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Immigration in US History

|The Era of "Old" Immigration |

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|Introduction |

|The earliest waves of settlers to the Americas, up through the first half of the 19th century, constitute the era of "old" immigration. There are some |

|distinctions between those settlers who came prior to the Revolutionary War and those who choose to settle in the newly free America, however they share many |

|common traits. |

|Who Are the Old Immigrants? |

|These settlers came to the Americas mostly from western and northern Europe, predominantly from England and English territories during the colonial period. |

|English, Scotch, Irish - mostly colonial settlers who were English citizens or lived in English territories |

|Dutch, German, Swedish, Scandinavians -  many western and northern European nations contributed to the early growth of the colonies and the newly formed United |

|States |

|Africans - many early immigrants came to the Americas as slaves, to work the plantations of the agricultural south, this continued until the ending of the slave|

|trade in the early 19th century |

|Why Did They Come? |

|Immigrants came to America during these eras for a wide variety of reasons, political social and economic. While not all immigrants' reasoning fit neatly into |

|one type, the general listing below is a good overview of the motivations for many. |

|Political Reasons - Many of the governments of Europe were dominated by nobility and landed elite, the common man found that he had little to no say in the |

|government of his homeland. As a result many came seeking a political voice or freedom from an oppressive government. |

|Others such as the Germans and French in the early 1800's were seeking to escape political unrest and violent political turmoil at home. |

|Social Reasons - Religious freedom is the greatest example of social motivation in immigration. The Pilgrims, the Quakers and many other groups came to the |

|Americas seeking freedom from religious intolerance in their homelands. This tradition of religious freedom had become a fundamental principle in American |

|government.  |

|Economic Reasons - Seemingly the greatest motivating factor for most immigrants. Vast numbers of the earliest American Settlers came to America seeking land, as|

|much of the land in Europe was controlled by nobles or the church, leaving little opportunity for the common farmer to achieve success. The vastness of the |

|Americas and easy access to land, drew many of these opportunity seekers. |

|The Irish immigrants of the early 1800's sought land and escape from the deadly potato famine that gripped their homeland. |

|African slaves were brought over for economic reasons, ones that did not serve them, but instead served the economic interests of the slave owner. |

|What Issues Did They Face? |

|The earliest roots of Nativism or anti-immigrant feelings in American society surfaced during this era. While not as severe as during the wave of "new |

|immigration" this nativist thinking can be seen in the anti-immigrant platform of the Know Nothing Party of the mid 19th century. |

|What Impact Did They Have? |

|The contributions of early immigrants cannot be overstated. The very foundation of America is built upon the ideas, skills and culture they brought with them. |

|The English settlers formed the governments, language and major cultural traditions that would become America. Many Irish workers constructed transportation |

|routes (railroads, etc...) and the Germans and others brought farming techniques and education traditions. |

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|The Era of "New" Immigration |

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|Introduction |

|The "new immigrants" came during the period of intense industrial development known as the gilded age as well as the reaction to this growth during the |

|progressive era. This period immediately following the Civil War and extending up until the 1920's.  |

|Who Are the New Immigrants? |

|These immigrants came to America from areas that had not traditionally supplied settlers to the US. The lands of southern Europe and eastern Europe such as |

|Italy, Russia, Poland and Greece, as well as Asian locales such as China and Japan. |

|Why Did They Come? |

|Immigrants came to America during these eras mostly for economic opportunities. As the United States saw unprecedented industrial growth following the Civil War|

|an unprecedented demand for labor, mostly cheap and unskilled, also grew. The vast majority of these "new immigrants" came here seeking work and the dream of |

|going from "rags to riches". |

|Political Reasons - Some New Immigrants such as Russian and Ukrainian Jews came seeking refuge from religious oppression by governments at home. |

|Social Reasons - One idea that gave motivation to many immigrants leaving their homelands for America was the social mobility offered by the "rags to riches" |

|American dream. This popular idea viewed America as the land of opportunity where anyone willing to work hard, save money and be smart could become rich. These |

