Immigration Waves and Cultural Diversity in the U.S.

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Immigration and Nativism

New immigrant started to come into the United States in massive waves. The old immigrants came from England Germany and Scandinavia. They came from small farms and villages. Nativists disliked the new culture diversity that the immigrants brought to the United States.
Starting in the 1880’s people from England, Germany, Italy, Scandinavia, Russia, Austria-Hungary, and Poland left their homes to get away from religious or political persecution, war, bad living conditions, and to get jobs. The reason they chose the United States is because it provided good paying jobs, and better economic opportunities. Also because of the Gold Rush and because the U.S. advertised. About 8.5 million immigrants moved to the United States between 1880-1920. Italians moved mostly because of the Gold Rush. They lived in urban places in the east while North Italians went west. Not many immigrants moved south because in the north there were more job opportunities because there were larger cities in the north. Immigrants took low paying jobs with low wages. They mostly lived in slums. The south was mostly agriculture and farmlands. …show more content…

Americans blamed declining wages and economic problems on the Chinese people. The Chinese people were not allowed to become citizens of the U.S. for ten years. The United States government was worried about “racial purity”. In 1892, the act was renewed for another ten years. In 1902 Chinese immigration was permanently illegal. The Chinese population dropped dramatically. Because of the Chinese exclusion act, the United States made other immigration acts toward undesirable people such as the Middle Easterners, and the Hindu and East Indians. Only in 1943 were the Chinese allowed to become citizens, and

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