Social Divisions Flashcards
What was immigration to the US pulled by?
Powerful social and economic forces.
- There was empty land to be filled
- Expanding industries in need of a labour force
- Among most Americans, a willingness to welcome new arrivals to the ‘land of the free’.
What happened as industrialisation and urbanisation developed?
More and more immigrants were sucked into the expanding towns and cities.
Where were most of the Chinese labourers employed?
In the construction of western sections of the great transcontinental railroads.
Describe the two different attitudes towards the ‘melting pot’.
Many Americans believed optimistically that it would forge new American citizens.
Though there were pessimists who worried about possible tensions between peoples of so many languages and religions.
What reflected the influx of immigrants?
The population patterns of the growing towns and cities (e.g. Chinatown)
Why were some Americans hostile towards immigrants?
They were seen as a threat to jobs or existing social and cultural norms.
Who were the Nativists?
People of ‘American stock’ who felt it necessary to protect American values against ‘alien’ ways brought in by new immigrants. They often used the slogan “America first”.
Describe the strong reaction against Chinese Americans.
Newspapers and politicians campaigned fiercely to stop the ‘Yellow Peril’ of Chinese Immigration.
What did pressure from the ‘Yellow Peril’ push Congress to do?
Pass the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882, stopping the immigration of ‘skilled or unskilled’ Chinese workers. Prevented Chinese in the US from gaining American citizenship, and made it hard for them to return if they visited China.
Describe the Chinese labourers during the 1860s.
Thousands were brought in to work on the construction of the western sections of the Union Pacific railroad. Afterwards, many of them moved to swell the existing Chinese American communities in California.
What did Chinese workers provide half the labour force for?
San Francisco’s key industries: boots and shoes, wool textiles, tobacco and cigar-making, and sewing.
What did many employers admire about Chinese workers?
They were cheap, hard-working and caused few social disturbances. Many admired their disciplined work ethic and some thought they would make better plantation owners than black freedmen BUT these groups still lumped together as ‘alien’.
What did the economic depression that followed the panic of 1873 accentuate?
Fears that cheap Chinese labour would undermine white workers.
What did President Hayes warn America about?
The ‘present Chinese invasion’ - the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed in 1882 and was the first restriction on immigration to specify a particular ethnic group. Only repealed in 1943.
What did the farmers and workers protest about?
The rise of industrial capitalism - they set up organisations such as the Granger movement and Knights of Labor to defend their interests. The emerging middle classes organised pressure groups to fight back against the rise of big business.
