2.7

Immigrants in America

GUIDING QUESTION

How did immigrants of the late 1800s change American society?

European Immigration

Europeans immigrated to the United States for many reasons. Many came because they were poor and American industries had plenty of jobs. However, Europe’s industrial cities also offered plenty of jobs, so economic factors do not entirely explain why so many people immigrated. Many came to the United States to escape the restrictions of social class systems in Europe that kept them trapped at the bottom of society. Others left their homeland because of high rents, land shortages, and religious persecution.

Most immigrants passed through Ellis Island, a tiny island in New York Harbor. There, a huge, three-story building served as the processing center for many of the immigrants arriving from Europe after 1892. Crowds fled past doctors for a health inspection, and those who failed the inspection might be separated from their families and returned to Europe. About 12 million immigrants passed through Ellis Island between 1892 and 1954.

Changing Population and Culture

By the late 1890s, more than half of all immigrants entering the United States were from eastern and southern Europe, including Italy, Greece, Austria-Hungary, Russia, and Serbia. This period of immigration is known as “new” immigration. The “old” immigration, which occurred before 1890, had been primarily of people from northern and western Europe.

Skilled Italian bricklayers and stonemasons contributed to the construction of many homes, churches, and buildings in American cities. Polish immigrants often became coal miners, meat packers, and steel workers. Jewish immigrants often worked in the garment industry or became merchants. Members of all ethnic groups also headed west to settle the Great Plains as farmers and ranchers. By the 1890s, immigrants made up a large percentage of the population of major cities, including New York, Chicago, Milwaukee, and Detroit. Immigrants often lived in neighborhoods that were separated into ethnic groups, such as “Little Italy” or the Jewish “Lower East Side” in New York City. Italians, Russians, and Jews were likely to remain in New York City, while large numbers of Germans, Swedes, and Poles moved to Midwestern and mid-Atlantic cities such as Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, and Chicago. Large numbers of Irish settled in the northeast and upper Midwest and became the largest ethnic group in Boston.

For many immigrants, living among those who spoke the same language and practiced similar traditions was comforting. Religion played a significant role in the development of these enclaves, or ethnic communities. Local churches, temples, and synagogues often became vital social centers. Businesses provided familiar products and services, while restaurants served traditional cuisines. Local newspapers featured articles in native languages. Although they provided a sense of security to the new immigrants, the enclaves often slowed assimilation into American culture by limiting interactions with people of different backgrounds. Many Americans viewed the ethnic enclaves as representing a reluctance to embrace “American” culture. In addition, the arrival of so many new immigrants stoked fears of job security and rapid cultural change. These fears led to hostility towards immigrants.

American culture had been overwhelmingly Protestant, but that began to change in the late 1800s as immigrants brought their religions with them. By the early 1900s, Catholics made up 17 percent of the population and had become the single largest religious denomination in the country. Orthodox Christians also became more common as large numbers of Greeks and Russians arrived. As persecution mounted in Russia, Poland, and Romania in the 1880s, a mass migration of East European Jews began. Most settled in New York City and on the East Coast, but Jewish communities appeared across the country. By the early 1920s, nearly two million Jews had settled in America.

Asian Immigration

In the mid-1800s China was suffering from severe unemployment, poverty, famine, and a civil war known as the Taiping Rebellion. These problems convinced tens of thousands of Chinese to head to the United States, as did news of the California Gold Rush. Between 1900 and 1908, large numbers of Japanese immigrated as Japan began building both an industrial economy and an empire, which disrupted Japan’s economy and created hardships for its people. Chinese immigrants settled mainly in West Coast cities, especially San Francisco. Although many headed to the gold fields, most failed to make much money and took jobs as laborers and servants. Some became merchants or skilled at a trade. Many helped build the Central Pacific Railroad. Initially, Asian immigrants arriving in San Francisco were inspected at a two-story shed on the wharf. In 1910 California opened a barracks on Angel Island for Asian immigrants. Most of the immigrants were young men who nervously awaited the results of their immigration hearings in dormitories packed with double or triple tiers of bunks. This unpleasant delay could last for months.

Nativism and the Government Response

GUIDING QUESTION

Why did some people in the United States oppose immigration?

Eventually increasing immigration led to feelings of nativism for many Americans. Nativism is an extreme dislike of immigrants by native-born people. It surfaced due to Irish immigration in the 1840s and 1850s, but by the late 1800s, nativism was focused mainly on Asians, Jews, and Eastern Europeans. Some nativists feared that the influx of Catholics would swamp the mostly Protestant United States. The large influx of Jewish immigrants also added to this fear and led to a rise in antisemitism. Many labor unions argued that immigrants undermined American workers because they would work for low wages and accept jobs as strikebreakers. Increased nativism led to the founding of two major anti-immigrant organizations. The American Protective Association, founded in 1887, was an anti-Catholic organization. Its members vowed not to hire or vote for Catholics and lobbied for restrictions of Catholic immigration to the United States. The APA built a large following in the Midwest and Northeast of the United States. On the West Coast, where sentiment against the Chinese was strong, violence erupted. Denis Kearney, an Irish immigrant, formed the Workingman’s Party of California in 1877 to fight Chinese immigration. The party won seats in the California legislature and made opposition to Chinese immigration a national issue.

New Immigration Laws

Congress tried to pass several laws to limit the number of immigrants, but most of these were vetoed by presidents. However, President Chester Arthur signed two bills: the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and the Immigration Act of 1882. The Chinese Exclusion Act barred Chinese immigration for 10 years and prevented those already in the United States from becoming citizens. The ban was renewed in 1892 and made permanent in 1902. It was not repealed until 1943. The Immigration Act of 1882 imposed a head tax of 50 cents on each immigrant who arrived at a United States port. It gave immigration ofcials the authority to reject immigrants who had criminal records, were mentally disabled, or who were unable to take care of themselves “without becoming a public charge.” The act also began federal oversight of immigration and gave responsibility to the Treasury Department to issue regulations, hire immigration agents, and build inspection stations. The law triggered a debate—which continues today—over how to regulate immigration.

Some western states continued targeting Asian immigrants with additional restrictions. California passed the Alien Land Act of 1913, prohibiting immigrants who could not attain citizenship from owning or leasing land. This act hit Japanese immigrants especially hard because many had built agricultural businesses in California.

The culmination of these early immigration laws was the Immigration Act of 1924, which limited the number of immigrants allowed into the United States through a national origins quota. Based on data from the 1890 census, the act limited new immigration to two percent of the nationalities already living in the United States. The law also banned immigration from all Asian countries except Japan and the Philippines and heavily favored immigration from Northern and Western Europe. Although these discriminatory laws mainly affected Asians, they limited immigration from Southern and Eastern European countries as well.

Nonetheless, many immigrants remained optimistic—in part because of what they were feeing and in part because of what they discovered upon arriving. No widespread famine, war, or rebellion existed in the United States during this period. The class system was not as rigid as in their countries of origin. Wages were comparatively high, jobs were plentiful if sometimes demeaning, and the Great Plains offered cheap land. There was an opportunity to be free that many immigrants had never experienced before.

Between 1865 and 1914, nearly 25 million people immigrated to the United States. Most, nearly 24 million, came from Europe, but more than 1.3 million Canadians moved south of the border, over 425,000 Latin Americans came north, and more than 450,000 Asians arrived during those years. Some immigrants were “pulled” to the United States by the promise of opportunities, while other immigrants were “pushed” from their home countries by hardships.