The massive number of European immigrants that entered into America’s east coast from the late 1800’s and on forever influenced the growth and development of the country. Fleeing crop failure, famine, rising taxes, and land/job shortages, many immigrants journeyed to the United States because it was perceived as the land of economic opportunity. With hope for a brighter future, nearly 27 million immigrants arrived in the United States between 1880 and 1920. The majority of the immigrants entered through Ellis Island, leading it to become the gateway to America and become recognized as a national symbol. Many of the immigrants, not knowing the way America worked, didn’t stray too far from the East Coast and moved into areas filled with people of similar languages, traditions, and beliefs.
This situation caused a large emigration of people from Europe, the first frame in the image of America as the land of opportunity. In Europe, the lower classes faced the effects of overpopulation, “a crowded society, where every place, is over-stocked.” In comparison, Document 6 continues on to say, “there is room for everybody in America.” (Document 6) Overpopulation in Europe caused a shortage of land and an excess unskilled labor force left jobless. According to (Document 2), there was indeed economic opportunity for the aforementioned jobless “poor people.” of all kinds. (Document 4) Wage rates in the American colonies were “three times” as high as in England and Wales, suggestion of all the colonies offered great opportunities for poor men and women. “So not only was there promise of economic opportunity, but also a sense of economic equality.” Abundant land encouraged settlement; and the need for people to work land encouraged people to marry early, and have large families.
Aware of the extra-money available to working families, the different pieces of a Big Business have acted in such a way to suck that extra-money from the poor families. Accordingly, railroads raised their prices on food suppliers; Standard Oil increased their fuel prices. In addition large grocery and department stores have added a greater price to their goods as well. As a result, the cost of living from 1870-1900 stayed approximately constant despite decreasing food and fuel prices. For the great majority of Americans, their standard of living remained the same, or even declined in response to the rise of tenement housing and an influx of immigrant workers.
From 1900 until the Second World War the largest immigrant group to the UK were the Irish, by 1921 the number of Irish-born in Britain was 523,767. Pull factors for the Irish were mainly economic factors such as; the prospect of comparatively well-paid employment in Britain, letters home from family members who had already emigrated, and hope of owning land to grow a farm was the dream of every Irishman. The biggest push factor was to escape from the great famine which took over in mid 19th century. The Home Office estimated that during the 20th century the population of west coast of Scotland rose by 13 per cent, and population of north-west England rose by almost 20%, from 1900 to 1920. However such high migration rates brought consequences with it.
Ireland became so dependent on the white potato that when a potato blight raved the crops, Ireland experienced widespread famine. Europe experienced the most benefit from the exchange of foods and crops during this time; old world crops such as sugar, coffee, soybeans, oranges, and bananas could be cultivated in new world climates which fueled the demand for these crops . This increased the available supply of food and significantly dropped the prices, allowing the general population access leading to the adoption of new foods in all parts of the world. Perhaps the most beneficial crop discovery in the new world was the
2. The children accounted for a high proportion of the total population. The growth in population was also caused because of people migrating from Europe to the Americas. B. The Agricultural Revolution 1.
Early immigrants to America were looking for economic opportunity and political freedom and were willing to take the chance at new land. Late 1800’s America saw many European immigrants from Italy,Poland, Russia, and other southeastern Europe countries. 20th century has attracted other immigrants to America as the rate of immigration from Europe has slowed America has seen a increase of
XXX 1st year FINAL RESEARCH ESSAY TOPIC NUMBER: 2 In the 19th century America became the biggest target for thousands of European families, who wanted to start new life in the Promised Land. After months spent in underdeck of a ship, the lucky ones, more dead than alive, landed in America. The life was more than hard. They worked from daybreaks to dusks and the daily routine must have been getting them down. But they found many activities and ways of entertainment that helped them to overcome their isolation, loneliness and discomfort.
Industrialization also caused an increase in urbanization. Social, political, and economic changes were caused by rapid increase in industrialization and urbanization that took place in the United State. The United States had industrialized and urbanized rapidly between 1890 and 1920, which caused many social changes in society. According to Jacob Riis, urbanization had caused tenements to develop in major cities. The build up of these tenements led to the rise of gangs (Doc 1).
The 1920s were not such a positive time period in the US history. What made the 20s negative was farmers’ hardships, the overuse of credit, and re-rise of the KKK. American farmers were able to make profits during WWI because demand for war products was high. After the war, when everything returned to normal, demand for farm products also fell. Farms and factories that were prosperous during the war now faced difficulties to sell their products.