Im(migration) Review

Im(migration) Review

by Ben Gates

​Immigration

• ​Immigrants came to America for various reasons

  • ​some came due to push factors

    • ​negative factors that drove them from their homes

  • ​Others were "pulled" to America because of the lure of economic opportunity, religious freedom, etc.

​East Coast vs. West Coast Immigration

​EAST COAST

• ​Processed at ELLIS Island in New York

• ​EUROPEAN immigrants

• ​Groups discriminated against = Eastern & Southern Europeans

​

​WEST COAST

• ​Processed at ANGEL Island in San Francisco

• ​ASIAN immigrants

• ​Groups discriminated against = Chinese immigrants

  • ​Chinese Exclusion Act

Multiple Choice

Which of the following is NOT an example of a pull factor? 

• surplus of factory jobs

• promise of freedom

• plentiful farming land

• religious persecution

Multiple Choice

By the early 1900s, more than half of all immigrants in the US were (HINT: think "new" immigrants)

• European Jews

• Eastern and Southern Europeans

• Chinese

• Japanese

Multiple Choice

What law, passed in 1882, barred Chinese immigration for 10 years and prevented the Chinese already living in the US from becoming citizens? 

• Taiping Act

• Workingman's Party of California Act

• Chinese Exclusion Act 

• Chinese Immigration Act

​Migration Review

Reasons for Westward Migration

Most were economic reasons

• ​The hope of getting rich quick by mining for gold

• ​Cattle ranching

• To work on building the transcontinental railroad

• ​Farming free land (Homestead Act)

​Some could also be considered social reasons

• ​Exodusters moved west in hopes of escaping racial discrimination in the South and starting their own farms there

​Westward Expansion's Impact on American Indians

• ​American Indians were continually pushed west by the federal government and promised land previously thought inhabitable by white settlers

  • ​Treaties signed by the gov't were often broken, creating frustration and mistrust by American Indians

  • ​These frustrations also led to physical fighting between the US Army and American Indians

• ​Eventually, American Indians were forced on to reservations and were no longer free to roam and use the land as they saw fit

• ​They were also expected to assimilate into American culture

• ​These changes permanently changed the American Indian way of life and forever altered their culture

Multiple Choice

How did the Homestead Act contribute to the expansion of western settlement? 

• by establishing agricultural colleges to develop better ways to farm

• by granting farm plots to people willing to live on the land for five years

• by granting white settlers ownership of Mexican frm land

• by encouraging more white immigration by prohibiting Chinese immigrants

Multiple Choice

The US government outlawed tribal feasts, dances and even funeral practices of American Indians in order to 

• prevent conflict between rival tribes

• weaken tribal cultures and encourage assimilation

• make reservations more hospitable for speculators

• make it more difficult for American Indians to enter mainstream society

​Nativism, Assimilation & Americanization 

​Nativism

• ​Nativists preferred "native born" Americans over immigrants

  • ​...unless they were actually Native Americans...then probably not.

• ​Nativists feared that immigrants would work for low wages and potentially take away jobs from Americans

• ​Nativists also didn't like immigrants with different religious beliefs than their own Protestant Christian beliefs (in other words, didn't like Jews, Catholics, etc)

​Assimilation & Americanization

• Assimilation & Americanization had similar goals

  • Essentially, Americans wanted immigrants and Native Americans to ​adopt the culture and civilization of white Americans

    • ​Public schools, the YMCA, Salvation Army and settlement houses offered classes in American civics and taught the English language to help bring immigrants into the American cultural system

Multiple Choice

What was often critical to the Americanization of immigrant children?

• public schools

• ethnic churches

• vaudeville shows

• factories

Multiple Choice

Most nativists opposed immigration, arguing that most immigrants

• had no marketable skills

• would work for low wages

• would not join a union

• were terrorists from the "Black Hand"