Immigration To The United States During The Late 1800s And Early 1900's

Immigration in the late 1800s and early 1900s was very different from immigration today. Although, it wasn’t all different, there are still some common similarities. Some people think immigration is immigration, much didn’t change from immigration now and immigration then. But there are many things that you can compare and contrast about the different times of immigration. Several immigrants had gone over to America at this time and there are many differences between these times and now, but there are also a lot of similarities.

In the eyes of the early American colonists and the founders of the Constitution, the United States was to represent the ideals of acceptance and tolerance to those of all walks of life. When the immigration rush began in the mid-1800's, America proved to be everything but that. The millions of immigrants would soon realize the meaning of hardship and rejection as newcomers, as they attempted to assimilate into American culture. For countless immigrants, the struggle to arrive in America was rivaled only by the struggle to gain acceptance among the existing American population.

With everyone wanting and buying alcohol it increased the demand for it, which is when organized crime started.

Many people from all over the world saw America as a place to create a better life for them and their family. America was a place full of many job opportunities, ones that were not available anywhere else in the world. It was in America that people from different nations saw the chance to escape the place they originally lived because of unfair government or as a chance to have money to send back to their family in their homeland. The period after the civil war was an era of tremendous migration from southern and eastern Europe as well as from China, because of all the opportunities that were available here that were not available anywhere else. Migration was also prominent within America when African Americans

Immigration through out the late 1800’s and early 1900’s created nativism throughout the United States. Millions of immigrants flocked to the United States trying to find a better way of life to be able to support their families. Industrialization in the United States provided a labor source for the immigrants. Native born Americans believed immigrants were a “threat to the American way of life” (ATF chapter 11) Social and economic fault lines developed between natives and immigrants, through out the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, going unnoticed until the late 1920’s when the Sacco and Vanzetti case brought awareness of issue to much of the United States.

It seems that the word Immigration has took on a new meaning as for it once meant. Immigration is the action of coming to live permanently in a foreign country. It has always been a hot topic in our society because of all the controversy behind it, About whose land is actually theirs. It all starts in 1620, when the mayflower for the first time in history touches american soil, And changes the way history would unfold and the very way we live today. They came from England, searching for vast freedom from a corrupt, indigenous society seeking freedom of religion and the thought, ironically searching for the American dream before it became a phrase. They would stumble across humble , spiritual, and land loving givers who would eventually train these new pilgrims on how to live off the good god living land. Things would soon take a turn for the worst when disputes over land came abroad, this ended in a bloody battle leaving the pilgrims victorious with their new land. But history is always prone to repetitiveness once the 1700's came.

In 1917 was the point in history where Congress passed the Eighteenth Amendment to amend the Constitution which stated that it prohibited the export, import, manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcoholic beverages in the United States. This law sparked rebellion in American citizens across the nation; many people thought this law violated their right to live by their own standards. The implementation of the 18th amendment created a large number of bootleggers who were able to supply the public with illegal alcohol. Many of these bootleggers became very rich and influential through selling alcohol, gambling and using other methods. The prohibition era allowed for organized crime to flourish and these practices are still used today.

Bootlegging, the distribution and dealing of an illegal substance, was becoming increasingly popular with liquor outlawed. Bootleggers would go to great extents to bring in liquor to their customers, prymarily speakeasy owners, as well as making sure they did not lose their customers to the other vaious gangs in the area. To ensure this threats were made to owners, gang wars began, and many murders occurred. (“Prohibition”) Those who became successful bootleggers became emmensly rich and powerful resulting in the expansion and flourishing of organized crime. Most organized crime leaders, gangsters, were wealthy and lived, at least on the outside, a sophisticated and exuberant life. In fact durning the Prohibition Era many people idolized bootlegging and gangs because it was a fast way to get rich and powerful.This would lead to an increase in the population of gangs. These gangs could be extremely dangerous and would kill many, ultimately causing an increase in homicide rates by 13% ("Organized Crime and Prohibition”). The reasoning behind the homicide rates going up is simple; as different mobs became more powerful in their areas and their range of illegal activities expanded they got more attention and this attention caused for rivalrys between different mobs and a higher police involvement in attempting to end the

