Immigration,

Industrialization and
Urbanization
By:
Adrianna Anderson and Bailey Carney
Overview – (in order of book)
Industrialization began after the Reconstruction the nation went through after the Civil War. The
large increase in immigrants and abundant, raw materials were some of the primary factors
influencing the development. Other factors included new technology, entrepreneurs, and a
government willing to assist the business times and an expanding domestic market.

Some of the famous “robber barons” of the time were Morgan, Vanderbilt, Carnegie and
Rockefeller, leading each to successful industrial empires. Morgan got his rise to fame through
the building of banks and perfecting the idea of the trust. Vanderbilt used horizontal
consolidation to join his many railroad companies together. Carnegie began a steel business, after
borrowing money from Morgan. He used vertical consolidation in order to control everything
that went into controlling steel mills, including mines, railroads and other enterprises.
Rockefeller was famous for starting the oil business called Standard Oil in 1870. He controlled
90 to 98% of the refining capacity due to his use of vertical and horizontal integration.
Immigrants were the main source of changes in American. New immigrants came from
southern, eastern and central Europe while old immigrants cam from the north and west portions
of Europe. They mainly settled on the eastern coast due to easy jobs and cheap labor. Immigrants
also ended up settling in their own communities, often called slums. Yellow dog contracts were
documents signed by workers stating that they would not join a labor union; this often happened
to many immigrants at the time. They were often the last hired and first fired because they could
easily be replaced at any time and offered to work for very low wages.
Labor unions had difficulties throughout the 1870s. The National Labor Union was the
first attempt to unite people who had difficulties and sought equality in the workplace. The
National Labor Union allowed many different types of workers in, but excluded women. The
union ultimately failed in the Panic of 1873. Molly Maguires were male workers from
Pennsylvania who used terrorist tactics to intimidate coal workers through violence and terror
from 1876 to 1878. The Knights of Labor also rose during the late 1860s and early 1870s. They
allowed many types of workers, even women, but excluded lawyers, bankers, liquor dealers and
professional gamblers. Their broad social and economic outlook caused the party to be loosely
jointed and ultimately dissolved after the Haymarket Square incident. The American Federation
of Labor was founded in 1886 by Samuel Gompers. Skilled workers were the only people who
were allowed to join. They supported higher wages and shorter working hours, along with safer
environments.
Many of the labor unions also went through a difficult time. The first great strike between
labor unions and management was the Railroad Strike of 1877. Wage cuts and large amounts of
employees being laid off were the main causes of the 45-day strike. Once President Hayes used
his troops to suppress the strikers were they fully able to continue working again. The strike
caused major backups in transporting goods from coast to coast. The Haymarket Square incident
in 1886 dissolved the Knights of Labor when a bomb was thrown into a crowd. The most likely
suspects were anarchists that had nothing to do with the Knights of Labor. The Homestead Strike
in 1892 was linked to the AFL in that Pennsylvania iron and steel workers went over strike
because of salary reductions. The Pinkertons were called in to break the strike but failed and the
state’s army was called in to finish the job. Eugene V. Debs led the strike on the Pullman Palace
Car Co. because of job losses and wage cuts. Railroads throughout Chicago were stopped, as
well as many places throughout the US traveling to Chicago. The strike was ended by President
