America Society (1865-1890) Flashcards
What was mass immigration like in American society? (9)
-(1860-1890) 10 million immigrants in America pulled by empty land to be filled (mythic idea), need for labour and land for free
-(1866) Statue of Liberty built [symbol]
-immigrants were recruited by shipping companies (at reception Centre of castle garden, New York)
-Scandinavias and Germans settle in rural areas
-Irish immigrants settle in urban areas
-Chinese employed in western section of grand transcontinental road
GERMAN SETTLING
(Suburb ‘over the rhine’ in Cincinnati, Ohio became community for German cultural traditions)
(Wisconsin became German America city of German -language newspapers and brewery
(1882) immigration of us was 788,922
(1881-1890) was immigration to us was 5.2 million
What were the consequences of immigration?
•immigrants treated with suspicion and hostility. With there jobs being threatened
•cause class prejudice and racial prejudice
-(Chinese Americans called ‘yellow peril’ in newspapers)
-(considered to replace African-American slaves)
-(called ‘colored’ and ‘alien’)
== Chinese exclusion act (1882) prevent Chinese poeple gaining citizenship in US for 3 years.
‘ in (1879) people though cheap Chinese labor would undermine white, with Hayes warning Americans on a ‘present Chinese invasion’
-Chinese provide half labor force for san-Francisco key industries. Lots worked on farm growing plants
What is nativism?
People of ‘America stock’ whose parents were born in US felt necessary to protect American values against ‘alien’ wages brought by new immigrants ‘America first’
What other social divisions were there?
Social division:
• against industrial capitalism (grangers movement and knights of labor)
• support for female suffrage, opinions were split between radicals( Elizabeth, Susan) and conservative wing of women’s movement, until (1920) national women association suffrage established
Who was Elizabeth say Stanton?
-leader for fighting for women suffrage
-opposed 14th and 15th amendment’s because she thought women voting power should be equal to African Americans
-president of National American women suffrage association in (1890)
Who was who was Susan B. Anthony?
Social reformer and campaigner for women rights
(1866) founded America equal rights association
(1878) played key role representing an constitutional Amendment in congress to give women right to vote
What was the grangers movement?
Form (1867) to help farmers with loans, advice & solidarity. Hostile to railroad companies. To promote agriculture. (grow corn & wheat.)
They peaked in 1880.
-(1885) 50,000 members
-union of small farmers
-(1877) had favourable Supreme Court ruling against state Illinois
During the 1870 there was a shift in alliance movement that took more political approach. By 1890 they were a significant political force that attacked cartels
What were the main social divisions in American society?
-immigrants with white American (very big)
-farmers and business (quite big)
-women rights (small)
What areas had regional divisions in America?
-north & east ( immigrant and working class)
-new south (African Americans and ex-confederates)
-Wild West ( plain Indians and farmers/settlers )
Why did north & east have regional division
•(1860-1890) population of New York doubled
• (1860-1890) Chicago population increased from over 100,000 to one million
•booming cities formed, New York, Chicago, Great Lake, Ohio, Pennsylvania
•• (railroad strike 1877) : workers were fighting wage cuts in Ohio railroad, then in Maryland, leading to violent clashes in Philadelphia (more than 40 people killed by militiamen)
••• orange riots (1870) 8 people were killed when march through New York by Irish protestants, was heckled by Irish Catholics, (1871) huge riot between faction cause 60 civilian deaths
[Irish gangs dominated Chicago south]
Why did the new south have regional division?
• division between African Americans and former-slave owning society’s
(African Americans were unsure to be moderate or radical in there approach)
•south was envious and bitter about losing civil war, losing position in politics. Complained against ‘Yankees’ ‘carpet baggers’ ‘scalawags’
Why was there social division in the Wild West?
•treaties with plain Indian nation were undermined by white actions
(Gold prospectors went to black hills in 1874, breaking 1868 treaty of fort Laramie, causing war against natives)
•mining towns boomed in Virginia city, Nevada, then deserted when minerals found somewhere else
•mythic idea: land was space waiting to be rained by pioneers who represent American values
•railroad progression
• became popular in entertainment ‘ buffalo bills wild west’ stage show toured country by former frontier scout) (promise in south)
Affect plain Indian and farmers
How did social divisions in Wild West affect plain Indians?
By 1890 plain Indians way of life was gone. Tribal lands were given to settlers. Natives confined to small spaces, uneconomic reservations
[marginalized]
How did social divisions in the Wild West affect farmers?
They presented image of pioneer settlers, but pushed aside by ‘big agriculture like mining and ranching. Making them economically struggle to survive.
(This started to the rise of big organizations to arise from demand to buy farming goods like seeds and equipment)
-consequences grangers movement
How problematic was the position of African Americans?
Freedmen were forced into sharecropping
They found it difficult to vote due to segregation imposed by white Americans
Social tensions between’ blacks’ (who were slaves until) 1865 and ‘browns’ ( who gained free status earlier than 1865)
Increased lynching
1877 compromise made laws passed that protected African Americans no longer enforced
Racially mixed schools not allowed
Half of Americans in south illiterate
