Name: Matt Ferrari

LIFE IN A BIG CITY IN THE GILDED AGE

Using the slides in the power point answer all of the following questions. Write your answers in
complete sentences please. You can keep this document open and type your answers in. This is an
assignment grade.

1. What does “tripping the light fantastic” mean in the song “The Sidewalks of New York? (leave
the power point and look it up on the web!!!)

“Tripping the light fantastic” means to dance in a fancy or classy manner.

2. How many immigrants came to through Ellis Island in the period of New Immigration?

At this period of new immigration, 24 million immigrants came through Ellis Island.

3. They were very few immigrants who were denied entrance to the United States at the Ellis
Island immigrant station (2% is the actual figure). Look at procedure for processing the
immigrants and come up with a theory as to why that figure is so low.

The denial rate was so low because anarchy, unmarried women, and illnesses were the only
factors that would prevent working, which would prevent entrance, since the only reason they
wanted these immigrants was for work.

4. How did the INS (Immigration and Nationalization Services—now called BCIS Bureau of
Citizenship and Immigration Services) agents overcome the language barrier during the
interview step?

They had people who have successfully immigrated to the US come and be interpreters for
people coming from their respective countries.

5. Come up with a summery as to the main causes of immigration from Southern and Eastern
Europe during this period of New Immigration (in other words do not list the nations and
reasons why they came)—put it into a SUMMARY reason.

Leaving political unrest and escaping failing crops in foreign countries. Most of the immigrants
were farmers and skilled craftsmen, so they wanted to come to a new place without the
struggles.
6. Again—summarize where most of the New Immigrants went to in the US during the period of
New Immigration.

Most of the New Immigrants went to big cities, such as NYC. Under the political machines, it
was easy to get a job.

7. In your own words: define cultural pluralism

Cultural pluralism is when smaller groups of immigrants who are part of a larger society with a
unique identity have a culture that is widely accepted by the more prominent cultures in the area.

8. Explain what an ethnic enclave was (and is still today in some parts of NYC)

An ethnic enclave was a specific place where people of the same, immigrated culture settle together
in order to learn the ways of the U.S. An example of an ethnic enclave today is Chinatown in NYC.

9. Jacob Riis wrote a book called: “How the Other Half Lives.” Who was the target audience for his
book? What was the “other half?”

The target audience was the people already living in the U.S. He wanted them to feel ashamed st
how they were indirectly treating and housing the immigrants in their cities. The “other half” are
the immigrants in American cities.

10. What were the two main improvements that the Tenement House Act of 1879? How did they
help the immigrants?

The two main improvements of the Tenement House act of 1879 were the prohibition of the
construction of buildings with rooms without windows. Because of this, they created the “dumb-
bell” tenement shape. This helped the immigrants by giving them some sort of view, and allowing at
least some air to pass through the tenement rooms, which decreased a few of the health risks of
living in the tenements.

11. Why did the political machines avoid violence in their system of politics?

The political machines avoided violence in their system of politics because they didn’t want to lose
votes. If they induced violence, people would most likely be killed, and they would lose votes within
their machines.

12. How did the Political Bosses make money from their political positions?

The Political Bosses made money from their positions by using the immigrants for cheap labor and
overcharging for their services, resulting in a huge net positive income for themselves.

13. How did you get a city job in one of America’s big cities during the Gilded Age?
 There were unwritten “rules” that must have been followed in order to get a city job. These
included being very cordial and kind to the political bosses in order to earn a job. These jobs were
so incredibly lenient, as well.

14. Who was the cartoonist who wanted the Political Machines destroyed? Why would this
newspaperman want to end Machine Politics?

Thomas Nast was the cartoonist who wanted to end Political Machines. Because he is a political
cartoonist, he wanted to end the Machines because they were corrupt, and nobody wanted corruption.
The corruption caused city taxes to go through the roof, as well as creating high taxes for the rich to
make money for themselves.

15. How did Bosses keep control in ethnically diverse cities?

They allowed everybody to assimilate, or create the ethnic enclaves. They did their own thing,
which gave them a strong sense of freedom.

16. What confluence of events made the cities of America (especially the North Eastern seaboard)
susceptible to the development of political machines (not in the reading exactly, surmise your
answer!!)? In other words, what conditions were in the cities that allowed for the rise of “Boss
Politics?”

Nobody understood the corruption that was going on within the political machines. Nobody
understood that they were only being nice to make people think that they were working for an ideal
group of people, which was how the bosses/machines became so prominent. Also, they secretly
had their own men be the “investigators” for “Civil Commissions”, so they could never be busted by
the law.

17. How did the “blue bloods” (wealthy families of name and social stature) try to end the power of
the bosses? Why did they fail?

They tried to expose the bosses after they realized what they were trying to do with rich people
(steal their money, basically). They failed because the immigrants were so happy working for them,
that nobody believed them.

18. Explain what Brendan Byrne meant when he said he wanted to be buried in Jersey City.

He meant that he could still participate in politics there, because the bosses would use the names of
deceased people to create fake ballots and fake votes for themselves.

19. Google Frank Hague—Look at his biography (you can even look at the article on Wikipedia, I
checked, no mistakes but skip his childhood-boring!!!). Explain one thing he did to endear
 himself to the people of Jersey City and another thing he did that really showed he was just a
common criminal!

Hague offered to organize a massive political rally in Jersey City in order to raise votes for FDR. He made
sure that thousands of people were watching the campaign, all so his party could get the votes, and so
he would make as much money for himself as he could.

20. The Political Bosses often justified their ways and means by calling themselves the “modern
Robin Hoods” of their times. Agree or disagree with that view! (2-3 sentences at least—a very
opinionated question, justify your position, do no use “I” in your answer).

This is true and untrue at the same time. A Robin Hood is a person that steals from the rich to give
to the poor. Although they we’re taking money from the rich, most of it was going to themselves
(corruption). However, some of it WAS actually going to the poor, but it was very limited, and for
corrupt reasons such as getting votes, and keeping them on their good side so they can continue to
make the bosses money.

21. What caused Triangle Shirtwaist Factory to go from a simple accident to a terrible tragedy?
(don’t be simplistic—include all the reasons!!!)

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire went from a simple accident (a cigarette burning some fabric) to
a terrible accident (the whole building catching on fire and killing almost everyone) because of
several things. For one, the factory’s safety features weren’t very good. The owners had locked the
fire escape doors, and workers were forced to jump to their deaths. The fire escapes were also very
unreliable, and they could crumple (this killed 26 people). This was the only fire escape that was
unlocked.

22. What was the public’s response to the fire?

The public was disturbed by the level of involvement that the owners and labor managers in the
factory had in making the fire much worse than it could have been.

23. What influence did the Union have on the incident?

The labor unions marched and protested in front of City Hall in NYC. They mourned for the dead as
they protested for labor rights and protections in the workplace. They got what they wanted,
influencing future generations.

24. Watch the video clip on Emma Lazarus’s New Colossus, the poem that is inscribed on the base of
the Statue of Liberty. What is the main message of the poem, that we the United States, were
sending out to the world?

The main message of the poem is that we are a free, independent nation that will let all immigrants in
with no issue. It says that we are a welcoming nation.
 25. Does the United States still send out the same message? What is our message today?

No. Our message is not the same. We are now building walls instead of including people into our
country rather than allowing them to first try for a citizenship before deporting them.

Extra credit—Who is the Boss of all Bosses?

Bruce Springsteen!! (I’m a big music person!!)