The Immigrant

In the 19th century there were a couple important events:
    1) In 1848 the California Gold Rush began with founding over 2 billion dollars worth of gold. There had been two previous rushes in Georgia and Carolina. 
    2) During 1871 - 1900 the government worked on constructing and improving new railroads. Pacific Railway Act focused specifically on promoting the construction of railroads. The most well known road was Union Pacific Railroad.

Industrialisation
In 1807 the Ambargo Act prohibited US trade with France and UK, being bad for US economy especially after recovering from a war. US started to use raw materials and in order to cover the work load, immigrants came to the cities to work in the factories resulting in urbanisation.
The ones getting the most damage from the economical issues were the consumers. Formation of Trust did not help the situation either. The idea was to keep the prices for consumers as high as possible, but still barely affordable. That meant it was expensive for people and new businesses were not able to compete.

Important people during that time were John D. Rockerfeller, an industrialist and entreprenuer. Founder of an oil company and he helped create the first trust. Henry Ford who was not only a creator of the Ford company, but also invented the usage of assembly line. That had two impacts - made mass production possible and allowed people to purchase cars. Last, but not least Andrew Carnegie who was an important philantrophist - a businessman who uses their money to give back to the society.

Another important event was the rise of immigration. Reasons for emigrating from Europe were famine, crop failure, religious/political issues or no possibilities for employment. The first wave was in 1815 - 1865. Immigrants from Great Britain, Ireland, Norway, Germany, Prussia. Second wave in 1890 - 1930, people coming from Southern - , Eastern - and Central - Europe. Third wave is happening today, emigration from Asia and Middle East.

Jewish Immigration caused the population of Jews rise from 3000 to 300 000 in the US. They fled their country mainly due to presecution.

To make immigration smoother, everyone went through Ellis Island, an immigration station. Until 1920 immigrants were treated very well, a lot of them were let in. During WWI, the number of immigrants rose and that resulted in job competition. Reed - Johnson Immigration Act of 1924 was to keep away enthicities and keep pure Americanism, no Asians were let into the country. The numbers dropped massively and were never regained.

US has been called a Melting Pot, meaning that generations of immigrants are melting together into the societies. The opposite of that is Salad Bowl, where people are encouraged to have different traditions and languages. different cultures are living in harmony.

Today the immigration has decreased, due to the pandemic. Biden, unlike Trump, is trying to increase immigration to the US.