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Immigration into the US Essay example

Decent Essays

Between the late 1870’s and the outbreak of World War I in 1914, American’s Industrial Revolution fueled the most rigorous period of immigration in American history. Many millions of people, mostly from Southern and Eastern Europe came to America. Most were poor, didn’t speak English and almost all were strangers to America to society and culture. These were the “New Immigrants”, and they swelled to existing American cities, while also forming new cities in the process. The forces of immigration and urbanization would combine with industrialization to transform a once rural and agrarian nation into its modern form.
Before the time of industrialization, what is now called the …show more content…

Although they were unskilled, I type of jobs they would have them do were once that didn’t require little to no knowledge. Because these families were so poor, everyone had to work. Since there were no child labor laws, children were sent to work in coal mines, and silk mills. Women also had to work- mostly in textiles factories or as seamstresses ( “Becoming
American: An Ethnic History”).
This was one of the reasons why the “old immigrants” disliked the “new immigrant”. These self proclaimed “Americans” resented the “newcomers” mostly because they were different from them and it threatened their idealist, perfect society. These new people dressed differently, ate different foods, had different religious beliefs, spoke different languages, and just plain looked different. Just as with the Native Americans, they wanted to change anything that wasn’t “American”.
Many “new immigrants” lived in tenements when they first came here. Tenements were five to six story buildings with twenty or more families. Between the years of the 1840’s the population of New York increased 60 percent ( “The Tenements as History and Housing”), so this type of housing was essential in to the lives of these immigrants. This type of housing was very unhealthy to live in however. The Council of Hygiene and Public Health reported, “It’s only

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