Cleveland’s order to break the violence with federal troops.
Cities during the time were unsanitary, but at the same time, drew in crowds of
immigrants and travelers. The Chicago World’s Fair in 1893 expanded public parks and cleaned
up the city, the “City Beautiful Movement,”.
Many people now had more time for leisure, with paychecks rising slightly as well.
“Eight hours for work, eight hours for rest, and eight hours for what we will.” Women were also
now the main consumers in America, purchasing from catalogs.
Art and literature during the late 1800s was depressing, yet realistic. The Jungle,
by Upton Sinclair, described the meat packing industry and what went on behind the scenes.
There were also many books about the self-made man; one famously written by Horatio Alger
called Bound to Rise, believed to be the American dream to go from rags to riches like the
entrepreneurs did.
Political machines, such as Tammany Hall, used the new immigrants in order to gather
support for specific parties. In exchange for the vote, they were offered jobs that they would
otherwise have a hard time obtaining. William Marcy Tweed (AKA Boss Tweed) was the leader
of Tammany Hall, one of the most famous at the time.
Politics within the late nineteenth century were often divided within themselves. For
example, the Republicans were split between the “Stalwarts”, those who favored the old spoils
system, like the politic machine, and the “Half-Breeds”, those who pushed for civil service
reform and that were elected to posts within the government. The election of 1880 was won by
James A. Garfield, a Republican Half-Breed and his vice-president Chester A. Arthur, a Stalwart.
Unfortunately, Garfield was assassinated in 1881. Arthur’s first act passed was the Pendleton Act
in 1883; it established a competitive written examination for federal jobs. This was looked down
on by many Stalwarts, as well as Arthur’s decision to keep Garfield’s cabinet.
The election of 1884 was between James G. Blaine, a Republican Half-Breed, and Grover
Cleveland, a Democrat. The Mugwumps, good traitors of the Republicans, supported Cleveland
and caused him to win. Cleveland was one of the few presidents who were against corruption
and boss rule during the time. He also strengthened the executive power, by calming that
executive appointments were the prerogative of the executive and not the Senate. The Interstate
Commerce Act of 1887 allowed shipping via railroad not to be charged between short and long
haul rates.
Benjamin Harrison was elected president in 1888, defeating Cleveland. The Sherman
Anti-Trust Act of 1890 was passed by both Senate and House, passing a basic federal enactment
regulating the operations of corporate trusts, used to suppress labor rebellions. The McKinley
Tariff of 1890 caused prices to rise on both American and imported goods which in turn, made
the people poorer.
Cleveland’s second term began in 1892, defeating Benjamin Harrison. At this election,
the Populist Party also began to take roots.
The election of 1896 was between Republican William McKinley (from the McKinley
Tariff), and William Jennings Bryan, former Populist, ran for the Democratic vote. It also led to
the end of the People’s / Populist Party.
The Populist / People’s Party wanted to reach out to the farmers and help them, bringing
them together like a community. They also called for the coinage of silver. William Jennings
Bryan was one of the most famous Populist leaders with his “Cross of Gold” speech.
Review Questions
1 – The Haymarket Incident involved
a). a riot between striking workers and police
b). scandal involving corruption within the Grand administration
c). allegations of corruption on the part of the Republican presidential candidate James G. Blaine
d). a disastrous fire that pointed out the hazardous working conditions in some factories
e). an early challenge to the authority of states to regulate the railroad industry

