...The Laissez- Faire Takeover In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, America is at one of its highest points in history going into the twentieth century; it has so many resources and space still to provide for people. When the word had gotten out about America and what it had to provide, a vast amount of immigrants started pouring in, in search of a better life and better fortune. The industries of Eastern United States keenly employed these immigrants because they were willing to work long hours for low wages, and the rich capitalists took advantage of this situation. Capitalists and the incoming immigrants never saw eye to eye, and strikes would break out often, some ending in violence or death. Most workers had no political freedom nor even have a voice in the company that employed them because of the industrial system that curtailed their rights. The life of a nineteenth century American industrial worker was far from easy, even during what seem to be good times, wages were low, hours long and work conditions dangerous. The general issue that raised between the two, what has for many years before is that, little of the wealth being made is being distributed to the working class. This situation was worse for women and children who took up more of the work force than men, and still made half of what men usually would make. Work conditions were often tedious because workers would do tasks over and over while working an average 10 hour days, six days a week. Since...
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...considered a prime destination for many immigrant groups coming into the United States. Though, despite its popularity, the city has long shown disdain and disregard for those coming into its borders. This argument is made apparent through the stories of both the Polish and the Mexicans and Puerto Ricans who have come into the city. In the case of the Polish, author and historian, Dominic Pacyga writes on their story and ordeal in his work, Polish Immigrants and Industrial Chicago. His work specifically focuses on Polish in the South Side of Chicago between the years of 1880 and 1922. Pacyga paints a dismal picture for the Chicago Polish communities at the time. Often, many found low paying work in either the...
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...Race in the Turn of the Century America After the Civil War, America had entered the Reconstruction phase, and there were many issues within the nation that continued and further developed due simply to race. During this time, “the color line was firmly established in American culture, and there was infrequent crossing of the divide” (Bowles, 2011, section 2.3, para 17). There was unquestionable detriment to the growth of the African American community, as well as increased timidity for basic African American rights. The issues of segregation and racism that were so prominent during this era in America were one of the ways that Black Americans remained almost invisible in a white society. Despite the end of the Civil War and the emancipation of slaves, race continued to be a problem in early twentieth century America. One of the most critical issues surrounding the further entrenchment of racial segregation within the early twentieth century was the development of policies and laws that did not follow the emancipation guidelines for ex-slaves, but instead made segregation and discrimination of African Americans more prominent. These laws were at first called the Black Codes, allowing for differences in the way that African Americans were treated both privately and publically. Even Supreme Court cases, like Plessy vs. Ferguson, further allowed for racism to be a compelling factor within the nation. This case allowed for the expansion of the Black Codes instead of abolishing...
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... barren freeways, and brilliant sunsets lingering in low-hanging canopies of burnt dreams. Are we all crazy? Don't live here, says the wind, the trembling earth, the parched land whose natural inclination is to explode in flame every year about now. But we do. Don't build near the kindling, say the voices of common sense. But we do, for all the wrong reasons and all the known glories. Our winter snowfall is flakes of ash and flame retardant falling on bougainvillea, so it could be worse. The Earth shakes. The fires rage. The population expands. And the sunsets are brilliant, especially this time of year.” -Steve Lopez, columnist for the Los Angeles Times November 17, 2008 “Everyone is welcome. As you know, I'm an immigrant. I came over here as an immigrant. What gave me the opportunities, what made me be able to be here today, is the open arms of Americans. I have been received. I have been adopted to America. I have gotten all the opportunities because of America. I have seen first hand, coming over here, with empty pockets, but full of dreams, full of desire, full of will, to succeed. But with the opportunities that I had available, I could make it. And that's what I want everyone to be able to do. This is why we have to get back and bring California back where it once was.” – Arnold Schwarzenegger, upon announcing his intention to run for governor of California in 2003 The state of California has been the pace-setter for political, cultural, and technological development...
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...The Immigration Act of 1924 sparked conversations surrounding whiteness that complemented nativist practices towards Italian immigrants. During and after WWI, the sweeping immigration of Italians was met with white backlash surrounding their ethnic and national backgrounds, with many whites branding Italians as swarthy, illiterate, and ragpickers.” Furthermore, fiction novels of the early twentieth century portrayed Italians as distinctly non-white. While the Immigration Act was well received by white nativists behind such xenophobic actions, heavily biased mathematical engineering behind the quota system inadvertently spurred the consolidation of an Italian ethnic identity through geo-national pride. While the Immigration Act of 1924, influenced...
