![]() With the rise of new industries, comes the rise of several new jobs. All these jobs were found in cities, so this is where people went. Cities grew mainly in the north, since farms were more in the south. But with the decrease of farming and increase of factory jobs, farmers gave up their plantations and looked for factory work. The rapid urbanization of America had some harsh consequences. So many people were crowded into tight spaces, causing serious sanitation issues. Most people lived in tenements, which are overcrowded and unsanitary apartments. There was a lack of clean water, which caused disease and filth. Because of this, filters and chlorination were invented. Another issue was that trash and sewage were being thrown into the streets. This was extremely unhealthy and caused a lot of disease. So people created sewers and started sanitation companies. All these issues were resolved by people. This is how America's cities have become the way they are today. (source)
The huge increase of population in cities was not just from Southerners moving North. People from all over the world immigrated to these cities, looking for work. In the West was mainly Chinese immigrants. In the East was mainly Irish. They both worked on the Transcontinental Railroad. But the very first immigrants were from West and North Europe. Between 1492 and the 1800's, these people came from England, Germany, Scotland, Ireland, and Scandinavia. Then, there were immigrants from East and South Europe, Asia, and South America. They all came in the 1800's, and were from places in and around Italy, Poland, Russia, Greece, Japan, Mexico, and China. People came for several reasons. Particularly because of the ideas that America construed. The ideas of freedom, being the "land of milk and honey," and the "promised land" intrigued people immensely. People left everything they had to follow the American dream and to have industrial and farm jobs. But there were also some push factors that drove people away from wanting to come to America. Religious persecution, fear of not being able to find a job, and not being able to have land. When all these immigrants came to America, they began their own ethnic neighborhoods. Communities of similar people lived together. Similar in terms of race, culture, origin, religion, and language. Living together, they helped each other to survive in America. But as all this was happening, another group of people were not in favor of the immigrants. Nativism is when nativists favored native-born Americans. These people wanted immigrants to assimilate. They did not trust immigrants at all, and were often very racist. They formed the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882, which banned unskilled Chinese immigrants from entering the US. In addition to the massive urbanization and immigration, was the rise of political machines. They are political parties formed in cities, which had a policy of services in exchange for votes and money. This was very popular with immigrants. Run by the "party boss" in the specific city, many of these political machines had a lot of scandal. They rigged elections, filled city jobs with cronies (people loyal to the machine), were graft, meaning corrupt, and they received several kickbacks, which are bribes. They were basically tricking immigrants into voting for them, by giving them things like jobs, homes, and lucrative government contracts. (source) The Pendleton Civil Service Act, formed in 1883, was something meant to stop the political machines. It is a federal law stating that government jobs should be given based on merit. This ended the political machines from using cronies for city jobs. (source) |