Immigration is a word used all over the world. For people who came to America, however, it had a slightly different meaning. Immigration for these individuals was redemption, a new hope from struggles they faced in their home countries. In the beginning of the 1800’s, the slave trade was coming to an end and America was expanding westward. The Trans-Continental Railroad was also in the making. Workers were needed to construct such a monstrosity and Industrialization was booming. Immigrants took advantage of such a great opportunity. Push factors such as the Irish Potato Famine and religious prosecution around the world forced immigrates to find a better location to call “home.” Pull factors like employment opportunities, better living conditions, …show more content…
Potatoes, a large part of Irish diet at the time, developed a fungus that made the crop inedible. Unfortunately, the fungus traveled to other crops, which resulted in the food supply becoming depleted. No food in an area obviously makes it difficult to live and thrive in that area.1.5 million people died in this famine and approximately the same amount emigrated on boat towards America. (Ellis Island-Immigration Timeline) Upon arrival, the Irish were overwhelmed with employment opportunity, after passing through Ellis Island of course. For the Irish especially, America was a saving grace. Something as simple as food, which modern American society often takes for granted, was such redemption. For a better perspective on the issue, in 1864 the Republican Issue made it very clear that, “Foreign immigration which in the past has added so much to the wealth, resources, and increase of power to the nation…should be fostered and encouraged." (Ellis Island 1820-1880) The federal government was making these statements even before the vast groups made their way over. They knew that immigration could only benefit the nation’s success as a …show more content…
In the late 1800’s and still today, America was considered a fairly new and young country. We did not have political experience, crisis management mastered or even organized streets, until Benjamin Franklin’s “checkerboard pattern” for Philadelphia. As compared to Germany or Ireland which consisted of Germans and Irish, respectively, America did not have “Americans” yet. Small towns along the Trans-Continental Railroad, settled by immigrant workers, were usually one ethnic group. To be clearer, at one station, a town may be settled by Irish, but the next towns may be settled by Germans and Chinese. A small part of every culture became known as American Culture. Our cultures “mixed” to form a new culture. Immigrants were an essential part of that. Without immigrants, we would most likely still have English accents and “tea time”. Immigrants were crucial to America’s success because it not only made us one but it created a diverse society that evolved into the great culture we share today. It is also very important to note that these immigrants coming from all different sections of the world brought not only culture, but trade experience they had mastered in their home countries. The ability to plant, grow, maintain and harvest crops was a great upset for America as well as blacksmith
The United States experienced major waves of Immigrants during the War time and the 1800’s and early 1900’s. 25,000 Asian Immigrants went to California for a gold rush and migrated there by the 1850’s. A lot of Immigration had to do with slaves and such. During the 1890’s Central, and Eastern Europe came to America, so did the Italians and Jews. The start of Immigration was different from today’s time. Back then people who migrated to the United States was easy.
America has long been the land of hopes and dreams People from all over the world came to America for a better life. America was underpopulated. For the country to build and develop, she needed more people, therefore the government passed Act 1802, which invited people to come here and become citizens (Welcome). The native people of the country welcomed everybody to come live and become citizens here. They also claimed that they would respect and appreciate human rights and would not discriminate against people of other nations. Randall and Morales describe the efforts and struggles of immigrants who came to the United States and tried to become her citizens, a thing that in reality is very
Immigration has always been a major part of America. In fact, without immigration the creation of America would not have been possible. The majority of immigrants came to America for religious freedom and economic opportunities. However, for the most part before the 1870’s most immigrants were Protestants from northern and western Europe. These immigrants often migrated to the United States as families and usually lived on farms with family or friends who had already migrated beforehand. A lot of immigrants came to America with a plan or goal in mind. They often had saved up money for the long immigration overseas, were skilled in a certain trade, or had already been educated at a high level. Sadly, this would not last. Immigration
In the late 1800s , America became the land of new opportunities and new beginnings and New York City became the first landmark for immigrants. New York City was home to Ellis Island, the area in which migrants were to be handed for freedom to enter the nation. Living in New York City gave work and availability to ports. In time the city gave the chance to outsider's to construct groups with individuals from their nation , they were classified as new and old settlers. Old outsiders included Germans, Irish and, English. The new outsiders incorporated those from Italy, Russia, Poland and Austria-Hungary. In 1875, the New York City populace was a little 1 million individuals contrasted with the 3,5 million it held when the new century
In recent history, many Americans have had a growing concern for the immigration (both legal and illegal) growth in our country. While the United States of America was settled by European immigrants, the unprecedented growth the late 1800s saw, led to reform on the immigration policy, which once was nonexistent. Based on conditions floods of immigrants caused in the cities of the country, the immigration reform was needed. Not only were the lives of immigrants negatively impacted in the United States, but so were previously settled Americans.
