<P> Many cultural issues, especially prohibition and foreign - language schools, became hard - fought political issues because of the deep religious divisions in the electorate . For example, in Wisconsin the Republicans tried to close down German - language Catholic and Lutheran parochial schools, and were defeated in 1890 when the Bennett Law was put to the test . </P> <P> Prohibition debates and referendums heated up politics in most states over a period of decades, as national prohibition was finally passed in 1919 (and repealed in 1933), serving as a major issue between the wet Democrats and the dry GOP . </P> <P> Prior to the Gilded Age, the time commonly referred to as the old immigration saw the first real boom of new arrivals to the United States . During the Gilded Age, approximately 20 million immigrants came to the United States in what is known as the new immigration . Some of them were prosperous farmers who had the cash to buy land and tools in the Plains states especially . Many were poor peasants looking for the American Dream in unskilled manual labor in mills, mines, and factories . Few immigrants went to the poverty - stricken South, though . To accommodate the heavy influx, the federal government in 1892 opened a reception center at Ellis Island near the Statue of Liberty . </P> <P> These immigrants consisted of two groups: The last big waves of the "Old Immigration" from Germany, Britain, Ireland, and Scandinavia, and the rising waves of the "New Immigration", which peaked about 1910 . Some men moved back and forth across the Atlantic, but most were permanent settlers . They moved into well - established communities, both urban and rural . The German American communities spoke German, but their younger generation was bilingual . The Scandinavian groups generally assimilated quickly; they were noted for their support of reform programs, such as prohibition . </P>

During the american industrial revolution the business elite in american cities