19th Century Immigration Analysis

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During the late 19th century, there was an influx of immigration in America due to the desire for religious freedom and poor economic conditions. These immigrants, coming from Europe and China, settled in industrial states such as New York and Chicago for the job opportunities on railroads and in factories. Because the rise of immigration in industrial states, there was a great requisite for housing. In response, tenements gained popularity, but while they helped to solve housing issues, they often exposed immigrants to terrible conditions and diseases, putting them at a great disadvantage.
Immigrants during the late 19th century often came from poverty stricken families who had little to nothing in terms of money. Because of this, they settled …show more content…
They easily gained jobs as factory workers in these cities because they worked for much lower wages than whites, allowing them to sustain an extremely cheap lifestyle, and create a dominant immigrant workforce. As a response to this immigrant domination within factories and on railroads, anti-immigrant semitism began to grow through the means of nativism and groups such as the Ku Klux Klan. The United States government also began to take action as immigrants were prevented from voting, and later were forced to take literacy tests to gain admittance into the United States. Soon, laws were placed on specific groups of immigrants such as in the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. This act prevented Chinese immigrants from immigrating to America for working, only allowing the entry of merchants and their families, scholars, students, and travelers for pleasure. The effect of the Chinese Exclusion Act was evident in states such as California, as the Chinese population decreased from 72,372 in 1890 to 45,753 in 1900. Besides the racial issues arising, immigrants also posed …show more content…
Riis. His book was filled with photos of the harsh conditions of the tenements and led to the reform movements that many Americans took place in. As a response, the US government began developing health codes and building codes. Two new tenement laws, passed in the 1890s and 1901, outlawed the construction of new tenements on 25-foot lots, and mandated improved sanitary conditions, fire escapes, and access to light. The Sanitary Reform Society was later formed, and, within a few years, the use of the sanitary survey as a planning tool spread to other major cities in the U.S. unhealthy conditions on this survey included inadequate wastewater removal, overcrowding, and the presence of infectious disease. The New York Academy of Medicine also took action against tenements, stating that the city gained no advantage from the conditions of tenement neighborhoods, and that those who gained profit from the tenements counted for nothing in the city. Lastly, tenements were improved through means of design changes. In the Five Points neighborhood, the Board of Health forced landlords to cut 46,000 interior windows citywide, increasing the airflow in these tenements. The city also conducted tenement inspections, evicting cellar dwellers and spraying disinfectants in yards and basements. The new laws passed by the government also resulted in the
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