Sample Essay On What Impact Did Rapid Immigration Have On American Cities And Why So Many Problems

Immigration to the American cities brought both positive and negative consequences. The positive impact was the development of the cities, where new facilities were constructed to meet the demands of the increasing population. These construction activities, including the construction of factories, created many jobs for both the immigrants and the native-born Americans. The development of the cities improved their infrastructure. Before immigration America was mostly an agricultural country, but immigration led to the increase of the number of urban factories and administrative offices. Industrialization attracted investors and their resources that led to the improvement of trade and economy.
Rapid immigration in the American cities has not only helped to boost the economy, but also created a number of problems. First and foremost, many immigrants could not or did not want to assimilate with the native-born Americans, learn English language and local traditions and preferred to live in small communities maintaining own traditions that were viewed by others as alien and sometimes hostile. At the same time, immigrants often agreed to work for low wages, thus, lessening the job opportunities of other people. Native-born Americans feared that such influx of immigrants would not only deprive them of jobs, but also lead to dissolution of their traditions under the influence of the new cultures. Immigrants brought not only new languages, traditions and religions to America, but new sociopolitical beliefs, including that were inferior to American society. These factors caused social tension in the American society and the foundation of organizations and societies that lobbied banning new immigration waves, as well as deprivation of the existing immigrants of some social, political and economic rights compared to the native-born Americans.