2 – All the following statements are true of Henry George EXCEPT:

a). He argued that increasing prosperity was causing increasing poverty
b). He believed that government should take a laissez-faire philosophy
c). He asserted the economic inequality was the result of private ownership of land
d). He favored a single tax on “unearned increment” of land
e). He desired large scale public works

3 – Immigrants coming to America from eastern and Southern Europe during the late 19th century
were most likely to
a). settle in large cities in the northeast or Midwest
b). settle on farms in the upper Midwest
c). seek to file homesteads on the Great Plains
d). migrate to the south and southwest
e). return to their homelands after only a brief stay in the US

4 – The Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890

a). required the federal government to purchase silver
b). forbade the federal government to purchase silver
c). made it illegal for private citizens to purchase silver
d). made it illegal for private citizens to purchase federal lands with anything but silver
e). allowed the federal government to buy silver at the discretion of the president

5 – Edward Bellamy’s book Looking Backward was

a). a fictional exposé of the meatpacking industry
b). a detailed program for social reform
c). the catalyst of the social gospel movement
d). a denunciation of machine politics in big-city government
e). a futuristic utopian fantasy

6 – Which of the following groups was the first target of Congressional Legislation restricting
immigration expressly on the basis of national origin
a). Northern and western Europeans
b). Chinese
c). Italians
d). Africans
e). Latin Americans
7 – US presidents between 1876 and 1900 were considered among the weakest in American
history. A major reason for this was that
a). none of them served more than on term in office
b). they considered themselves caretakers, not dynamic initiators of new legislation
c).Congress enacted several new laws restricting presidential power during this period
d). they were the products of machine politics, political followers who were typically
incompetent leaders
e). they were limited in their actions by the overwhelming Populist sentiment of their time

8 – The Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 was aimed primarily at

a). increasing interstate trade by forbidding states from levying tariffs on goods transported from
other states
b). curing abusive pricing and hauling policies by the nations railroads
c). increasing interstate trade through government assistance in efforts to build new canals, roads,
and railroads
d). curbing abusive pricing and hauling policies by the nation’s ocean-going, river-going, and
canal-going shipping companies
e). increasing interstate commerce by offering financial incentives to companies that operated
offices of manufacturing plants in more than one state

9 – The only dominant, broad-based labor union in the United States from 1870 – 1890 was the
a). National Labor Union
b). Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)
c). American Federation of Labor (AFL)
d). Congress of Industrial Organization (CIO)
e). Knights of Labor

10 – The political machines such as Tammany Hall which ran American cities at the turn of the
century derived their strongest support from
a). industrial leaders and business elites
b). organized religion
c). wealthy landowners living in rural areas outside the cities
d). the middle class
e). poor immigrants and ethnic communities in the inner cities

11 – Which of the following was used as “scientific evidence” by wealthy American

industrialists in the latter half of the nineteenth century to prove that they deserved the wealth
they had accumulated?
a). Broca’s research into the functioning of various centers of the human brain
b). Darwin’s theory of natural selection
c). Freud’s theories of human psychology
d). The research of Louis Pasteur on biological processes
e). Karl Marx’s research on the economic development of societies
12 – The term “robber baron” refers to
a). wealthy landowners in the antebellum South
b). late-nineteenth-century industrialists
c). early-nineteenth-century Federalists
d). early-twentieth-century Populists
e). late-eighteenth-century British mercantilists

13 – Henry George’s most famous book was

a). Looking Backward
b). Progress and Poverty
c). The Jungle
d). The Shame of the Cities
e). Sister Carrie

14 – The controversy over the presidential election in 1876 between Samuel J. Tilden and
Rutherford B. Hayes arose because
a). the Greenback-Labor party’s presidential candidate prevented either Tilden or Hayes from
winning a majority of the electoral votes
b). no candidate received a majority of the popular vote as required by the Constitution
c). three Southern states, South Carolina, Louisiana, and Florida, submitted contested electoral
votes
d). the Democratic Party withdrew its nomination of Tilden
e). Ulysses S. Grant, the incumbent president, refused to vacate the presidency to either Tilden of
Hayes

15 - In the cartoon shown below Thomas Nast presents Boss Tweed as

a). a politician rules by greed

b). a benefactor of the public
c). a political reformer
d). a politician corruptly influenced by business
e). a politician who rejected business influence

16 – One of the major effects of the Industrial Revolution of the late 19th century in the US was
a). an increased emphasis on worker health and safety issues
b). an increased emphasis on speed rather than quality of work
c). an increased emphasis on high quality, error free work
d). an increase in the number of small industrial facilities, which could operate more efficiently
than larger, more costly industrial plants
e). a decrease in worker productivity as a result of continuous clashes between unions and
management

17 – The phrase “Eight hours for work, eight hours for rest and eight hours for what we will”
emphasizes a turn of the century trend toward
a). more daily devotion to religious activities
b). a greater emphasis on volunteerism and civic activities among the wealthy industrialists and
land owners
c). a greater emphasis on the Protestant work ethic by the middle and upper class
d). a greater availability of leisure time for working Americans
e). the deterioration of moral standards among the middle class at this time

18 – The growth of most American cities in 1880 was determined primarily by

a). urban planning by local officials
b). public needs
c). federal regulations
d). British models of ideal urban growth patterns
e). profit motives

