ch.15 sct.1 C.T.#4

The massive influx of immigrants to the U.S. in the late 1800's had both positive and negative effects on America.
Since there were so many new workers willing to work for low wages, factories could afford to hire many workers and produce more stuff faster. The Japenese immigrants worked on the railroads, which then grew much faster (p.461). This provided more transportation for the country, thus widening the path for industrialization and westward settlement.
The huge amounts of immigrants also provoked stress and tension between people fighting for jobs. Many foreign people thought that America had tons of open jobs to offer, and were surprised when they got here and that was not quite the case (~p.462). Since they would accept lower wages, white Americans (native-born) were worried that the immigrants would take all the available jobs. The Americans also did not accept the different languages and cultures of the foreigners; they thought the immigrants threatened the American way of life, and wanted the immigrants to leave (p.464). This tension between people brought America into inner turmoil and unrest; the people were beginning to get upset.