities, and equal pay for women. They still excluded some groups, supporting Chinese exclusion and treating lawyers, bankers, and stockbrokers as parasites who made money off others instead of producing anything. They preferred boycotts and education over strikes, and their power declined in the 1880s, especially after they were blamed for the Haymarket Affair.

89.QWhen and how were the Knights of Labor founded?

In 1869, as a secret society. By the end of the 1870s they moved away from secrecy and began organizing all kinds of workers.

90.QWho did the Knights of Labor organize?

Workers of all kinds, including women, Black workers, skilled and unskilled workers, and craftsmen.

91.QAbout how many Black members did the Knights of Labor have?

As many as 100,000.

92.QWhy were the Knights of Labor so inclusive?

Their mission was to overcome the differences separating workers, like gender, race, and skill level, and build a new society run by a united working class.

93.QWhat was the Cooperative Commonwealth?

The Knights of Labor's utopian vision of a country run by workers of all kinds, free of inequality and class difference.

94.QWhat policies did the Knights of Labor support?

Income taxes redistributed to the rest of the nation, government control of railroads instead of private companies, fair access to utilities, and equal pay for women.

95.QWhat groups did the Knights of Labor refuse to embrace?

Chinese laborers (they supported Chinese exclusion), and lawyers, bankers, and stockbrokers, whom they saw as their main enemies.

96.QWhy did the Knights of Labor see lawyers, bankers, and stockbrokers as enemies?

They viewed them as society's parasites who made money off of others instead of producing or manufacturing anything themselves.

97.QWhat moral belief did the Knights of Labor hold about work?

That there is inherent moral value in producing and manufacturing things with your own hands and skills.

98.QWhat tactics did the Knights of Labor prefer?

Boycotts and educating others about their cause rather than strikes, though they did strike in the 1880s, mainly against railroad companies.

99.QWhen did the Knights of Labor's power start to decline?

In the 1880s, right around the start of the Second Great Wave of Immigration.

100.QWhat question does the timing of the Knights of Labor's decline raise?

How inclusive the Knights would have stayed if they were still strong during the Second Great Wave of Immigration, since they already supported excluding Chinese workers.