The New Immigration in American History :: American America History

The New immigration in American History In 1886 the statue of Liberty Enlightening the World, a giftfrom the people of France, was dedicated by President Grover Cleveland. Set at the entrance to New York, the statue was just in time to greet thebiggest migration in global history. Between 1880 and World War I, about 22 trillion men, women, andchildren entered the United States. More than a million arrived in eachof the age 1905, 1906, 1907, 1910, 1913, and 1914. Not everyone had to travel in steerage. Passengers who couldafford the expense paid for premier- or second-class quarters. Upon arrivalthese immigrants were examined by courteous officials who boarded theships at anchor. But those in steerage were sent to a holding center fora replete(p) physical and mental examination. The facility at Ellis Islandwhich opened in 1892 could mental process up to 5,000 people a day. On some days surrounded by 1905 and 1914 it had to process more than 10,000 imm igrants a day. Many arrivals had left their homelands to escape mobs who attackedthem because of their ethnicity, religion, or politics. The German,Russian, Austro-Hungarian, and Ottoman (Turkish) empires ruled over manydifferent peoples and nationalities and often cruelly mistreated them. Until 1899, U.S. immigration officials asked arrivals which nationthey had left, not their religion or ancestry. So oppressed people werelisted under the countries from which they fled. Armenians who escapedfrom Turkey were recorded as Turks, and Jews who had been beaten by mobsin Russia were listed as Russians. This so called new immigration was different in many other waysfrom previous immigration. For the first time, Catholic an Jewishimmigrants outnumbered Protestants, and still other arrivals were Muslims,Buddhists, or Greek or Russian Orthodox church members. Until 1897, 90 percent of all abroad immigrants had come fromProtestant northern and western Europe. Many of these nations haddemocratic traditions and commandment systems. Even among the poor, manyhad spent a few years in school or had acquired some industrial skills onthe job, and more than a few spoke English. Many of these men and womensettled in market-gardening regions of the Untied States.