Post Civil War Immigration Dbq

In the post-Civil War United States, an industrial culture emerged- the railroad, mining, banking, and oil industries created tycoons like Cornelius Vanderbilt, J.P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, and Andrew Carnegie. The electric trolley and the skyscraper contributed to the fantastic growth of American cities, which attracted millions of people seeking better lives for themselves and their families. It led to both opportunities and restrictions for immigrants, minorities, and women. While immigrants adapted their traditions to American culture and society, they were often discriminated against. Minorities attempted to unite under the Knights of Labor, but they were blamed for the Haymarket Square Riot. Women sought employment in factories,

but they faced increased social challenges.
In the 1840s, the United States experienced a surge of German and Irish immigrants, who were ridiculed for their beer-drinking and their Catholic faith.

By the 1870s, the German and Irish had nearly assimilated into American culture. As shown in Document B, although Northern and Central Europeans continued to immigrate to the United States, there was a wave of so-called “new immigrants.” They were mostly from Southern and Eastern Europe, including Poland and Italy. The Jews and the Roman Catholics grew most dramatically due to the new immigration. Many native born Americans responded with nativist views and anti-immigrant campaigns- they felt that the immigrants were a threat to American democracy and Anglo-Saxon purity. Document A is an advertisement put out by a miner’s union to discourage people from spending their money at Chinese and Japanese-owned businesses. The audience is the white American shopper, who could afford to purchase luxury goods. An extreme example of this

discrimination is the Chinese Exclusion Act, which banned Chinese immigration to the United States for more than four decades. However, some Americans introduced reforms to help the immigrants assimilate. These were called settlement houses, which provided housing, food, education, child care, cultural activities, and social connections for new arrivals to the United States. Document D is an excerpt from How the Other Half Lives, Jacob Rii’s 1890 novel, which documents squalid living conditions in the New York City slums. Rii, a social reformer, explains the diversity of America’s cities- the new wave of immigration led to the development of ethnic neighborhoods. New York City was home to neighborhoods with predominantly African, Spanish, Russian, Jewish, Chinese, and Arab populations.
During the late nineteenth century, anyone who wasn’t a white male could be considered a minority.

This included women, African-Americans, Asian-Americans, and immigrants. The cities provided them with opportunities to support their families. Many of these people worked factory or railroad jobs, which required no formal training. The workers were expendable to their employers- if they were injured, they could easily be replaced with someone else. Document G shows poster from July 1853, advertising for laborers on the 12th Division of the Illinois Central Railroad. It sought men with families, promising them employment and board in return for $1.25 per hour. However, the railroad companies often tried to take advantage of the minority workers. In response, they organized the Knights of Labor, which was the second national labor organization. It was founded in 1869 as a secret society and opened for public membership in 1881. The Knights were known for their efforts to organize all workers, regardless of skill level, gender, or race. After the mid-1880s, membership declined for a variety of reasons, including their participation in violent strikes against the railroads, which were controlled by a few powerful men. Document E is excerpted from an 1887 book called The Labor Movement: The Problem of Today by George E. McNeill. He was a labor leader who scolded the railroad companies for reducing their employees’ wages, interfering with the legal process, and controlling the

government. McNeill, the Knights of Labor, and other social reformers were hated for uniting the minority workers and taking a stand against big business. In 1886, the Knights were blamed for the Haymarket Square Riot, a May Day rally that turned violent when someone threw a bomb into the middle of the meeting, killing several dozen people. The group eventually dismantled, leaving minority workers more powerless than ever.