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...different views, the colonial period, the mid-nineteenth century, the turn of the twentieth century, and post-1965. Each period brought distinct national groups, races and ethnicities to the United States. During the seventeenth century, approximately 175,000 Englishmen migrated to Colonial America. Over half of all European immigrants to Colonial America during the 17th and 18th centuries arrived. The mid-nineteenth century saw mainly an influx from northern Europe; the early twentieth-century mainly from Southern and Eastern Europe; post-1965 mostly from Latin America and Asia. Immigrants started arriving at Ellis Island 1902 Historians estimate that fewer than one million immigrants—perhaps as few as 400,000—crossed the Atlantic during the 17th and 18th centuries. The 1790 Act. limited naturalization to "free white persons"; it was expanded to include blacks in the 1860s and Asians in the 1950s. In the early years of the United States, immigration was fewer than 8,000 people a year, including French refugees from the slave revolt in Haiti. After 1820, immigration gradually increased. From 1836 to 1914, over 30 million Europeans migrated to the United States. The death rate on these transatlantic voyages was high, during which one in seven travelers died. In 1875, the nation passed its first immigration law. European immigration was in 1907, when 1,285,349 persons entered the country. By 1910, 13.5 million immigrants were living in the United States. In 1921, the Congress passed...
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...law and its enforcement. The United States also has a long history of restricting (if not outright excluding) entry of certain racial minority groups into the country. Transference of hate and displacement of frustration from one racial minority to another explain much in the heated racial dynamics of the twentieth century. Cognitive dissonance theory teaches us how the nation can be so harsh to noncitizens of color while claiming that racism is dead in America. . Immigration law expressly defines who can and cannot enter...
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...Chapter 30: Economic and Social Change in the Late 20th Century Economic, cultural, and social changes have affected America greatly in the late twentieth century. The population since 1980 has become increasingly older, urban, diverse, southern, and western. Declining birth rates and rising life expectancy combined to produce an aging population. Between 1970 and 1990 most American financial and industrial growth occurred in the South and West, the Sunbelt. The Sunbelt also proved attractive to large numbers of new immigrants from Latin America and Asia. Lyndon Johnson's 1965 Immigration Act laid the basis for an increased volume and diversity of immigrants. Modern legislation has attempted to limit immigration to political refugees, and also to curb illegal immigration, while raising the number of immigrants with specific skills. Continued flight of businesses and individuals to the suburbs brought transformation and crisis in the nation's urban areas, but the 1990s witnessed a revival and renewal in some major cities. Technological change has ushered in amazing economic transformations. The most noteworthy new technologies are those in biotechnology, high-performance computing, and communications systems. Innovations in credit, electronic banking, franchising, and globalization, especially through the widespread use of computers, have affected business. Employment in traditional manufacturing areas declined while unions saw their membership and political power...
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...established by immigrants; every single person living in America, other than Native Americans, is a descendant of an American immigrant. All throughout U.S. History, immigrants have helped shape the nation into what it is widely known as today: a ‘melting pot’. The U.S. has far more immigrants than any nation in the world. In fact, the 2016 U.S. Census revealed that there were almost 48 million immigrants residing in the U.S. (“U.S. Immigrant Pop…”), about four times that of Russia, the nation with the second highest number of immigrants (“30 Countries…”). However, percentage-wise, the U.S. still hasn’t reached the position it was at in 1910: a whopping 14.7 percent of the total population (“U.S. Immigrant...
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...American economic system of the early twentieth century. Coming from Lithuania with the hopes of a better life, Jurgis’ family lands in Chicago with the pursuit to prosper in the new and exciting land. From the start, the family encounters trouble: scammers in both Lithuania and America deplete the family’s savings, the saloon-keeper at Jurgis and Ona’s wedding overprices them for the amount of alcohol guests have consumed, and the conditions of Packingtown are not what they expected. In the ensuing chapters, the family’s luck changes from bad to worse when a multitude of family members die and jobs are repeatedly taken away from many of the group. Sinclair demonstrates through the optimistic and naive Rudkus-Lukoszaite family that American capitalism is destructive to the common worker and the immigrant class. In the proclaimed “wage slavery,” Sinclair describes how the immigrant population was "dependent for its opportunities of life, upon the whim of men every bit as brutal and unscrupulous as the old-time slave drivers” (Sinclair 126). In Chicago, the immigrant...
