After the Civil War, immigration to the US increased greatly from Europe, with over half coming from eastern and southern Europe by 1900. Many settled in ethnic enclaves in cities. Growing nativism in response led to restrictions on Asian and Catholic immigration. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 barred Chinese immigration for 10 years and prevented citizenship for Chinese already in the US, remaining in effect until 1943.

1. Objectives:
Analyze the circumstances surrounding the great wave of immigration
after the Civil War.
Evaluate how nativism affected immigration policies.

2.  By the late 1800s, most European states made it
easy to move to America.
• By 1900, eastern and southern Europeans made
up more than half of all immigrants.
• Of the 14 million immigrants who arrived
between 1860 and 1900, many were European
Jews.

3. Crossing
America offered
immigrants
employment, few
immigration
restrictions, avoidance
of military service,
religious freedom, and
the chance to move up
the social ladder.
Most immigrants took
the difficult trip to
America in steerage,
the least expensive
accommodations on a
steamship.

4.  The 14-day trip usually ended at Ellis Island, a
small island in NewYork Harbor.
 It served as a processing center for most
immigrants arriving on the East coast after 1892.
• Most immigrants passed through Ellis Island in a
day.
• However, some faced the possibility of being
separated from family and possibly sent back to
Europe due to health problems.

5.  Most immigrants settled in cities.
• They lived in neighborhoods that were separated
into ethnic groups.
• Here they duplicated many of the comforts of
their homelands, including language and religion.
• Immigrants who learned English, adapted to
American culture, had marketable skills or
money, or if they settled among members of
their own ethnic group tended to adjust well to
living in the United States.

6.  Severe unemployment, poverty,
and famine in China; the
discovery of gold in California; the
Taiping Rebellion in China; and
the demand for railroad workers
in the United States led to an
increase in Chinese immigration
to the United States in the mid-
1800s.
• InWestern cities, Chinese
immigrants worked as laborers,
servants, skilled tradesmen, and
merchants.
• Some opened their own laundries.

7.  Between 1900 and 1908, large
numbers of Japanese migrated
to the United States as Japan
began to build an industrial
economy and an empire.The
economy was unstable and
many were dying in Japan’s
Imperial wars.
 In 1910 a barracks was opened
on Angel Island in California.
 Here, Asian immigrants, mostly
young men and boys, waited
sometimes for months for the
results of immigration hearings.

8.  The increase in immigration
led to nativism, an extreme
dislike for foreigners by
native-born people and the
desire to limit immigration.
• Earlier, in the 1840s and 1850s,
nativism was directed towards
the Irish.
• In the early 1900s, it was the
Asian, Jews, and eastern
Europeans that were the focus
of nativism.
• Nativism led to the forming of
two anti-immigrant groups.

9. • The party’s founder, Henry Bowers, disliked Catholicism.
• He wanted to stop Catholic immigration.
APA propaganda depicting the Pope as the master decision-maker controlling the White House, Congress, and federal financial and publishing institutions. (Art from an 1894 book.)
APA propaganda depicting the Pope as the master decision-maker controlling the White House, Congress, and federal financial and publishing institutions. (Art from an 1894 book.)
APA propaganda depicting the Pope as the master decision-maker controlling the White House, Congress, and federal financial and publishing institutions. (Art from an 1894 book.)
APA propaganda depicting the Pope as the master decision-maker controlling the White House, Congress, and federal financial and publishing institutions. (Art from an 1894 book.)
APA propaganda depicting the Pope as the master decision-maker controlling the White House, Congress, and federal financial and publishing institutions. (Art from an 1894 book.)
APA propaganda depicting the
Pope as the master decision-
maker controlling the White
House, Congress, and federal
financial and publishing
institutions. (Art from an 1894
book.)
APA propaganda depicting the Pope as the master decision-maker controlling the White House, Congress, and federal financial and publishing institutions. (Art from an 1894 book.)

10. As a result of heavy
unemployment from the
1873-78 national
depression, Denis
Kearny, an Irish
immigrant, organized
the Workingman’s Party
of California in 1877.
This group wanted to
stop Chinese
immigration and end
cheap Chinese labor.
Racial violence resulted.

This illustration depicts a Chinese man being kicked away from
California, across the Pacific Ocean, and back into China by a giant
Workingmen’s Party member.TheWorkingmen’s Party in California
advocated for the removal of Chinese immigrants. Since Chinese
workers were paid much less than white workers, they more likely to
be chosen for work.TheWorkingmen’s Party called for the expulsion
of Chinese Americans- “The Chinese must go!”This illustration shows
the open hostility towards Chinese immigrants and the extent that
political groups were organized to ensure that they leave America.

11.  It barred Chinese
immigration for 10 years and
prevented the Chinese
already in America from
becoming citizens.
 This act was renewed by
Congress in 1892, made
permanent in 1902,
and not repealed until 1943.
For decades, Chinese
Americans were affected.
Shober & Carqueville produced this 1886 advertisement for
a laundry detergent called the MagicWasher.