Answer key:
1. a
2. b
3. a
4. a
5. e
6. b
7. b
8. b
9. e
10. e
11. b
12. b
13. b
14. d
15. a
16. b
17. d
18. e
Essay #1
Analyze the impact of any two of the following on the American industrial worker between 1865
and 1900:
• Government actions
• Immigration
• Labor unions
• Technological changes

Throughout the late 18th century, times for American workers were changing. New waves
of immigrants and new companies proved beneficial for the economy. The greatest impact on the
American worker was immigration and labor unions. For the workers though, immigration was
not a good thing, it made finding a job more difficult than it already was. The labor unions of the
time though were of great help, making sure the workers got what they wanted.
Immigration impacted the industrial worker in that they took jobs many Americans
considered menial or just did not want to do. The immigrants came from throughout Europe;
South, Central and Eastern Europeans were considered the “new” immigrants as compared to the
“old” immigrants who came from Northern and Western Europe. With the flock of immigrants
coming into the country, it led to the rise of the political machine. One example would be
Tammany Hall, run by Boss Tweed. Political machines were used in order to get immigrants to
vote a certain way in order to be placed in a job. Immigrants began taking many jobs from
Americans because the immigrants were willing to work for less. This contributed to a large pool
of unskilled labor, and at the same time, made the employee easier to replace. Wages and
working conditions were terrible at the time; wages were low since there was no minimum wage
established. The conditions were unsanitary, causing many health issues and sickness. Along
with the cheap wages, they caused a large gap between the poor and rich with the poor often
living in slums and tenements.
Labor unions between 1865 and 1900 affected industrial workers because they proved to
help those who could not stand up for themselves. “Yellow dog” contracts were signed between
employers and employees for fear that the employees would strike against the company and
eventually lose their job if they did so. The first attempt at a labor union was the National Labor
Union. The large amount of workers led to an uncommon interest and eventually died out. The
Knights of Labor soon rose and ended in the Haymarket Riot. The lasting labor union was the
American Federation of Labor. The labor unions did not prove beneficial for those who
consumed the products if there was a strike, but the workers were standing up for something they
believed in.
Throughout the late 1800s, labor unions and immigration both benefited and slightly hurt
the American industrial worker. Immigrants fed the large companies with employees they could
easily replace while labor unions joined together for a common cause.
Essay #2
Song Snippets (Sorry, no rhyming)
(Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star)
Immigration had its fun
Letting new people in
Then up sprang factories (and minimum wage)
Along with many job losses
Then all of it continued
And led to more urbanization

(Row, Row, Row Your Boat)

Industrialization
Has changed the way we work
Bad conditions and horrible bosses
We still work to live!

(Mary Had a Little Lamb)

Rockefeller found some oil, found some oil, found some oil
Vanderbuilt made most railroads
And Morgan had money

(Baa, Baa, Black Sheep)

Hey sir, hey sir,
Have you any money?
No sir, no sir,
Not for you,
One for the Italian
And one for the German,
And one for the Russian
Who lives in the slums.
Glossary / Vocabulary Terms
Politics, Presidents and actions: dudes who did stuff in the country

1. Rutherford B. Hayes – President (1878 – 1881)

2. James A. Garfield – President (1881-1882),assassinated in 1882, Republican Half-Breed

3. Chester A. Arthur – Vice President to Garfield, President after Garfield’s assassination (1882-
1884), Stalwart Republican
4. Pendleton Act – required that federal jobs be filled by a competitive written examination
rather than patronage to a party

5. Grover Cleveland – President (1884-1888), Democrat

6. Benjamin Harrison – President (1888-1896), Republican

7. McKinley Tariff – 1890, highest tariff rates in US history
8. Sherman Anti-Trust Act – limited monopolies / trusts

9. William McKinley – President (1896-1901), Republican

10. William Jennings Bryan – “Cross of Gold” speech, ran in 1896 election, pro-silver coinage,
Democrat

11. Stalwarts – those who believed in the old spoils system (part of Republican Party)
12. Half-Breeds – those who want more reform in the government (part of Republican Party)

