ERA 4: IMMIGRATION AND AMERICAN SOCIETY. American Memory Timeline:

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1 ERA 4: IMMIGRATION AND AMERICAN SOCIETY Open Internet Explorer and go to the following URL: ml American Memory Timeline: Click on the following link: Copyright Library of Congress, The Learning Page Read the overview and answer the following questions: 1. What are the types of industries that expanded in the decades following the Civil War? 2. Describe how industrial growth transformed American society. 3. Describe working conditions of the Industrial era. 4. What are some of the advancements in technology during the Industrial Era? Click on the following link: 5. What was the principle source of immigration before the Civil War? copyright Denver Public Library, Colorado Historical Society, and Denver Art Museum

2 6. What pull factors drew Chinese immigrants to the United States? 7. What happened as a result of the fear and resentment towards Chinese immigrants? 8. How does Twain describe the work ethic of the Chinese immigrants? 9. How does Twain describe the resourcefulness of the Chinese immigrants? 10. Who does Twain principally blame for the oppression and injustice dealt to Chinese immigrants in the West?

3 11. Read the fourth point. What industries do the Chinese representatives say Chinese are employed? 12. What did the mayor of San Francisco and the governor of California do in response to increasing Chinese immigration according to the representatives? Click on the Back button and then: 13. Why did many immigrants come to the United States? 14. Describe how immigrants were processed once they arrived at Ellis Island. 15. Click on this picture: What are some of the things an immigrant aboard an ocean liner would see as they arrived at Ellis Island? 16. What two groups of people contributed to the growth of cities at the turn of the century?

4 17. Describe how industrial expansion and population growth rapidly changed the faces of American cities. 18. What do you think a political boss is and how did he seek to care of his neighborhood residents? 19. Why do you think buildings are built up instead of out? 20. In order for skyscrapers to be functional, what other advancements do you think were created?

5 ERA 4: IMMIGRATION AND AMERICAN SOCIETY ANSWER KEY Open Internet Explorer and go to the following URL: ml American Memory Timeline: Click on the following link: Copyright Library of Congress, The Learning Page 1. What are the types of industries that expanded in the decades following the Civil War? a. Old industries expanded and many new ones, including petroleum refining, steel manufacturing, and electrical power, emerged. Railroads expanded significantly, bringing even remote parts of the country into a national market economy. 2. Describe how industrial growth transformed American society. a. It produced a new class of wealthy industrialists and a prosperous middle class. It also produced a vastly expanded blue collar working class. The labor force that made industrialization possible was made up of millions of newly arrived immigrants and even larger numbers of migrants from rural areas. American society became more diverse than ever before. 3. Describe working conditions of the Industrial era. a. Many workers were typically unemployed at least part of the year, and their wages were relatively low when they did work. This situation led many workers to support and join labor unions. Meanwhile, farmers also faced hard times as technology and increasing production led to more competition and falling prices for farm products. Hard times on farms led many young people to move to the city in search of better job opportunities. 4. What are some of the advancements in technology during the Industrial Era? a. Electric light bulbs, steam-powered locomotives, electric trolley cars, gasoline-powered automobiles. Click on the following link: Read the overview and answer the following questions: 5. What was the principle source of immigration before the Civil War? a. During the 1870s and 1880s, the majority came from Germany, Ireland, and England- -the principal source of immigration before the Civil War. Even so, a relatively large group of Chinese immigrated to the United copyright Denver Public Library, Colorado Historical Society, and Denver Art Museum

