6.9 - Responses to Immigration in the Gilded Age

Opposition to Immigration

• Labor unions opposed immigration as employers used immigrants to depress wages and break strikes.

• Employers feared immigrants would advocate radical reforms and blamed them for labor unrest.

• Nativists worried that immigrants would take jobs and weaken the Anglo majority’s culture, with significant prejudice against Roman Catholics.

• Social Darwinists viewed southern and eastern Europeans and all non-Europeans as biologically inferior, supporting racial intolerance.

Restrictions on Chinese and Other Immigrants

• The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 banned all new immigration from China due to hostility, mainly from western states.

• Restrictions in 1882 targeted “undesirable” persons like paupers, criminals, and those diagnosed as mentally incompetent.

• The Contract Labor Law of 1885 restricted temporary workers to protect American jobs.

• Literacy tests and more rigorous medical examinations were introduced at Ellis Island after 1892.

• Nativist sentiments increased during the 1890s depression, using immigrants as scapegoats for economic problems.

Impact of Restrictions

• Anti-immigrant sentiment and restrictions did not stop the flow of immigrants; the foreign-born population remained between 13 and 15 percent from 1860 to 1920.

• The Statue of Liberty continued to symbolize hope for immigrants until restrictive Quota Acts in the 1920s.

Boss and Machine Politics

• Political machines, such as Tammany Hall in New York City, welcomed immigrants to gain their loyalty for future elections.

• Political machines, led by a “boss,” provided jobs, housing, and food to immigrants in exchange for votes.

• While they brought services to cities, they were also known for corruption and fraud through bribery, as seen with “Boss” Tweed in New York City, who stole millions from public funds.

Settlement Houses

• Middle-class reformers established settlement houses in immigrant neighborhoods to address poverty and help immigrants assimilate.

• The most famous was Hull House in Chicago, founded by Jane Addams in 1889.

• Settlement houses provided services like English classes, early-childhood education, industrial arts training, and cultural activities.

• By 1910, over 400 settlement houses existed in major cities, aiding immigrants and their children in integrating into the middle class.