During the period 1880 - 1910, the rise of immigration greatly impacted urban American society.  Assess the validity of this statement using your knowledge of the time period and the documents provided.

Document A
Source:  American History: A Survey, 9th edition, Alan Brinkley

Document B
Source:

Dear Sister,

As to the work, brother is working steadily and since the factory was burned I have had no work for a month and for another month I have had no work. During the two years I worked steadily for the same factory I had money, and now I earn hardly enough to live. I am working in the same factory as brother. I do carpenters work and earn two dollars a day. Work was good and well paid comma, but only if you work steadily, may God let me work this year during the summer in that factory and earn at least enough to live. Then by winter I shall have steady work.

Adam Raczkowski

Document C
Source:  Immigrants Do Not Increase Pauperism and Crime.  An article in the February 8, 1912, issue of the Independent, W.F.Wilcox wrote that many of the popular delusions about immigration are false. He uses statistics to show that immigrants do not degrade American society.

The third objection is that "immigration seriously increases the amount of pauperism and crime in the United States." I grant that the thirteen million foreign born add to the amount of pauperism and crime to make an affecting argument the word amount should be changed to proportion and no doubt this is meant. Do the foreign born population contribute disproportionately to the crime and pauperism of the country?

I have found nothing to prove that the foreign born contribute more largely to the alms house population or the prison population that do the native whites of the same sex and age residing in the same part of the country… When we consider that more than 19/20s of the foreign born in alms houses have been in the United States longer than 10 years it can not be claimed that recent immigrants are contributing disproportionately to the burden of pauperism.

As to crime, when attention is confined to major, or serious, offenses, the proportion of foreign born whites committed to prison is almost exactly the same as the proportion of native whites of the same age. For example, among 100,000 native whites 30 to 34 years of age, 49 were committed to prison for serious offenses in 1904, and among the same number of foreign born whites, 48.

Document D
Emma Lazarus, The Poems of Emma Lazarus, vol. 1 (1889), 2

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mile eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cites frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Document E
Source:  Immigrants Swell Prisons.  The Reverend Joseph Cook believed immigrants were the cause of increased crime and other ills in American society. IN this excerpt from his introduction to Rena Atchison’s book called Un-American Immigration (1894), he comments on the high proportion of criminals in the immigration population.

Incredible as the fact appears, it has been proved by Congressional investigation that several foreign countries, including Italy, Austria, Germany, and even England, have societies to aid criminals and paupers to emigrate to America, and sometimes give them governmental assistance. Voluntary or assisted emigration of paupers and criminals from Europe is making America in some respects an international Botany Bay.

The proportion of criminals among our foreign born population is startlingly greater than among native born. Directly, or indirectly in the persons of their immediate descendants, this element contributes considerably more material for our State prisons and penitentiaries than the entire native white population….

Unrestricted immigration is doing much to lower the wages of American labor, besides causing a deterioration of the quality of American citizenship.

Document F
Source:

Document G
Source:

Document H
Jacob A. Riis, How The Other Half Lives, 1890

Here is a room neater that the rest. The woman, a stout matron with hard lines of care in her face, is at the washtub. "I try to keep the children clean," she says, apologetically, but with a hopeless glance around. The spice of hot soapsuds is added to the air already tainted with the smell of boiling cabbage, of rags and uncleanliness all about. It makes an overpowering compound. It is Thursday, but patched linen is hung upon the pulley line form the window. There is no Monday cleaning in the tenements. It is washday all the week round, for a change of clothing is scarce among the poor. They are poverty’s honest badge, these perennial lines of rags hung out to dry, those that re not the washerman’s professional shingle. The true line to be drawn between pauperism and honest poverty is the clothesline. With it begins the effort to be clean that is the first and the best evidence of a desire to be honest.

Essay

Immigration reached its historical peak in the Gilded Age and Progressive Era as almost twelve million immigrants entered the United States between 1880 and 1910. During this period the rise of immigration greatly impacted urban American society because of poor living conditions, the amount of crime, and the hope of the American Dream.

As many immigrants flocked to America in search of a better life, instead of waking up to a cup of coffee, they woke to "the air already tainted with the smell of boiling cabbage, or rags and uncleanliness all about" (H). This was life in the crammed tenements where they lived. The conditions of their living worsened as the population increased. The peak of immigration occurred during the years 1906-1910 (A). With so many immigrants and so few places where they were accepted, filth and disease were common everyday occurrences. Often times immigrants would form ghettos, which were close-knit societies of their own ethnicity. These ghettos gave them a sense of home away from home in keeping their old world traditions alive in the new world. They were often the cause of political corruption, which made them the ground source of political machines. The biggest political machine, Tammany Hall, was run by William Tweed. Political machines corrupted the politics, by influencing immigrant votes. Because immigrants were so easily influenced by corruption, it allowed them to become a scapegoat of crime.

Poor living conditions and lack of opportunity caused a rise in crime rate, which was often blamed on immigrants. Joseph Cook believed "The proportions of foreign-born criminals is startlingly greater than among the native-born population" (E). Although the rise in crime coincided with the rise of immigration, there was substantial evidence that the rising crime rate was not caused by rising immigration. W.F. Wilcox opposed Cooks theory when he stated, "I have found nothing to prove that the foreign born contribute more largely to the almshouse population or the prison population than do the native whites...the proportion of foreign-born white committed to prison is almost exactly the same as the proportion of native whites of the same age" (C). Proportionally the crime rate between the two groups was the same, however, native-born American=s crimes seemed more destructive, where as immigrant=s crime was based on survival. Citizens of Denver attacked a Chinese community in 1880 vandalizing homes, businesses, and beating the Chinese immigrants to death (F). There was an epidemic of xenophobia spreading throughout native-born Americans, causing them to form different organizations opposing immigration. The most prominent of these organizations was the Immigrations Restriction League. They used such measures as the literacy test and other standards designed to separate the desirable from the undesirable. Henry George described the Chinese as products of a civilization that had failed to progress, therefore, they were unassimilable and should be excluded. In 1882, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act which banned Chinese from coming to America. These restriction acts crushed the hope of the American Dream for the immigrants.

America, to the immigrants was the land of opportunity; no oppressive taxes, no expensive kings, infinite opportunities, better living conditions: paradise (G). Immigrants expected to be welcomed with opened arms. One such immigrant loved the Statue of Liberty and was in awe as she read, "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" (D) This was their vision, instead, their dreams were annihilated when they found rejection and cold-heartedness. Upon arrival some immigrant ships were turned away, and those who were able to achieve their dream, were sorely disappointed. "As the work...I have had no work for a month...and now I earn hardly enough to live," (B) Adam Raczkowski sent to his sister. Many immigrants like Adam Raczkowski were forced to leave their families behind, promising to get a good job, to save money, and eventually to send for them and let them share in the American dream. Many hopes of finding a successful job were crushed for both Americans and immigrants. "Unrestricted immigration is doing much to lower the wages of American labor, besides causing a deterioration of the quality of American citizenship" (E). Labor unions that were formed to protect workers rights were often unsuccessful because immigrants needed a job to survive and would take the jobs of strikers. Immigrants were severe competition because they would work for less wages and in worse conditions. Consequently, labor unions were formed that did not include immigrants so the immigrant's rights were not protected. For so many immigrants, the American Dream remained unattainable.

Urban American society was vastly impacted by the rise of immigration during 1880-1910. The society was impacted by poor living conditions, the amount of crime, and the hope of the American Dream. This wave of immigration changed American society forever.