09/03 Bellringer5+ sentences!http://ghhsah2.com/bellringers

America is often described as a “nation of immigrants”. What do you think this means? Do you believe it is true?

“…Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I life my lamp beside the golden door!”

-inscription on the Statue of Liberty

Key Concepts

•Immigration moving to live permanently in a foreign country

•Urbanization a population shift from rural to urban areas that leads to a growth in cities

From 1880 to 1921, a record 23 million immigrants

arrived in the U.S

Immigrants in this era tended

to be:• Young• Male• Limited skills• Catholic or

Jewish• Limited

English• Little

education

Most “new immigrants” were coming from southern and eastern Europe

75% of all immigrants entered the USA through the immigration center at Ellis Island, in New York

Immigrants had to be employable and have at

least $25

Immigrants had to pass a health examination…

sick people were not let in

Nativism Viewing immigrants with a sense of fear, suspicion, and hostility

Prejudices based on ethnicity, religion, political and social

beliefs

Anger over job competition let to

nativist demanding a quota system

“Immigrants Not Welcome”

The Gilded Age experienced massive urbanization City growth was due to rural Americans moving to

cities and immigrants entering the USA

Steel helped cities build up

Most cities were organized in a circle around a business

district (“downtown”)

Cities needed:• Mass transit (trolleys,

rail lines, subways)• Steel cable bridges• Skyscrapers with

elevators

Cities were not prepared for rapid growth-slums

-unclean-overcrowded-fire & crime

City services (housing, transportation, water, sanitation) are stretched to the limit