try guided practice free
AP US History
Find gaps with guided practice
Guided practice grid visualization
Table of Contents
Unit 6 Overview: The Industrial Revolution (1865-1898)
6.1 Context of Industrialization and the Gilded Age
6.2 Westward Expansion: Economic Development
6.3 Westward Expansion Social and Cultural Development
6.4 The "New South"
6.5 Technological Innovation
6.6 The Rise of Industrial Capitalism
6.7 Labor in the Gilded Age
6.8 Immigration and Migration
6.9 Responses to Immigration
6.10 Development of the Middle Class
6.11 Reform in the Gilded Age
6.12 Controversies over the Role of Government
6.13 Politics in the Gilded Age
6.14 Continuity and Change in Period 6

🇺🇸ap us history review

6.9 Responses to Immigration

Verified for the 2025 AP US History exam•Citation:

America's reaction to the flood of immigrants during the Gilded Age was mixed and often contradictory. As millions of newcomers arrived, Americans responded in different ways—from helping immigrants adjust to pushing for restrictions. These reactions tell us a lot about American values and fears during this period, as the nation tried to define itself amid rapid change.

image
Jane Addams Hull House, image courtesy of Owlcation

Social Darwinism and Immigration

Social Darwinism was one of the most harmful theories used to explain immigration and social inequality during this time. This misguided idea took Charles Darwin's concepts about natural selection in plants and animals and wrongly applied them to human society, claiming that some people were rich because they were naturally superior, while others were poor because they were naturally inferior.

Key aspects of Social Darwinism:

  • Promoted by writers Herbert Spencer ("survival of the fittest") and William Graham Sumner
  • Claimed that wealthy people deserved their success because of superior abilities
  • Presented poverty as natural and unavoidable
  • Argued against government help as "interfering" with natural selection

How it was used against immigrants:

  • Justified paying immigrant workers low wages and providing unsafe working conditions
  • Explained away poverty among immigrant groups as being their own fault
  • Provided a fake "scientific" excuse for discrimination
  • Let wealthy Americans avoid responsibility for helping others

Social Darwinism was popular with upper-class Americans because it made them feel good about their wealth without requiring them to help those less fortunate. By framing success and failure as results of natural ability rather than social conditions, it fit with American ideals of individualism while discouraging government help for struggling immigrant communities.

Settlement Houses and Reform Efforts

In contrast to Social Darwinism, the settlement house movement offered a hands-on, caring response to immigration. Led mostly by educated women, settlement houses in immigrant neighborhoods provided practical help and pushed for broader social reforms to improve city living conditions.

Major settlement houses:

  • Hull House in Chicago (1889) founded by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr
  • Henry Street Settlement in New York founded by Lillian Wald
  • College Settlement in New York founded by women college graduates

Services provided:

  • English classes and citizenship education
  • Job training and employment help
  • Childcare and youth programs
  • Healthcare and hygiene instruction
  • Cultural activities and recreation
  • Safe community spaces and libraries
Key Immigration LawsYearWhat They Did
Chinese Exclusion Act1882Banned Chinese workers for 10 years; first law to restrict a specific ethnic group
Immigration Act1882Added a 50-cent entry fee; kept out criminals, mentally ill people, and potential public burdens
Contract Labor Law1885Stopped businesses from importing workers under contract
Immigration Act1891Put federal government in control of immigration; created Immigration Office
Geary Act1892Extended Chinese exclusion and required Chinese residents to carry ID

Settlement house workers lived in the communities they served, seeing immigrant needs firsthand and becoming strong advocates for urban reform. They pushed for worker protections, better housing, public health measures, and other policies to help immigrant families adapt while addressing the harsh realities of urban poverty.

Immigrant Living Conditions and Reform

The crowded and often dangerous housing in immigrant neighborhoods became a major focus for reformers. As cities filled with newcomers, housing shortages led to the quick construction of tenements that maximized profit for landlords while providing minimal space and basic necessities for residents.

Urban tenement conditions:

  • Multiple families sharing tiny apartments with little privacy
  • Poor air flow, limited sunlight, and inadequate bathrooms
  • Fire hazards and structural problems
  • Lack of running water and proper waste disposal
  • Disease outbreaks due to overcrowding

Reform efforts:

  • New York's Tenement House Act (1870) required windows in each bedroom
  • Journalists like Jacob Riis exposed conditions in "How the Other Half Lives" (1890)
  • Photographer Lewis Hine documented child labor and immigrant working conditions
  • Reformers pushed for building codes and housing regulations
  • Public health campaigns focused on cleanliness and disease prevention

Despite these efforts, housing improvements remained inadequate throughout the Gilded Age. The powerful photographs by Riis and others raised public awareness and support for urban reform, but meaningful change would take decades of continued advocacy and increased government involvement.