It seems that the word Immigration has took on a new meaning as for it once meant. Immigration is the action of coming to live permanently in a foreign country. It has always been a hot topic in our society because of all the controversy behind it, About whose land is actually theirs. It all starts in 1620, when the mayflower for the first time in history touches american soil, And changes the way history would unfold and the very way we live today. They came from England, searching for vast freedom from a corrupt, indigenous society seeking freedom of religion and the thought, ironically searching for the American dream before it became a phrase. They would stumble across humble , spiritual, and land loving givers who would eventually train these new pilgrims on how to live off the good god living land. Things would soon take a turn for the worst when disputes over land came abroad, this ended in a bloody battle leaving the pilgrims victorious with their new land. But history is always prone to repetitiveness once the 1700's came.
The Irish people would have freight, terror, death and eventually peace with these changes. The potato famine started with blight being discovered by European farmers. The Irish government started to export potatoes and grains to continental Europe to help the Europeans avoid a famine (Smith, 2011). By the end of August of 1845, Ireland was freighted to find out that blight had found its way to their produce (Smith, 2011). The blight in Ireland set off a chain of events that led to the Irish people dying in more ways to get out of Ireland. The government started trying to feed their people by importing corn and grains for food (Smith, 2011). This was not enough to help the young, old and sick. Many of theIrish people were led to complete financial ruin. By the end of 1851 more than a million Irish had died due to hunger and disease exacerbated by malnutrition(Smith, 2011).The only answer for many Irish families was to take a risk and get on a coffin boat and flee to another country. North America was a safe haven for many Irish people. They dreamed of the life they would live in the U.S.A. Nearly 1 million people arrived in many cities which include New York, and Boston (Smith, 2011). When the Irish people arrived, it was a sad reality they did not think they would face. The conditions were despicable. Many families were moved into small rooms with no sanitation, ventilation, day light or electricity (Smith, 2011). The families were charged about $1.50 per week to live in extreme poverty (Smith, 2011). This led to unsanitary conditions for the communities. Diseases were able to thrive in those conditions and one of the more common disease was cholera . The Irish people usually stayed in close proximity to each other and would make a small Irish community. The Irish community strived to make money. They were only hired for unskilled jobs
Immigrants came to America seeking opportunity, land, and freedom. In addition, immigrants also came to escape from things in their homelands such as oppression, high taxes, and the Potato Famine. These were all known as push and pull factors. This explained why you should leave your country and come to America(doc 2). The Potato Famine was a rough era in Ireland. Due to a blight, all of the potatoes rotted right before being ready to be
The United States has transformed through several movements and Immigration has helped shaped how workers, farmers, and the progressives lived. Each group believed they had changed how ideas and movements reformed the country. Immigration is what caused history to change and has allowed the American populations become what it is today. Between 1877- 1939, Not only did immigrants go to America for a better life but Americans within the states would also move to different locations for the same reasons. The workers, farmers and the progressives were groups made up of immigrants.
During the 18th century the Irish slowly began their migration to America. Centuries of oppression from Protestant English rule had forced them to live very poor lives under strict rules, in some cases having to renounce their Catholic beliefs and having to abandon their Gaelic
This essay will focus primarily on the immigrants and their struggles faced in America. As it has been noted, many immigrants who come to America seek economic opportunity. Their goals of advancing and becoming successful at times can be over turned by discrimination. As seen in the essay from literature reviews and intensive interviews, the struggles faced by American immigrants are discovered. However, the goal is to explore the various acts of discriminations and look at how some immigrants have preserved.
In the late 19th century, millions of people immigrated to America to escape the hardships in their countries. They adapted to these changes by making the best of a difficult situation. Although they escaped famine and unemployment, the immigrants faced many challenges upon their arrival, including racism, poverty, and health issues.
America as a nation is made up of immigrants from all over the world ranging from all across Europe to China. Many immigrants faced discrimination and had to completely conform to this new world they came to. Oscar Handlin and Mark Wyman have very different views on immigration in the late nineteenth century. Handlin’s view on immigration included how immigrants were alienated from this new world known as America and after being partially Americanized and their old homelands did not recognize them anymore as citizens. Wyman’s views were different from Handlin’s views because he thought that immigrants were only in America for such a short time because they came for opportunity. Wyman states that immigrants were not uprooted from the homelands because they still practiced their beliefs and did not see America as their final destination. Both authors make very excellent points but Handlin makes better points by realizing most immigrants did lose their dignity and lost many of their traditions of their homelands by becoming Americanized, immigrants were being uprooted in the late nineteenth century.
Ever since the United States was founded, immigrants have been arriving on its soil. The first white inhabitants of the U.S. were immigrants from Europe. They came for many reasons, such as religion and opportunity. As the country grew and became more prosperous, it became more enticing to foreigners looking for opportunity. This continued into the 20th century and finally during the 1920’s, the United States began to restrict immigrants from coming to their country, mostly for cultural and economic reasons. Even the immigrants that were allowed in during the 20’s faced many hardships such as religious persecution, racism, and xenia phobia. One of the major groups of immigrants during that
During the 1920’s the United States really became a country of immigrants, even though not everyone was on board. In this time we saw immigration numbers that would far exceed the decades that would come after it and only to be surpasses by the decade that came before in a 40 year span. Almost 4.3 million people came to the US in the 1920’s and they spanned from far and wide to come to the US. Numbers would dip in the coming decades and would not surpass the million mark for at least two decades. These numbers saw drops that would relate to immigrant life and US immigration tactics.