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Welcome to my Digital Research Project for History 305: Making of the Modern US. The Gilded Age was one of the most crucial and important times in American History. The United States would not of become the world power we all know it to be without the massive amounts of growth and changes in everything from politics, industrialization and massive economic growth. For all the great positive changes going on in the country around this time, the Gilded Age is also known for the great economic divide that was sweeping over the United States. Many were benefiting from the changes going on around the time, however many were not. At the root of this divide is Immigration. The Gilded Age saw a massive increase in Immigrants coming into the country, with millions flocking in for a taste of the “American Dream,” were the streets were paved with gold and the opportunities were limitless. Once they arrived almost all saw that the opposite was actually the case.

The life of an immigrant coming into America was one filled with massive economic hardships and social unrest. Many Americans felt high levels of animosity towards immigrants coming into what they felt was their country and that animosity spilled over not only into the workplace, but various social environments as well. For all the great changes immigration brought to the country, this website will explore how the rapid growth of immigration in America during the Gilded Age lead to a greatly divided society in the workplace, racially and in the lifestyle of people in America at the time.

This website will present a number of different sources that help show my argument. Various documents such as bills and letters from the time period, as well as scholarly books and articles which showcase a similar argument from a different perspective.