a vision of paradise…. pro – immigration

THE GILDED AGE

A vision of Paradise…

Immigration

IMMIGRATION…Continued

IMMIGRATION…CONTINUED

IMMIGRATION…CONTINUEDPro – IMMIGRATION


“Uncle Sam” is playing NoahImmigrants file in 2 x 2Leave behind the dangers of EuropeSign lists reasons why people came

IMMIGRATION…CONTIUEDANTI – IMMIGRATION


“Columbia’s Unwelcome Guests”Bars anarchists, Socialists, Communists who enter from Europe’s sewersInscription on the column reads “Anarchy is not Liberty” and “When a Man’s Rights End, His Neighbor’s Begin

NATIVISM

Nativism Nativism – preference of native-born people and a strong desire to limit immigration

WASP (White, Anglo-Saxon Protestant) who had been in the country from generationsPrimarily directed towards Asians, Jews and Eastern Europeans

Why were they against immigration?Catholics – some feared that the huge number of European Catholics flooding in would override the mostly Protestant U.S. giving the Catholic Church too much power in government Labor Unions – argued immigrants would work for lower wages or accept work as STRIKEBREAKERS (sound familiar??)

URBANIZATION

The New Urban Environment

Why were cities so popular?IMMIGRANTS

Lack money to buy farmsLack an education to obtain high-paying jobsAs terrible as the cities and the work was, it was better than what most had back homeAmerica provided social mobility for many immigrants

Few were able to move from poverty to great wealth, but many were able to move from poverty to at least middle class which was very difficult to do in Europe

FARMERSUrban jobs offered more opportunities and better-paying jobsModern conveniences and night life

Electric lights, running water, plumbing, museums, libraries, theatres, etc.

THE NEW URBAN ENVIRONMENT…

CONTINUEDLouis Sullivan – SkyscrapersMass Transit

Cable CarsFrank J. Sprague – Electric trolley carOlmstead – Parks and City planningEastman – Kodak cameras

First Skyscraper in Chicago, IL

Ever heard of central park?


CONTINUEDHigh SocietyWealthiest families established posh districts in the heart of cities (aka you have to be super rich and come from a family name to roll with these people)Construct feudal castles, French château, Tuscan villas, etc.

Middle-Class SocietyIndustrialization leads to a growing middle class

Doctors, Lawyers, Engineers, Managers, Architects, etc.Moved away from the central city and took advantage of new mass transit (trolley cars, subways, etc.)

Working Class…


CONTINUED Working Class3 OUT OF 4 PEOPLE IN NYC LIVED IN TENEMENTS – Dark, crowded, multi-family “apartments”

“With…one dollar a day [our mother] fed and clothed an ever-growing family. She took in boarders. Sometimes this helped; other times it added to the burden of living. Boarders were often out of work and penniless; how could one turn a hungry man out? She made all our clothes. She walked blocks to reach a place where meat was a penny cheaper, where bread was a half cent. She collected boxes and old wood to burn in the stove…”

- How We Lived

How the Other half Lives…

How the other half lives…

We got problemsCRIME

Minor criminals (pickpockets, thieves, etc.) THRIVED in these huge, ever-growing, overcrowded conditions

VIOLENCE1880-1900 Murder rate jumps from 25 per million people to 100 per million people

POLLUTION & DISEASEImproper sewage disposal contaminated city drinking waterTriggers episodes of Typhoid fever and Cholera

FIRE…

We got problems

…That’s kind of a problem

YEP, Definitely a Problem…

Thanks a lot Mrs. O’LEARY…

BUT, DID SHE DO IT????

a vision of paradise…. pro – immigration

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