Download - 09/03 Bellringer 5+ sentences! America is often described as a “nation of immigrants”. What
09/03 Bellringer5+ sentences!http://ghhsah2.com/bellringers
America is often described as a “nation of immigrants”. What do you think this means? Do you believe it is true?
“…Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I life my lamp beside the golden door!”
-inscription on the Statue of Liberty
Key Concepts
•Immigration moving to live permanently in a foreign country
•Urbanization a population shift from rural to urban areas that leads to a growth in cities
From 1880 to 1921, a record 23 million immigrants
arrived in the U.S
Immigrants in this era tended
to be:• Young• Male• Limited skills• Catholic or
Jewish• Limited
English• Little
education
Most “new immigrants” were coming from southern and eastern Europe
75% of all immigrants entered the USA through the immigration center at Ellis Island, in New York
Immigrants had to be employable and have at
least $25
Immigrants had to pass a health examination…
sick people were not let in
Nativism Viewing immigrants with a sense of fear, suspicion, and hostility
Prejudices based on ethnicity, religion, political and social
beliefs
Anger over job competition let to
nativist demanding a quota system
“Immigrants Not Welcome”
The Gilded Age experienced massive urbanization City growth was due to rural Americans moving to
cities and immigrants entering the USA
Steel helped cities build up
Most cities were organized in a circle around a business
district (“downtown”)
Cities needed:• Mass transit (trolleys,
rail lines, subways)• Steel cable bridges• Skyscrapers with
elevators
Cities were not prepared for rapid growth-slums
-unclean-overcrowded-fire & crime
City services (housing, transportation, water, sanitation) are stretched to the limit