The promise of immediate employment and political and economic freedom were more than enough reasons to entice immigrants to come to the United States; in 1864, some 194,000 immigrants landed in America . Until 1897, ninety percent of all overseas immigrants arr

The masses of immigrants were overwhelming. By 1887, it became obvious that Castle Garden (immigrant receiving station) was too small to process the large numbers of immigrants pouring into the country . Castle Garden had because so small, that criminals were simply hanging out at the receiving station to rob the immigrants inside, instead of waiting for them to get on the streets. Thus, the government built Ellis Island and immigrants continued pouring in. The number of immigrants was so great that by 1910 immigrants and their families composed over half the total population of 18 major cities . In Chicago, eight out of ten residents were immigrants or children of immigrants .

The response to these newcomers was unfriendly and inhospitable. The Americans who saw their job security challenged by immigrants that were willing to work longer hours for lower wages did not welcome them. The newcomers did not have the same culture as the first immigrants that had come from Northern and Western Europe. Most lacked skills and very few spoke English, some could not read or write in any language. The Slavic and Polish (excluding Jewish) immigrant groups were viewed as unskilled, illiterate, and transient and were seen as a bigger threat to American institutions than the other European ethnic groups. They were not ambitious people, tended to keep to themselves, and were opposed to the American idea of materialism. Many of the Slavs and Poles distrusted American public schools; they withdrew their children from school and encouraged them to seek training in a trade, thus allowing a high rate of dropouts. Likewise, Italians were discriminated against because they also provided cheap labor and, naturally of a clannish nature, tended to move and settle as a group in Italian communities where they only worked with fellow countrymen and did not learn the ways of urban life. Americans thought that Italians did not assimilate into the American culture well since they held on their old-country traditions and cultures so strongly. Assimilation was important to the Americans because they were fearful of the change that came with other cultures, not to mention their resentment towards the new languages already replacing English in several parts of th

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Approximate Word count = 1522
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)