Ethnic Enclaves and Cultural Adaptation

Immigrants developed smart strategies to balance preserving their heritage while adapting to American life. Ethnic neighborhoods provided support systems where newcomers could maintain familiar customs while gradually adjusting to their new country. These communities became vibrant cultural spaces that shaped both immigrant identity and broader American culture.

Functions of ethnic neighborhoods:

  • Provided familiar language, food, customs, and social connections
  • Offered mutual aid societies to help newcomers
  • Created safe spaces between old world traditions and new American practices
  • Established ethnic businesses, churches, and community organizations

Cultural balancing act:

  • First generation usually kept strongest ties to homeland culture
  • Second generation often bridged the gap between two worlds
  • Religious institutions preserved traditions while helping with adaptation
  • Families developed blended practices combining old and new customs

Americanization pressures:

  • Public schools pushed English language and American customs
  • Employers often demanded conformity to American work styles
  • Immigrants faced social pressure to abandon "foreign" traditions
  • Some reformers pushed for rapid assimilation rather than cultural diversity

Rather than simply abandoning their heritage or resisting all change, most immigrant communities engaged in a complex balancing act. They selectively adapted to American ways while maintaining meaningful connections to their cultural origins, creating new blended identities that would ultimately contribute to America's diverse cultural mix.

Nativism and Immigration Restriction

Despite America's image as a nation of immigrants, the Gilded Age also saw growing anti-immigrant feelings and calls for restrictions. Nativism—the policy of protecting native-born inhabitants against immigrants—gained political support as economic fears and cultural differences fueled concerns about the changing nature of American society.

Nativist concerns focused on:

  • Competition for jobs and wages
  • Religious differences (particularly anti-Catholic and anti-Jewish feelings)
  • Belief that immigrants couldn't become "real Americans"
  • Fears of radical political ideas (anarchism and socialism)
  • Prejudice toward non-white and non-northern European peoples

Restrictive legislation:

  • Chinese Exclusion Act (1882): first major law restricting a specific ethnic group
  • Immigration Act (1882): imposed entry fee and excluded certain categories
  • Contract Labor Law (1885): prohibited importing contracted workers
  • Immigration Act (1891): established federal control of immigration

Nativist organizations:

  • American Protective Association (mainly anti-Catholic)
  • Immigration Restriction League (pushed for literacy tests)
  • Some labor unions (worried about wage competition)

These restrictive policies marked a significant shift in America's approach to immigration. While European immigrants could still enter during the Gilded Age, the precedent of selective exclusion had been established. This framework would eventually lead to the more comprehensive immigration restrictions of the 1920s, dramatically reducing the flow of newcomers until the mid-20th century.

Legacy and Continuing Debates

The varied responses to immigration during the Gilded Age established patterns and debates that continue to shape American society today. The tension between welcoming newcomers and preserving existing cultural identities remains a central theme in American politics and social life. The experiences of Gilded Age immigrants—their struggles, adaptations, and contributions—created a foundation for understanding today's immigration issues.

Both the challenges and achievements of this era continue to resonate in modern America. Immigrants and their descendants transformed American culture, politics, and society while pursuing their own versions of the American dream. Through their experiences, we can better understand the ongoing process of defining American identity in a diverse and changing nation. The debates over immigration that began during the Gilded Age reveal fundamental questions about who we are as Americans and what values unite us across our many differences.

Key Terms to Review (17)

