Second Wave Immigration

MAST HSUS HIS – Period 4Ms. Richardson

Background• Industrial growth led to a demand for cheap

immigrant labor.

• The US followed a policy of open immigration to ensure that there would be workers for the factories.

The First Wave of Immigrants

1820-1860

–Came from western and northern Europe and Ireland (Germany, Britain, )

–Protestant, assimilated, similar culture,

Second Wave of Immigration 1860-1920 “New Immigrants”

• Came from Ireland, China, southern & eastern Europe (Italy,

• “New Immigrants”– Culturally different from most earlier immigrants

(Orthodox, Jewish, Roman Catholic)

– Lived in urban areas and most held low paying jobs

Rise of Cities

• Between 1830-1860 urban population of the US grew by 552% from 1.1 mil to 6.2 million

• Cities grow because of: ImmigrationRural to urban migration

Why did immigrants come to America?

Push FactorsFactors that pushed immigrants out of their

native lands to America:

• Poverty• Lack of economic opportunity• No freedom• No jobs• Religious persecution• Famine/ starvation/drought

Why did immigrants come to America? Pull Factors

Factors that pulled immigrants out of their native lands to America:

• Jobs• Land• A future of land ownership• Peace and stability• Freedom to make a better life

How did/do people react to immigrants coming to America?

• When the Irish came in the 1840’s the established groups of British and Germans did not like the new Irish.

• Irish were different: • Language- Irish• Roman Catholic• Culturally different

They were looked down upon and discriminated against.

-- Were poor and slums developed in cities; people blamed the Irish for crime, disease, prostitution, alcohol abuse, etc.

How did/do people react to immigrants coming to America?

• Xenophobia- a fear of immigrants (anti-foreigner attitudes)

• Nativism- The belief that native-born Americans are superior to newcomers

Chinese Exclusion Act 1882

Prohibits Chinese immigration (in one year, Chinese immigration drops from 40,000 to 23).