6 States betw een the start of the California gold rush in 1849 and 1882, when federal law stopped their immigration. 6. What pull factors drew Chinese immigrants to the United States? a. At first, they were attracted to North America by the gold rush in California. Many prospected for gold on their own or labored for other miners. Soon, many opened their own businesses such as restaurants, laundries, and other personal service concerns. After the gold rush, Chinese immigrants worked as agricultural laborers, on railroad construction crews throughout the West, and in low-paying industrial jobs 7. What happened as a result of the fear and resentment towards Chinese immigrants? a. With economic competition came dislike and even racial suspicion and hatred. Such feelings were accompanied by anti-chinese riots and pressure, especially in California, for the exclusion of Chinese immigrants from the United States. The result of this pressure was the Chinese Exclusion Act, passed by Congress in How does Twain describe the work ethic of the Chinese immigrants? a. A disorderly Chinaman is rare, and a lazy one does not exist. So long as a Chinaman has strength to use his hands he needs no support from anybody; white men often complain of want of work, but a Chinaman offers no such complaint; he always manages to find something to do. Chinamen make good house servants, being quick, obedient, patient, quick to learn and tirelessly industrious. They do not need to be taught a thing twice, as a general thing. They are imitative. 9. How does Twain describe the resourcefulness of the Chinese immigrants? a. In California they rent little patches of ground and do a deal of gardening. They will raise surprising crops of vegetables on a sand pile. They waste nothing. What is rubbish to a Christian, a Chinaman carefully preserves and makes useful in one way or another. He gathers up all the old oyster and sardine cans that white people throw away, and procures marketable tin and solder from them by melting. 10. Who does Twain principally blame for the oppression and injustice dealt to Chinese immigrants in the West? a. and then the officers come down on him once a month with an exorbitant swindle to which the legislature has given the broad, general name of "foreign" mining tax, but it is usually inflicted on no foreigners but Chinamen. This swindle has in some cases been repeated once or twice on the same victim in the course of the same month--but the public treasury was no additionally enriched by it, probably.... Only the scum of the population do it--they and their children; they, and, naturally

7 and consistently, the policemen and politicians, likewise, for these are the dust-licking pimps and slaves of the scum, there as well as elsewhere in America. 11. Read the fourth point. What industries do the Chinese representatives say Chinese are employed? a. Our people in this country, for the most part, have been peaceable, lawabiding and industrious. They performed the largest part of the unskilled labor in the construction of the Central Pacific Railroad, and also of other railroads on this coast. They have found useful employment in all the manufacturing establishments of this coast, in agricultural pursuits, and in family service. While benefiting themselves with the honest reward of their daily toil, they have given satisfaction to their employers, and have left all the results of their industry to enrich the State. They have not displaced white laborers from these positions, but have simply multiplied industries. 12. What did the mayor of San Francisco and the governor of California do in response to increasing Chinese immigration according to the representatives? a. These great men gathered some twenty thousand of the people of this city together on the evening of April 5, and adopted an address and resolutions against Chinese immigration. Click on the Back button and then: 13. Why did many immigrants come to the United States? a. Fleeing crop failure, land and job shortages, rising taxes, and famine, many came to the U. S. because it was perceived as the land of economic opportunity. Others came seeking personal freedom or relief from political and religious persecution. 14. Describe how immigrants were processed once they arrived at Ellis Island. a. immigrants underwent medical examinations and answered questions about their work, money situations, and destinations. Later a literacy test was also administered.

8 15. Click on this picture: What are some of the things an immigrant aboard an ocean liner would see as they arrived at Ellis Island? a. Statue of Liberty, Processing Center, New York City skyline, other boats 16. What two groups of people contributed to the growth of cities at the turn of the century? a. Immigrants and migrants from rural areas 17. Describe how industrial expansion and population growth rapidly changed the faces of American cities. a. Noise, traffic jams, slums, air pollution, and sanitation and health problems became commonplace. Mass transit, in the form of trolleys, cable cars, and subways, was built, and skyscrapers began to dominate city skylines. New communities, known as suburbs, began to be built just beyond the city. Commuters, those who lived in the suburbs and traveled in and out of the city for work, began to increase in number. 18. What do you think a political boss is and how did he seek to care of his neighborhood residents? a. A corrupt politician who provides services in return for votes. He gave them jobs. 19. Why do you think buildings are built up instead of out? 20. In order for skyscrapers to be functional, what other advancements do you think were created? a. Elevators, escalators