Social Creations and Changes:

13. Darwinism – humans evolved through a process of “natural selection”

14. Social Darwinism – Survival of the fittest, especially in the marketplace. Those who were
poor got what they deserved, while the hard workers made it because of their strife.
15. Horatio Alger – Created the myth of the “self-made man.” Claimed that all the rich came
from poor backgrounds and worked their way to the top.
16. Henry George – Wrote Progress and Poverty in 1879. He tried to explain why poverty
existed among the rich in the world. He blamed the problems on the few monopolies because
of land values. He proposed a “single tax” that would give money back to the community;
essentially a communistic way of thinking. Hated laissez-faire.
17. Edward Bellamy – Wrote Looking Backward in 1888. About a couple that goes to the year
2000 and sees that everyone has the same wealth and sees that class divisions are gone and
everyone works together, like a machine.
18. Jacob Riis – Wrote How the Other Half Lives. Slums, he said, were sunless, poisoned, and
dark and dreary. The book was filled with pictures and descriptions of tenement life, which
shocked many people.
19. “City Beautiful Movement”– Cities tried to mimic rebuilding cities such as London and
Berlin, and cleared away the old and created tree-lined roads, with new monumental
buildings. Cities also wanted to do honor for the Columbian exposition in Chicago. The
movement also tried to create symmetry within the cities, instead of the disorder.
20. Public Space – Revolutionized by Frederick Law Olmstead and Calvert Vanx. They created
Central Park, which was made to look as little like the city as possible. These parks were
escapes from the cities and soon many other large cities had their own “central parks.”
21. Tenement – Where many of the poor were grouped together. They were small apartments
which were quite gross and crowded.
22. “Great Fires” – Chicago and Boston suffered through one in 1871, and San Francisco and
Baltimore experienced one after a terrible earthquake.
23. Public Health Service – Started by Alice Hamilton. Tried to fix the environmental
degradation. It identified that pollution in the workplace, chemical waste, and ceramic dust
were all some causes of poor health.
24. Salvation Army – Concentrated on religious revivalism, and later shifted toward an idea of
self-improvement to fight poverty.
25. Chain/Department Stores – Women rose as the new market for stores. Department stores
brought all kinds of shopping together under one roof, made an atmosphere of excitement
and made shopping a glamorous activity with tea rooms and lounges, and they used mass
buying power to make things cheaper for people to buy and better to compete with individual
shops. Chain stores (such as the A&P and the Five and Ten Cent Store) sold goods at lower
prices than competitors, who hated how they stole customers away.
26. Mail Order Catalogs - Montgomery Ward, Sears Roebuck, and others were large parts of this
movement, and showed many the new trends in fashion, décor, and technologies for the
home. People could order as they chose and, though slow, brought things together from all
over.
27. National Consumers League – Formed in the 1890s under Florence Kelley. She tried to make
women known as the prime consumer and buyer and became participants in public life. She
also forced many retailers and manufacturers to improve wages and working conditions.

Immigration topics:

28. Immigration Restriction League – Founded in Boston, it carried the belief that immigrants
should be put through literacy tests, screened, and put through other standards to separate the
good from the bad. It was a form of nativism as well.
29. New Immigrants – Immigration had shifted and now people from southern and eastern
Europe (Italians, Poles, Slavs, Greeks, Russians, and others) were coming to America
looking for jobs.
30. Chinese Exclusion Act – Restricted Asians from immigrating to the U.S. (mostly in
California) because people felt threatened by the amount of jobs they were taking.