Assimilation: Assimilation is the process by which individuals or groups from one culture adopt the customs, values, and behaviors of another culture, often leading to a loss of their original cultural identity. This term relates to significant social dynamics as people moved westward in search of opportunities and as new immigrant populations arrived, prompting tensions over cultural integration and identity.
Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882: The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was a federal law that prohibited the immigration of Chinese laborers to the United States, marking the first significant restriction on immigration based on nationality. This act was a response to growing anti-Chinese sentiment fueled by economic competition and racial prejudice during a period of rapid industrialization and immigration.
Ellen Gates Starr: Ellen Gates Starr was a prominent American social reformer, artist, and co-founder of the Hull House in Chicago, which provided vital services to immigrant communities in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Her work at Hull House highlighted the importance of providing education, healthcare, and cultural resources to new immigrants, fostering integration and social justice during a time of significant demographic change in the United States.
Ethnic Enclaves: Ethnic enclaves are geographic areas where a specific ethnic group is concentrated, often maintaining its unique cultural identity and social networks within a larger society. These communities typically form in response to immigration patterns and provide support systems for newcomers, enabling them to navigate their new environment while preserving their heritage.
Gilded Age: The Gilded Age refers to the period in American history from the 1870s to about 1900, characterized by rapid economic growth, industrialization, and significant social changes, all cloaked in a superficial layer of prosperity that masked underlying issues such as political corruption, economic inequality, and social strife. This era saw the emergence of a wealthy elite and a growing middle class, while also witnessing major conflicts over labor rights, immigration policies, and government roles.
"How the Other Half Lives": 'How the Other Half Lives' is a groundbreaking work of photojournalism published in 1890 by Jacob Riis, revealing the harsh living conditions of the urban poor in New York City during the late 19th century. This term connects to broader societal issues regarding immigration as it highlights the struggles faced by immigrants and the working class in tenements, which were often overcrowded, unsanitary, and lacked basic amenities. The work was pivotal in raising awareness about poverty and sparked social reform movements aimed at improving living conditions for the marginalized populations in America.
Hull House: Hull House was a pioneering settlement house founded in 1889 by social reformer Jane Addams in Chicago, designed to support immigrants and the urban poor through various educational and social services. It became a central hub for progressive social reform movements, focusing on improving living conditions, advocating for labor rights, and promoting women's suffrage, thus connecting deeply with the responses to immigration and broader reform efforts during the Gilded Age.
Immigration Act of 1882: The Immigration Act of 1882 was a significant piece of legislation that established the first federal restrictions on immigration to the United States, specifically targeting certain groups deemed undesirable. This law marked a shift in U.S. immigration policy by introducing a system to exclude individuals based on specific criteria, reflecting growing concerns about the impact of immigrants on American society and the economy.
Jacob Riis: Jacob Riis was a Danish-American social reformer, journalist, and photographer known for his groundbreaking work in documenting the living conditions of the urban poor in late 19th century America. His influential book 'How the Other Half Lives' exposed the harsh realities of life in tenements, helping to raise awareness about immigration issues and catalyzing the Progressive movement aimed at social reform and improving living standards.
Jane Addams: Jane Addams was a pioneering social reformer and activist best known for her work in establishing Hull House, one of the first settlement houses in the United States, which aimed to improve the lives of immigrants and the urban poor. Her efforts highlighted the need for social reform during a time of significant immigration and industrialization, making her a key figure in the Progressive movement and the broader reform efforts of the Gilded Age.
Lewis Hine: Lewis Hine was an American photographer and social reformer known for his impactful images that documented child labor in the early 20th century. His work played a crucial role in raising public awareness about the harsh realities of child labor, which was prevalent during a time of significant immigration and industrialization in the United States. Hine's photography not only captured the struggles of immigrant families but also sparked a movement that led to reforms in labor laws.
Muckrakers: Muckrakers were investigative journalists and writers in the early 20th century who aimed to expose corruption, social injustices, and corporate wrongdoing. They played a crucial role in raising public awareness and prompting reforms during the Progressive Era by shedding light on issues like labor conditions, political corruption, and the consequences of industrialization.
National Origins Act of 1924: The National Origins Act of 1924 was a significant piece of legislation that established strict quotas on immigration to the United States, favoring Northern and Western Europeans while severely limiting immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe and virtually excluding Asians. This law reflected the growing nativist sentiments in the U.S. during the early 20th century and marked a major response to the waves of immigration that had transformed American society.
Nativists: Nativists are individuals or groups that advocate for the interests of native-born inhabitants over those of immigrants, often expressing hostility towards new arrivals. This mindset typically arises during periods of significant immigration and economic change, leading to a push for policies that prioritize the rights and privileges of established residents. Nativism can manifest through political movements, social sentiments, and cultural attitudes that seek to maintain a perceived cultural or racial purity against foreign influences.
Settlement Houses: Settlement houses were community centers established in urban areas during the late 19th and early 20th centuries to provide social services, education, and support to immigrant families and the poor. They played a vital role in the integration of immigrants into American society, addressing issues like poverty, education, and labor rights, and promoting social reform.
Social Darwinism: Social Darwinism is a social theory that applies the concept of 'survival of the fittest' from Charles Darwin's theory of evolution to human societies. It argues that social and economic inequalities are natural and justified, promoting the idea that certain races and classes are superior to others, which influences various aspects of society including economics, politics, and imperialism.
Tenements: Tenements are multi-family urban dwellings that were often poorly constructed and overcrowded, primarily associated with the housing of immigrants and the working class in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These buildings emerged as a response to the rapid urbanization and influx of immigrants seeking better opportunities, reflecting the harsh living conditions faced by many in industrialized cities. The existence of tenements highlights the challenges of urban poverty and the need for social reform during this transformative period.
Back
Practice QuizGlossary
6.10 Development of the Middle Class