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Social Studies 8 Date:

Immigration to the United States

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The American population began to grow rapidly in the mid 1800s as millions of immigrants entered the United States from Northwestern Europe. These “old immigrants” entered the United States between 1840 and 1890 and were from countries such as Ireland and Germany. Some came because they had heard of opportunities to buy cheap land; others believed their skills would serve them well in the United States. Still others had little choice, because they could not survive at home.

In Ireland, most people were subsistence farmers – they grew little more than they needed to survive. The potato was the staple (basic) food for most of the population and was also the main crop for Irish farmers. In 1845, a fungus destroyed the potato crop, leading to a famine (widespread starvation). This became known as the Irish Potato Famine or the Great Famine. In the years that followed, known as the Great Hunger, more than a million people starved to death and about one million emigrated from (moved out of) Ireland and immigrated to (moved into) the United States. Most Irish immigrants who came to the United States during this period had been farmers at home. These men often found work doing the lowliest jobs in construction or laying railroad tracks for the Union Pacific Railroad Company.

The Irish faced a great deal of prejudice in the United States due to the fact that they were Catholic, not Protestant. The people who opposed immigration were known as nativists (people who wanted to preserve the country for white, American born Protestants). Some nativists formed a group known as the “Know Nothings” who went on to become a short lived political party.

German immigrants arrived in the United States due to the German Revolution, wherein people were revolting against harsh leaders. When the revolutions failed, the Germans fled to the United States. These immigrants often moved west and settled in the Ohio River Valley and Great Lakes Region.

Between 1865 and 1915, approximately 25 million immigrants entered the United States in a second wave of immigration. These “new immigrants” caused a huge population surge in America. There were many reasons for this vast immigration. In European nations such as Italy, the amount of farmland was shrinking as populations swelled. Machines were replacing farmhands, forcing more people from the land. They looked to the United States as a “land of opportunity” where they could build a better life for themselves and their families.

Other immigrants sought religious freedom. In the 1880s, Jews in Russia became targets of government-sponsored pogroms (violent attacks against Jews). Political unrest also drove many people from their native lands. Jobs and education often pulled immigrants to the United States. Steamship and railroad lines that profited from immigration, sent agents to Asia and Europe to advertise cheap land and plentiful jobs. The promise of freedom also drew people from lands without traditions of democracy and liberty.

While the “old immigrants” who came over the mid 1800s were mostly Protestant and from northern and western Europe and often spoke English and were exposed to democracy, these “new immigrants” were quite different. The “new immigrants” came from southern and eastern Europe, from countries such as Italy, Poland, Russia, and Greece. They were mostly Catholic and Jewish, few understood English and had never experienced living in a democratic country.

These immigrants took passage on steamships to the United States. This passage by boat was often miserable for immigrants. They were crammed below decks in steerage (large compartments that usually held cattle), in tight, airless bunks that were breeding grounds for disease. Rough seas also often sickened travelers. Most of these European immigrants landed in New York City at Ellis Island, the largest immigration-processing center on the East Coast, which was created in 1892. Immigrants coming to the United States from Asia landed at Angel Island, the immigration-processing center on the West Coast in San Francisco Bay. New arrivals faced a rigorous physical exam at the receiving centers that checked for any sign of physical or mental illness/weakness.

Once admitted to the United States, about two thirds of immigrants settled in cities with people from the same country. These ethnic neighborhoods, which were known as ghettos, often helped people feel less isolated in their new homeland because they were surrounded by people who spoke their language, had the same traditions as them, ate the same foods as them, etc. Often times, it was difficult for immigrants to assimilate (become a part of) into American culture.

Immigrant labor was essential to the new American economy. Desperate for money, newcomers took whatever jobs they could find. Immigrants worked in steel mills, meatpacking plants, mines, and garment sweatshops. They helped build subways, skyscrapers, and bridges – in many ways they made America what it is today. Through hard work and saving, many immigrants slowly advanced economically.

As in the 1840s, increased immigration led to a wave of nativism. Nativists sought to preserve the United States for native-born American citizens. Nativists argued that new immigrants would not assimilate because their languages, religions, and customs were too different. They also charged that immigrants took jobs away from Americans. Nativists also associated immigrants with violence, crime, and anarchy (people who oppose all forms of government). As a result of this growth of nativism, Congress passed a law denying entry to the US to immigrants who could not read in their own languages in 1917. Since education at the time was usually restricted to the wealthy, this law barred mostly poor immigrants from entering the US.

Directions: You must HIGHLIGHT and ANNOTATE where you find your answers in the reading. You do NOT need to restate your answers.

1. When did “old immigrants” come to the US? Where were they from?

2. Why did Irish immigrants come to the US?

3. What is a famine?

4. What does emigrate mean?

5. What does immigrate mean?

6. What jobs did the Irish get in the US?

7. Why did the Irish face prejudice in the US?

8. Define nativist.

9. Who were the “Know Nothings”?

10. Why did the Germans immigrate to the US?

11. Where did the Germans settle?

12. When did the “new immigrants” come to the US?

13. Why did Italians come to the US?

14. What is a pogrom? Where did they take place?

15. Who advertised cheap land and job opportunities in Europe and Asia? Why?

16. How were old immigrants and new immigrants different?

17. Where did “new immigrants” come from?

18. How did immigrants get to the US?

19. What is steerage?

20. What is Ellis Island? Who went there?

21. What is Angel Island? Who went there?

22. Where did most immigrants settle in the US? Why?

23. How did immigrants help the US economy?

24. Name three reasons nativists disliked immigrants.

25. How did nativists keep poor, uneducated immigrants out of the US?

26. Find out where YOUR family comes from. List ALL of the countries your ancestors came from.

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