31. Political Machine – Also the Boss Rule. Created votes for the political boss by telling
immigrants to vote for said boss to get benefits, such as jobs and houses. It was an extreme
form of patronage.
32. Tammany Hall – Where the most famous boss, Tweed, did his business.
33. William Marcy Tweed – Most famous boss. Worked at Tammany Hall. His excesses landed
him in jail in 1872.
Economics and the Economy:

34. Bessemer Process – A process that makes iron into steel and strengthens it. Led to the
uprising of skyscrapers, which expanded cities upward and not outward. Made room for
more growth.
35. Taylorism – Created by Frederick Windsor Taylor. A type of subdividing of tasks to make less
dependable on a single employee and required less skilled employees to work. Also made
interchangeable parts.
36. Assembly Line – Perfected by Henry Ford in his car plant. It made things cheaper and easier
to produce, thus reducing the price of the product. Ford even raised its wages because it was
cheaper.

37. Panic of 1893 – two corporate failures triggered stock market collapse, worst to date
38. Coxey’s Army – 1894, Jacob S. Coxey led march down Washington, advocating for jobs to
those who were unemployed

Entrepreneurs / Industrialization:

39. Andrew Carnegie – One of the “Robber Barons” or “Captains of Industry.” Famous for large
steel corporation (Carnegie Steel), vertical consolidation, and being a philanthropist. Wrote
Gospel of Wealth, talking about how everyone with wealth should contribute to other
people’s blight.
40. John Rockefeller – Another Robber Baron. Famous for oil and his Standard Oil Company.
Used both vertical and horizontal consolidation. Believed that competition was causing them
to be the best, and wanted to absorb all threats to their stability.
41. J.P. Morgan – Another Robber Baron. Famous for banking corporation.
42. Cornelius Vanderbilt – Another Robber Baron. A railroad magnate.

43. The “Trust” – “created” by Standard Oil and perfected by J.P. Morgan. Synonymous with an
economic combination, but it was instead a particular kind of organization. Under a trust
agreement, stockholders transferred their stocks to a small group of trustees in exchange for
shares in the trust itself.
44. Vertical/Horizontal Consolidation – Vertical is when a company or corporation controls the
companies of their suppliers and users (i.e. a company that makes steel will control mines
and railroads). Horizontal is when a company will control all of the other companies in their
same market (i.e. an oil company will control all of the other oil companies).

Labor Unions and Strikes:

45. National Labor Union – Founded in 1866. A polyglot association. Mostly male workers
(women drove down wages, they thought).
46. Molly Maguires – A terrorist labor group, located in the coal region of Pennsylvania.
Threatened people and even murdered some, even though some of it was actually caused by
the people in the workplace to create conflict.
47. Knights of Labor – Founded in 1869. Open to “all who toiled,” meaning all but lawyers,
bankers, liquor dealers, and professional gamblers. Women were even welcome to join.
Loosely organized.
48. American Federation of Labor – Founded in 1885. An association of autonomous craft
unions and represented skilled workers. Didn’t allow women to join, but fought for their
rights in the workplace.

49. Great Railroad Strike – First truly national labor crisis. Eastern railroads announce a 10%
wage cut and workers go on strike. Trains from Baltimore to St. Louis were stopped, and
state militias were called in to stop it. President Hayes even called the federal troops to stop
the crisis in West Virginia.
50. Haymarket Square Riot – A strike is taking place in Chicago, and police officers try to stop it
and harass the strikers. An anarchist threw a bomb into the crowd and killed many. Mass
chaos ensues and eight anarchists were rounded up and sentenced accordingly. It was tough
for many labor unions.
51. Homestead Strike – Affiliated with the AFL. At Homestead iron and steel plant, wage cuts
were made over the years, and finally the union called for a strike. The workers leave and the
Pinkertons (hired nonunion workers) are called in to break up the strike. Pinkertons arrive by
water, but there is oil and fire on the water, stopping them. Pinkertons leave, but the
Pennsylvania National Guard is called in. Work commences, with National Guard watching.
The union essentially falls apart.
52. Pullman Strike – 1894. Pullman Palace Car Company, manufactured sleeper cars. The
workers live in a town onsite, but wages are soon cut, even though rent stays the same.
Eugene V. Debs supports them and tells them to walk out of their jobs. Transportation from
Chicago to the Pacific is halted. Troops go to the Chicago area and the feds say that they can't
continue striking. They don’t listen, many are jailed, and the strike ends.