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...States has long held the title of a “land of immigrants,” a place where the downtrodden and rejected peoples of the old world could come to ply their trade, to attempt to carve out a meaningful existence for themselves. The American Dream was alive and well in the early waves of immigrants, as they came from the desired parts of Europe: namely England and Western Europe. They came with fire in their spirit, and determination to make a better life for themselves than they were able to have back in the Old World. They adapted, they assimilated, and they were able to become functioning and respected members of American society. It wasn’t until the second waves of immigrants arrived that a major opposition was formed, as fear of the foreigner spurred “old” immigrants and the “old” families of the northeast to preserve their ideals. It was with a deliberate and systematic approach that legislation was passed between the years of 1882 and 1929, keeping out those less than desired groups: Italians, Chinese, those from southwestern Europe. The White Anglo-Saxon Protestant preference was alive and out in the open in the American public, and all other policymaking went towards limiting only those who were thought not to possess the potential to become the epitome of the American citizen. The history of American immigration is one that is littered with racism, and more often than not blatant discrimination against one group or another at a certain time. This was most...
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...American Labor Movement Labor unions began to develop in America in the nineteenth century because of the need for better safety and job security for workers. Workers formed labor unions in response to dangerous working conditions, low wages, and long hours. In the wake of the Industrial Revolution, men, women, and even children worked in unsafe factories for ten to twelve hours daily for a meager pay. These harsh conditions forced workers to look for ways to improve their situation. They eventually learned that by banding together and bargaining as a group, they could pressure employers to respond to their demands. The development of labor unions follows the development of the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution brought about skilled laborers and a huge increase in production, thanks to a better production system. The new factory system brought workers both steady employment in good economic times and bad working conditions and unemployment during depressions. Consequently, the Industrial Revolution changed the American class structure, turning skilled tradesmen into the working class, who found it very difficult to escape factory work. Printers, carpenters, tailors, and weavers formed local craft unions in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. Their main objective was to maintain craft standards, to prevent employers from hiring unskilled workers and immigrant labor. The largest labor organizations emerged between 1866 and 1936. The National Labor...
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...During the progressive era, which was a time of social and political reform, powerful institutions known as political machines influenced the major cities of the US. Political machines were small groups headed by one boss that commanded enough votes to maintain both administrative and political control. An example of one was Tammany hall who was headed by a man named William Magear Tweed. Their main purpose was to maintain their grip on the city of New York. But, in order to do that, they served in a variety of roles to the people of New York City. Their roles of political machines at the turn of the twentieth century was to maintain political control, help immigrants and develop cities. In addition, political machines maintained political...
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...During the period of 1865 to 1910, America experienced changes economically, politically, and socially. Economically, industrialization such as the railroad made the American economy prosper. Politically, the Republicans were in charge of the American campaigns. Many of the candidates were wealthy and political chaos often occurred (Pettengill, 7-12-2016). Socially, America was divided based upon minority groups. These groups were limited to not only Blacks and Hispanics but also the Irish, Germans and Asians. Working class Americans were not free based upon racial discriminations, hazardous working conditions and economical division between social classes. Over 25 million immigrants migrated from countries such as Ireland, Germany and Asia for a new American opportunity. According to the American Society in the Industrial Age, the transition to America was very difficult...
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...of the rule of law; and dissenting Protestant values of individualism, and work ethic." (p.62) Huntington proposes that the very heart of American culture; language, religion and the American Creed is being threatened by the unassimilation of immigrants. Long before America was referred to as "The Great Melting pot," a term coined by an immigrant, Israel Zangwill. It was settled by British Protestants in search for religious freedom and other natural resources. The founding fathers set out to create for themselves an elite culture and stamp its image on the world. For over 300 hundred years this civilization has been the essential and the lasting piece of American identity. These settlers brought with them beliefs and government that they inherited from England; thus forth giving birth to the American Creed- principals of liberty, equality, individualism, government and private property, a statement of values and beliefs that embody America. Huntington cites English as the main and dominant language of America, which was actively taught to immigrants. Teaching everyone to learn to speak and write English ensured communication among the immigrant groups. Just ask the Germans, whose immigration efforts of the nineteenth-century were of no avail. According to Huntington they wanted to maintain German-speaking enclaves in Wisconsin and to use German in...
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