How diverse was American Society on the eve of the boom?

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Trevino Alfonso         Page         5/9/2007

How diverse was American Society on the eve of the boom?

40 million people immigrated to the states between 1850 and 1914. In 1020, The United States was as mixed a multitude as it had ever been before, composing of more colours; religions and speaking more languages than had ever been the case before.  Hence the term ‘melting pot’ was ascribed to explain the mixed society. In order to examine the diversity of America on the eve of the boom wealth and generation are examples of factors that will be considered.

The Old immigrants were the first European settlers, descending from Britain, Germany and Scandinavia. Nicknamed the White Anglo Saxon Protestants or WASPS, they tended to hold the best jobs and grasp of political power. Their beliefs tended to be rigid and old fashioned. To them the new industrial cities swarming with immigrants was viewed as sordid and ungodly. It would appear that the notion of the immigrations losing their identity and becoming ‘Americans’ would almost be deemed as laughable.

 From Eastern Europe, particularly Russia, Poland and Italy came immigrants in the late 19th century, several being Jews and Catholics. These were mainly the people who challenged the Protestants. They may have been pushed to immigrate to America but their reasons varied. People from Poland and Russia face persecution particularly the Jews at the end of the 19th century. In addition of that there was only an increasing intolerance towards Socialists and Anarchists and many chose to leave under the political nightmares. Italians chose to leave their homeland when the wine market collapsed and outbreak of cholera lead to huge numbers of Italians in the states.

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Native American Indians lived across the whole of the continent; many of them were farmers. Between 1850 and 1890 most of them were forced off their lands and lived on reservations, leaving them in a dangerous state. The land they lived on was so poor that even with government assistance, they would not have been able to make a decent living on it.

Black Americans provided the other part of the United States ethnic jigsaw.  Initially bought to USA as slaves in the 18th and 19th century, there were 11 million of them by 1920. Most of them lived in the south, ...

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