USA: topic 1 immigration

5 push factors for immigrants coming to usa

1. overcrowding (shortage of land, not much to inherit)

2. unemployment (due to economic depression+ new machinery)

3. lack of opportunity (hard for lower classes)

4. persecution (for political or religious reasons)

5. religious freedom (escape `pogroms`- attacks on certain religious/ethnic groups)

pull factors for immigrants coming to usa

• space (for farming

• natural resources (oil, timber, minerals)

• wages (higher than Europe)

• land of the free (religion, politics, beliefs

how many people left europe for america

between 1850 and 1914 over 40 mil people left europe for a new life in the USA

process for immigrants when they arrived in new york

• the immigrants would arrive on very big boats at ellis island to be registered- in great hall

• have some medical tests e.g. ‘H’ marked on clothes for heart problems, checked for eye disease/ other contagious diseases

• asked questions about skills, job, finances

• 2% were not allowed in (sent back)

• ellis island aka ‘isle of tears’

• if passed tests able to go through to new york + beyond

open door policy

The Open Door Policy was the US approach of allowing lots of immigration into the country before the 1920s, which was later ended by restrictive quota laws.

melting pot

The melting pot was the idea that immigrants from diverse cultural backgrounds would blend together into a single, unified American identity, though this concept faced severe backlash in the 1920s due to rising intolerance and anti-immigrant sentiment.

old immigrants

The "old immigrants" refers to the wave of migrants who arrived in the US before the 1890s, primarily originating from Northern and Western Europe (such as Britain, Germany, and Ireland), who were generally Protestant, culturally similar to early settlers, and integrated more easily into American society.

WASPS

white anglo saxon protesta

isolationism

cut themselves off from europe- didnt want more europeans coming in

xenophobia

Xenophobia is the fear or hatred of foreigners, which escalated in 1920s America due to fears of communism, economic competition for jobs, and american isolationism

new immigrants

New Immigrants refers to the massive wave of newcomers who arrived in America between 1880 and 1920, predominantly from Southern and Eastern Europe, who were largely Catholic, Jewish, and culturally distinct from earlier Northern European settlers.

closed door policy

US government's abandonment of its traditional "open door" policy in the 1920s to severely restrict and limit foreign immigration.

GHETTOS

small communities of minorities.

1917 literacy test

anyone who wanted to enter USA had to take a literacy test- read a 40 word passage. many form poorer countries couldn’t afford English lessons+ failed. also banned anyone from Asia and charged an immigration fee of $8.

when was the literacy test

1917

1921 emergency quota act

this act introduced a quota system. new immigrants allowed in as a proportion of the number of people of that nationality who had been living in USA since 1910. figure set at 3%. basically reduced immigrants from eastern europe.

when was the emergency quota act

1921

1924 national origins act

quota reduced to 2% of the 1980 census. in other words, since there had been a lot more people arriving from northern europe by 1890, more of these groups were allowed to enter.

when was the national origins act

1924

1929 immigration act

this act restricted immigration to 150,000 a year. there were to be no Asians at all. northern and western europeans were allocated 85% of places. by 1930, immigration from japan, china and eastern europe had virtually ceased.

americanisation day

the federal bureau of naturalization organised proceedings and public ‘Americanisation day’ rallies. designed for citizens to re-affirm loyalty to USA.

assimilation

‘blend’ into american life+ culture

political extremism

holding extreme political views or beliefs outside of the mainstream

IWW

industrial workers of the world. it was a radical international labor union founded in 1905 that aimed to unite all workers into "One Big Union" to overthrow capitalism.

wall street bombing

an event at the height of the red scare, 16 september 1920, detonated bomb during lunchtime rush.

how many were injured/ killed at wall street bombing

38 killed, 143 injured

palmer raids

The Palmer Raids were when the government completely panicked during the Red Scare and arrested thousands of foreign workers without warrants, beating them up and deporting loads of them back to Russia just because they were scared of communism.

how many suspected communists were rounded up during the palmer raids?

6,000

when was the sacco and vanzetti case

may 1920

how many days did it take for the sacco and vanzetti case to reach a verdict

45 days

why were there 3,600 strikes in 1919

protests against poor working conditions and low pay

the red scare

The Red Scare was a massive wave of public panic in America between 1919 and 1920 where people became absolutely terrified that communist immigrants were going to start a violent revolution to overthrow the government.

when did police attack socialist parades during palmer raids?

may day 1920

mitchell palmer official job

attorney general

why was the sacco and vanzetti case controversial

it was a trial of political views and ‘new’ immigrant status, with flimsy evidence.

why did people fear the reds

due to communist revolution in russia, destruction of capitalism and way of life.

what was the sacco and vanzetti trial

The Sacco and Vanzetti trial was a famous court case in 1921 where two Italian immigrants and anarchists, Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, were accused of armed robbery and murder in Massachusetts.

Even though the evidence against them was incredibly weak, the jury was so blinded by Red Scare panic and xenophobia that they found them guilty, and both men were eventually executed by the electric chair in 1927.

what is a census

counting up the population every 10 years

by 1920 how many different nationalities were living in america?

by 1920 there were over 103 different nationalities living in america.

by 1914, new york had more ………. than ……….

by 1914, new york had more italians than naples.

by …….., a …… of the polulation of the ….. large cities of the USA were immigrants and andother …. were children of immigrants

by 1910, a third of the population of the 12 large cities of the USA were immigrants and another third were children of immigrants.

how did WW1 increase opposition to new immigrants

there were fears for the loyalty of new immigrants especially from germany and Austria- Hungary, who people began to think might be spies.

9 problems related to immigration

1. overcrowding of big cities

2. people wary of immigrants from germany+ austria-hungary (fear of spies)

3. fear of communsits (russian revolution 1917)

4. language barriers (difficult communication)

5. xenophobia- people in usa had fears of foreigners

6. conflict due to religion/ ethnicity

7. ghettos

8. competition for jobs+ lower wages

9. american isolationism

due to these concerns, people wanted the open door policy to end.

why were ghettos a problem

Ghettos were a problem because they were super crowded, poor neighbourhoods that made Americans angry because immigrants spoke their own languages instead of integrating, which made them easy targets for racism and blame for local crime.

when was the red scare

1919

when were the palmer raids

1919-1920

anarchists

Anarchists are political radicals who believe that all forms of government, laws, and capitalism are unfair and should be completely destroyed so people can live in total freedom