1. Read the the following claim:

Question

Difficult adjustments to life in america is one area that affected immigrants and other Americans in the late 19th and early 20th century.

2. Read the following Document:
Document C: Excerpt from The Biography of a Chinaman by Lee Chew, 1903
Introduction
Lee Chew was born into a family and village of successful farmers in China. He was educated and enjoyed his life with the other boys of his village. When he was twenty years old, he decided to go to America. He saved his money and opened a business. At the time he wrote his story, he intended to take the money he had earned and move back to China.
Primary Source
…I worked on my father’s farm till I was about sixteen years of age, when a man of our [clan] came back from America and took ground as large as four city blocks and made a paradise of it...The man had gone away from our village a poor boy. Now he returned with unlimited wealth, which he had obtained in the country of the American wizards….The wealth of this man filled my mind with the idea that I, too, would like to go to the country of the wizards and gain some of their wealth...
...

It was twenty years ago when I came to this country, and I worked for two years as a servant, getting at the last $35 a month. I sent money home to comfort my parents, but though I dressed well and lived well and had pleasure, going quite often to the Chinese theater and to dinner parties in Chinatown, I saved $50 in the first six months, $90 in the second, $120 in the third and $150 in the fourth So I had $410 at the end of two years, and I was now ready to start in business.

When I first opened a laundry it was in company with a partner, who had been in the business for some years. ...Work in a laundry begins early on Monday morning — about seven o’clock. There are generally two men one of whom washes while the other does the ironing. The man who irons does not start in till Tuesday, as the clothes are not ready for him to begin till that time. So he has Sundays and Mondays as holidays. The man who does the washing finishes up on Friday night, and so he has Saturday and Sunday. Each works only five days a week, but those are long days—from seven o’clock in the morning till midnight.

There is no reason for the prejudice against the Chinese. The cheap labor cry was always a falsehood. Their labor was never cheap, and is not cheap now. It has always commanded the highest market price. But the trouble is that the Chinese are such excellent and faithful workers that bosses will have no others when they can get them. If you look at men working on the street you will find an overseer for every four or five of them. That watching is not necessary for Chinese. They work as well when left to themselves as they do when some one is looking at them. …

All Congressmen acknowledge the injustice of the treatment of my people, yet they continue it. They have no backbone. Under the circumstances, how can I call this my home, and how can any one blame me if I take my money and go back to my village in China?

3. Reply with by citing evidence and placing in quotations (“) exact from the document mentioned above that shows How did immigrants acclimate (adjustment) to life in America?

Answer 1

One piece of evidence from the document that shows how immigrants acclimated to life in America is when Lee Chew describes working as a servant for two years, saving money, and eventually starting his own business. He mentions, "I sent money home to comfort my parents, but though I dressed well and lived well and had pleasure, going quite often to the Chinese theater and to dinner parties in Chinatown, I saved $50 in the first six months, $90 in the second, $120 in the third and $150 in the fourth. So I had $410 at the end of two years, and I was now ready to start in business." This demonstrates how Lee Chew was able to adapt and succeed in America by working hard, saving money, and eventually becoming a business owner.