The Biggest Migration in Global History

In 1886, the Statue of Liberty Enligh ten-spoting the World, a gift from the people of France, was dedicated by President Gr all over Cleveland. Set at the entrance of New York, the statue was just in time to greet the biggest migration in global history. Between the years of 1860-1910, more than than twenty-two million immigrants had entered the orbit . This influx of immigration became known as the New Immigration. Industrialization had taken over agriculture and the Statesn industries were experiencing ane of their greatest booms, thus a greater demand for workers .Immigrants from all over Europe came in hopes of securing for themselves money to return home with, or in or so cases, a permanent position in a country of abundant opportunity. Although this increase in immigration eventually led to inhibitory immigration laws, ultimately, this group of New Immigrants non tho provided a much-needed sparing service, but also added to the diversity of our melting-pot country. T he promise of immediate employment and policy-making and economic freedom were more than enough reasons to entice immigrants to deal to the coupled States in 1864, well-nigh 194,000 immigrants landed in the States .Until 1897, ninety percentage of all overseas immigrants arrived mostly from northern and western Europe, primarily from spacious Britain, Ireland, Ger many another(prenominal), and Scandinavia . Most of these pertly immigrants came from lands with democratic traditions and education systems and were acceptabled by the native-born Americans because they possess much needed industrial skills. The sensitive immigrants, primarily the Scandinavians, used the homestead Act to receive land in the Midwest and start minor(ip) farms .They had families and skills to offer and were not a migrant group they planned to outride and suffice it in America. However, by 1905, partially encouraged by the new technology of steamships and cheapjacker ocean passage rates, the ite mise of immigrants had risen to 1,285,000 people per annum . More than a million immigrants arrived in each of the years 1905, 1907, and 1910, some fleeing the pogroms (organized massacres) taking place in Eastern Europe, and others seeking a adjudge that they could never have within the borders of their poverty-stricken countries .These later immigrants, arriving from southern and eastern Europe, were Czechs, Poles, Ukrainians, Serbs, Slovaks and Russian, as well as Italians, Greeks, Hungarians, and Rumanians. Approximately ten percent of them were Jews fleeing from the restrictive policies of Czarist Russia under Alexander III, although Roman and Orthodox Catholics were among the arrivals . The masses of immigrants were overwhelming. By 1887, it became obvious that Castle Garden (immigrant receiving station) was too small to process the double numbers of immigrants pouring into the country .Castle Garden had because so small, that criminals were merely hanging out at the re ceiving station to rob the immigrants inside, instead of waiting for them to get on the streets. Thus, the government built Ellis Island and immigrants continued pouring in. The number of immigrants was so great that by 1910 immigrants and their families composed over half the hit population of 18 major cities . In Chicago, eight out of ten residents were immigrants or children of immigrants . The response to these newcomers was unfriendly and inhospitable.The Americans who saw their job security challenged by immigrants that were willing to work longer hours for lower wages did not welcome them. The newcomers did not have the same culture as the start immigrants that had come from Northern and Western Europe. Most lacked skills and very few spoke English, some could not read or write in any language. The Slavonic and Polish (excluding Jewish) immigrant groups were viewed as unskilled, illiterate, and transient and were seen as a bigger terror to American institutions than the ot her European ethnic groups.They were not ambitious people, tended to keep to themselves, and were opposed to the American idea of materialism. Many of the Slavs and Poles distrusted American public coachs they withdrew their children from school and encouraged them to seek training in a trade, thus allowing a high rate of dropouts. Likewise, Italians were discriminated against because they also provided cheap jade and, naturally of a clannish nature, tended to move and settle as a group in Italian communities where they only worked with fellow countrymen and did not learn the focussings of urban life.Americans thought that Italians did not assimilate into the American culture well since they held on their old-country traditions and cultures so strongly. Assimilation was important to the Americans because they were fearful of the change that came with other cultures, not to mention their re directment towards the new languages already replacing English in several parts of the citi es. The Italians also brought the Mafia, which although in Italy enforced justice, came under the accountant of criminals in the US, and became known for racketeering, blackmail, and extortion.The immigrants were blamed for creating disorder and violence in the cities, and in general, were thought to be birds of passage who would use the American economy to make their fortunes, then return to their native land taking American dollars. The ever-growing influx of immigrants disturbed many native-born Americans who were annoyed by the newcomers appearance and way of life. They expected these people, no matter what their place of origin, to conform to Anglo-Saxon patterns of look and to cherish the institutions of America.These anti-immigrant, nativist, sentiments, and the hatred and prejudice toward these immigrants led to the passage of immigration laws that greatly restricted the flow of immigration . The first restrictive law prevented immigration of lunatics, criminals, polygami sts, people with diseases, and those likely to be public charges. In August of 1882, the first federal immigration law was adopted. This law put a foreman tax on all immigrant passengers.In February of 1885, a law prohibiting the meaning of contract labor, called the Foran Act, was enacted. In 1906, leaders of the Boston Immigration Restriction confederacy used the arguments of racial superiority to limit immigration. Finally, in 1924, the Fundamentalists succeeded in passing the National Origins act, which allowed the US to restrict the number of immigrants to 164,000 a year, and also party favour immigrants from Western Europe over those from Eastern Europe .Many American believed that these immigration restrictions were necessary to keep the American institution cities from deteriorating. The population life-time in cities of over 30,000 increased from ten percent of the total in 1860 to more than twenty-five percent of the total US population by 1900 . The pressure of the t remendous inflow of immigrants quickly outstripped the ability of the nations established institutions to cope with them.Already poor in the Old Country, for the most part, they arrived in America penniless and made their homes in the growing tenements of Americas major cities. The severe strain on the housing web site coupled with discriminatory practices eventually led to the creation of ghettos. Women and children were often sent to work to contribute to the survival of the family, old-world views that eventually led to in large quantities exploitation of child labor. Poverty on a never-before-seen scale became the norm in Americas urban centers.Perplexed, poor, and lacking knowledge of the American lifestyle, these immigrants were used as a low-paid labor force for dirty jobs that goose egg else wanted and felt the harshness of Industrialism the most. They did not know their bosses, class fretfulness often divided management and labor, and their interests and wants were of little concern to the corporations. Because these people did not have the proper education, many of them remained unskilled or semi-unskilled throughout their lives.Although many could not attain the work skills they needed, they gained many other things. By the archaean 1900s, ninety percent of those who could not speak English learned to do so in less than ten years after they arrived, and only a third was still illiterate . Despite their many hardships, the new immigrants were determined to make it in the New World. For example, the Slavs ability to take the whip jobs and stick with them enabled them to become one of the top two ethnic groups representing employees of Americas leading industries .It was the clashing of old-world views with those of new-world ideas that forced compromises that helped to advance cordial and political thoughts. The cities would not have grown without people to provide cheap labor in the factories, and it was the willingness to provide a cheap sou rce of labor and to work the most difficult and menial jobs that helped enable the United state to make the economic gains that she made.