The American Depression

The factors that Fueled the growth of american cities in the late 19th century were urbanization, industrialization and immigration. Global migration contributed to the rise of the city and population explosion. Horace Greeley, a New York editor, stated “We cannot all live in cities”, but yet that was not the case, as many flocked to the cities.

Between 1870 and 1900, over eleven million people relocated in cities. Global migration contributed to that number in a gigantic way. Global migration included the movement of populations across large distances such as oceans and continents. Immigration from many parts of europe contributed to the growth of cities and changes in american demographics. Cities like Chicago, New York, Pittsburgh and Cleveland were industrial kings, which attracted a substantial amount of population. Urbanization created many job opportunities, the transportation improved, along with sanitation and engineering, which improved the standard of living immensely. With the technological advancements and the new demand for transportation they created the subway. Railroad expansion and low steamship fares gave the people a new way of mobility. This enabled industrialists to chose from a global population for cheap labor. Furthermore, sanitation systems created overall cleaner areas in the cities with a mass population. The major cities acted as magnets, having an influx of people from different backgrounds, work in tight spacing and working together. The improvements in the cities and the job opportunities found within them gave way to an ever growing population in the cities from many places including Europe, Asia, Canada and some from Latin America.

Immigration was an integral part of the population growth in the late 19th century. More than 25 million immigrants came to the united states between 1850 and 1920. The immigrants flocked to the United States from all over. The immigrants were categorized into two groups, the “old” immigrants and the “new” immigrants. The “old” immigrants were the first wave to come to America. They were able to blend in with American society easily because of their high literacy and occupational skills. Business giants, like Carnegie, loved this because this granted a flow of immigrants who would work for them and could be paid low prices for the newly emerging factories. Because of this, factories grew at a speedy pace and the migrants inhabited the cities where the factories were located, which rapidly formed cities. The “new” immigrants were the second wave to travel from their previous spot of living to America. The new immigrants were nothing like the old immigrants, in fact, the old and new immigrants are opposites. This is because the new immigrants were mostly illiterate and had trouble fitting into society,