|notions were reinforced by the rags to riches stories of Horatio Alger jr., many of which feature industrious immigrants becoming successful by hard work and |

|perseverance.  |

|Economic Reasons - By far the greatest reason for new immigration was for employment. The southern and eastern European nations most new immigrants fled were in|

|dire economic times with high unemployment and limited opportunity. The stunning growth in US industrial development fueled a seemingly endless demand for |

|workers, which the desperate immigrants willingly fulfilled. The reality of the immigrants life was far from the roads paved with gold many envisioned. |

|Industrial jobs paid low wages, demanded long hours and offered no benefits or security. The tenement housing most immigrants could afford in the near-bursting |

|American cities proved crowded, expensive, dangerous and unsanitary. This experience is best chronicled by photographer and reporter Jabob Riis in his expose of|

|New York City "How the Other Half Lives". |

|What Issues Did They Face? |

|Many newly arrived immigrants found themselves at the mercy of corrupt political forces like those running Boss Tweed's Tammany Hall in New York City. Political|

|Machines such as these used the votes of newly arrived immigrants to dominate and corrupt the political process in many of Americas growing cities. |

|Language, customs, religions and traditions clashed with those prevailing in the US at the time, based on the culture brought my the older immigrants. This |

|social conflict led to discrimination against such groups and the Irish on the east coast and the Chinese/Asians on the western coast. This also aided in the |

|neighborhood distinctions (i.e. Chinatown, Little Italy, etc..) that developed in large cities, as immigrant groups clustered together and continued to speak, |

|worship and practice the traditional ways of their homelands. |

|Labor unions feared and opposed the influx of new immigrants, with whom they feared a competition for jobs and a lowering of wages as new arrivals proved |

|willing to work for lesser pay. |

|Restrictive laws also became a barrier to immigration, as the Chinese were excluded from immigrating and quotas and limits began to further restrict arrivals. |

|What Impact Did They Have? |

|The contributions of the new immigrants were transformative to America. The ethnic diversity of the immigrants changed America into a more multi-cultural |

|society with varied language, traditions and practices. The cultural contributions of the new immigrants can be seen in the art, food, music and culture of |

|modern America. |

|Modern Era Immigration |

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|Introduction |

|Modern immigration to the US is coming from literally all over the globe. As international cooperation, trade and contact has grown in the last half of the 20th|

|century, the movement of peoples has also increased.  |

|Who Are Modern Immigrants? |

|The Immigration and Naturalization service's statistics for the 1990's show that the majority of the immigrants to the US are coming from Latin America |

|(Mexico), Southeastern Asia (Philippines, Vietnam, China and Korea) and the Asian Subcontinent (India). |

|Why Did They Come? |

|Economic opportunity still remains the number one reason for immigration to the US. Many of the immigrants living and working in the US are sending much of |

|their wages home to help support family who cannot subsist in their home countries. |

|Others are allowed in for a wide-variety of reasons. Many come seeking educational opportunities or are recruited to fill jobs in the US for which specialized |

|skills are required (engineering and medicine among other fields). Others seek political asylum or religious asylum from autocratic or theocratic governments at|

|home. |

|What Issues Do They Face? |

|Many newly arrived immigrants still find discrimination and prejudice present in modern American society. |

|There is also a increased call for a further tightening of US immigration law to restrict the further influx of families and spouses, generally allowed into the|

|US in order to join family members already immigrating. Further calls for restrictions come in reaction to the increase in illegal immigration (mostly via the |

|US-Mexico border) and the increasing denial of access and services to illegal immigrants like those found in California. |

|What Impact Do They Have? |

|New arrivals continue to impact American society with new ideas and culture. The growing influence of immigrants as a political force is also of note. The |

|increased representation on California in Congress is a direct result of increased population due to immigration. Also of note is the fact that 40% of the |

|voters in southern California are Hispanic or of Hispanic decent. Recent history has also seen an increase in activism by and on behalf of growing ethnic |

|groups, fueled by increased immigration and focused on reducing discrimination and protecting rights and freedoms of minority groups. |

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