Italy was one of the earliest countries to form a mafia due to unjust oppression from foreign governments. When Italian immigrants fled Sicily to enter the United States, they brought along their underground government with them, as well. The US deprived some of those immigrants from entering America which furthermore sparked the Mafia’s foundation. In An Examination of U.S. Immigration Policy and Serious Crime, Horowitz states that immigrant crime has promoted fear. Newcomers brought their criminal features who converted their societies into zones of lawlessness. Tensions between different ethnic groups have caused uneasiness. Jewish gangsters in New York victimized strikers into returning to work and stole from people. Italians ran extortion rings in San Francisco and prostitution houses in Chicago (Horowitz). America realized that allowing immigrants into their country has drastically increased their crime rates. Immigrants have brought corruption into America and illegal services. Italian immigrants brought their clandestine union which gave rise to the Blackhand. In his book, American Dreamers, Groth presents what Michael Woodiwiss said, “bootlegging presented second generation southern and eastern European immigrants that were Jews, Italians, Sicilians, Poles, Slavs and others with opportunities to climb the criminal hierarchy, many of whom accepted this as a form of occupation” (Woodiwiss 8). Immigrants have

During the time of prohibition the United States saw a sharp rise in crime. Due to the fact that the production, sale and transportation of alcohol was illegal,

The Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution restricted the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol. The United States decided to pass the amendment because they believed that alcohol was often responsible for crime, poverty, and violence against women and children. Since people could not legally buy alcohol from stores, they turned to bootlegging. This meant that they would make, distribute, or sell illicit goods, especially liquor, illegally. Many cities prospered from bootlegging, such as New York City, Philadelphia, and Chicago, but they suffered from it as well. The national American crime syndicate, the Mafia, arose out of the coordinated activities of Italian bootleggers and other gangsters in New York City in the late 1920s and early 1930s. In New York, almost 75% of the state's revenue was from liquor taxes. With prohibition in effect, the revenue was lost immediately. At the national level,

In the 1920s and 1930s America saw a large growth in mafias & mobs, drug & Alcohol Trafficking, and the organization of crime were a result of the Prohibition.

¬¬¬During the Roaring Twenties, there were many lawbreakers who increased the rate of organized crime. Unlike bootleggers, these lawbreakers stole alcoholic beverages from locked up warehouses, to resell to their customers. “Hijacking was another way of getting the liquor. Early in the Prohibition Era there was still a lot of liquor locked away in government warehouses to be sold for medicinal purposes. Much of this was simply stolen by the criminals, particularly while it was being transported” (Cohen). The lawbreakers during the Roaring Twenties

Prohibition created more crime because it was leading to corruption and the “cure” was worse than the original problem (Sifakis 725). The number of crimes increased during the Prohibition which caused organized crime to be very “popular”. Many criminal groups had a regular income of money through illegal actions such as drinking and selling alcohol (Organized Crime and Prohibition 1). Alcohol increased the organized crimes during Prohibition through loopholes in the 18th Amendment, speakeasies, doctor’s prescriptions, and bootlegging.

In the late 1800s, during the time of the Industrial Revolution and the arrival of “new immigrants”, the poor social and legal treatment of people from different races and cultures led to a major civil rights movement. This movement would later continue on into the mid 1900s, and even to this day Americans are making advances in the treatment of modern, diverse groups. The social definition of an American has changed greatly over the years. Americans, as seen in today's view, have different skins tones and come from very diverse backgrounds. However, in the time period around the late 1800s there was a very narrow and strict definition of what it meant to be an American. The treatment of Native Americans, immigrants, and African Americans was dismal, especially in comparison to the treatment of white Americans of the time..