LIFE IN ANTEBELLUM AMERICA 1807 1861
REFORM MOVEMENTS OF THE 19TH CENTURY
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Question
[CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
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“We continue to work on the railroads in the west, doing the most dangerous jobs for little pay.”
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“We are treated as equals, and allowed to live and work where we please while still practicing our culture.”
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“We are little more than enslaved persons in the fields, harvesting the various cash crops grown for profit.”
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“We are able to purchase our own land, and livestock and build farms to raise an abundance of foodstuffs.”
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Detailed explanation-1: -About 10, 000 to 15, 000 Chinese workers came to the United States to build the Central Pacific Railroad. Chinese workers found some economic opportunity but also experienced hostility, racism, violence, and legal exclusion. Many came as single men; others left families behind.
Detailed explanation-2: -Chinese immigrants were particularly instrumental in building railroads in the American west, and as Chinese laborers grew successful in the United States, a number of them became entrepreneurs in their own right.
Detailed explanation-3: -Which answer best describes the experience of Chinese immigrants working on the Central Pacific railroad? Their job was hard and dangerous, and they were paid less than white railroad workers.
Detailed explanation-4: -Chinese immigrants in the 19th century worked in the California Gold Rush of the 1850s and the Central Pacific Railroad in the 1860s. They also worked as laborers in Western mines. They suffered racial discrimination at every level of society. The white people were stirred to anger by the “Yellow Peril” rhetoric.