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Three waves of immigration in American history
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Three waves of immigration in American history
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Our founding father, Benjamin Franklin worried that too many German immigrants would take over America's predominantly British culture. In the late 1800's Irish immigrants were label as lazy drunks, not to mention Roman Catholics. "New immigrants" like Poles, Italians, and Russian Jews were believed to be too different to ever fit into an American lifestyle. The United States was built by immigrants. Successive waves of immigrants have kept our country young, enriched our culture and added to our capacity as a nation, enriching our influence in the world. Along with people coming from the out skirts of American, comes with new languages and cultural differences. According to the Pew Research Center, one in every five immigrants in the world
In 1753, Benjamin Franklin wrote in a letter, “Yet I am not for refusing entirely to admit them (Germans) into our Colonies: all that seems to be necessary is, to distribute them more equally, mix them with the English, establish English Schools where they are now too thick settled…” (Franklin) Xenophobia has existed in the United for centuries. If Benjamin Franklin, a founding father, can be concerned about the large population of Germans immigrating to the US in 1753, how did general Americans react to immigrants? About 100 years later, Franklin’s concern is reiterated in the primary source that will be analyzed. It is an excerpt of a lecture given by Benjamin Labaree in 1849 before the American Institute of Instruction. The excerpt not
The Irish were refugees from disaster, fleeing the Irish potato famine. They filled many low-wage unskilled jobs in America. German immigrants included a considerably larger number of skilled craftsmen as compared to Irish immigrants. Many Germans established themselves in the West, including Cincinnati, St. Louis, and Milwaukee or the "German Triangle." The heterogeneity that had been a distinctive characteristic of American society since colonial times became more pronounced as some five million immigrants poured into the nation between 1830 and 1860. The Irish and Germans were numerically the two major immigrant groups during this period. These immigrants often faced the prejudice in American society. They were blamed for urban crime, political corruption, alcohol abuses, and undercutting wages. The growth of immigration caused the rise of nativism. The influx of Irish during the 1840s and 1850s led to violent anti-immigrant backlash in New York City and Philadelphia. Those who feared the impact of immigration on American political and social life were called "nativists."
They differed from the "typical American" in language, customs, and religion. Many individuals and industries alike played upon America's fears of immigration to further their own goals. Leuchtenburg follows this common theme from the beginning of World War I up untill the election of 1928. If there was one man who singlely used America's fear of immigrants to advance his own political goals it was Attorney General Palmer.
As other immigrant groups of non-English descent started arriving in America, there was an immigrant phobia towards the newcomers. During the mid-1700s, Benjamin Franklin said that the Germans, who were the new immigrants, were “excessively fertile, reluctant to assimilate, lazy and unwilling to learn English” (History 324, 10/19/10).... ... middle of paper ... ...
In the eyes of the early American colonists and the founders of the Constitution, the United States was to represent the ideals of acceptance and tolerance to those of all walks of life. When the immigration rush began in the mid-1800's, America proved to be everything but that. The millions of immigrants would soon realize the meaning of hardship and rejection as newcomers, as they attempted to assimilate into American culture. For countless immigrants, the struggle to arrive in America was rivaled only by the struggle to gain acceptance among the existing American population.
Folklores are stories that have been through many time periods. Folklore include Legends, Myths, and Fairy Tales. Legends are traditional tales handed down from earlier times and believed to have a historical basis. Myths are ancient stories dealing with supernatural beings, ancestors, or heroes. Fairy Tales are fantasy tales with legendary being and creators.
In the early 1920's, many generational Americans had moderately racist views on the "new immigrants," those being predominantly from Southern and Eastern Europe. Americans showed hatred for different races, incompatibility with religion, fear of race mixing, and fear of a revolution from other races. At the time, people believed the Nordic race was supreme.
The United States of America has the largest foreign-born population in the world. With nearly thirteen percent of the total population being foreign-born, one may find it hard to imagine an immigrant-free country (U.S. Bureau of the Census). Immigration has been an integral part of the United States’ overall success and the country’s economy since it was established and without it, would have never been founded at all. Although there are some negative issues associated with immigration and many native-born Americans believe to be more of a problem than a solution, overall it actually has a positive effect. Immigrants in America, among other things, fill jobs where native-born Americans may not want to work or cannot work, they contribute to Social Services and Medicaid through taxes and they help provide the backbone of America, especially by working jobs that natives may have not even considered.
The Nativists feared the immigrants because Americans were outnumbered, outvoted, and overwhelmed. The Nativists established the Order of the Star-Spangled Banner, which demanded restrictions on immigration and even promoted violence against immigrants. This soon transformed into the American Party, also known as the Know- Nothings. The American Party claimed the immigrants were a threat to American values and democracy. For example anti-Irish feeling was high for several reasons. The Irish were poor and the cities they lived in eventually developed into slums. The American people blamed the Irish for the crime, disease, and corruption taking place. To take another case in point, The Irish were Catholic and many Americans were Protestant. The American belief was Catholics could not be trusted because they were more loyal to the Pope than the United States Government. The Germans were seen as anti-American for preserving their culture and language when they emigrated to America. The truth that many Americans failed to see was immigrants created a racially and ethnically diverse
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 became so prominent in America between 1870 and 1900 that the foreign-born population of the United States had almost doubled. A lot of German and Irish Catholics had immigrated in the 1840’s and 1850’s, and more decided to immigrate after the Civil War. A portion of Americans were biased against Catholics. Thankfully, the Irish spoke English and the German Catholics reputation was improved because of their Protestant countrymen’s good reputation. However, their children often lacked any skill or education, but they were able to blend in quite well with the American society. More and more immigrants would migrate to the United States without any skill or education and on top of that they were usually poor. These immigrants were called “new” immigrants and they came from all over the world including Italy, Greece, Poland, Hungary, and Russia. However, you cannot blame immigrants for migrating to America. Many immigrants faced religious persecution in their home countries which pushed them away, otherwi...
America is known famously throughout the world with the nickname 'The melting pot.' The reason behind this is that America is extremely diverse and has many different people. Immigrants give America the chance to know the culture of many countries. They bring in their culture, religion, economic benefits, and ideology to America. I believe that the United States should allow legal immigrants from all over the world because they bring many benefits to it. Immigrants are a positive influence on United States of America.
Thud! Crash! Another ship full of immigrants plowed its way into the docks in New York City. Immigrants were coming to America to seek jobs, homes, fortune, and some were even coming to escape persecution. The arrival of immigrants to the U.S. in the late 1800s changed life in the United States forever because of the new ideas and cultural traditions that were being introduced by the minute.
America is sometimes referred to as a "nation of immigrants" because of our largely open-door policy toward accepting foreigners pursuing their vision of the American Dream. Recently, there has been a clamor by some politicians and citizens toward creating a predominantly closed-door policy on immigration, arguing that immigrants "threaten" American life by creating unemployment by taking jobs from American workers, using much-needed social services, and encroaching on the "American way of life." While these arguments may seem valid to many, they are almost overwhelmingly false, and more than likely confused with the subject of illegal immigration. In fact, immigrants actually enhance American life by creating, not taking jobs, bolster social service funds through tax payments, and bring valuable technical knowledge and skills to our country. If we are to continue to excel as a nation, the traditionalists who fear an encroachment of foreign-born Americans must learn to accept that we achieved our greatness as a result of being "a nation of immigrants."
During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, many American nativist groups opposed free unrestricted immigration. Although racism is a main reason, there were many others. Economic, political, social and moral standards seemed to be threatened by these newcomers. The immigrants were unfamiliar of the language and customs that we take for granted in our everyday lives. The fear that gripped the nation was why people reacted so strongly against immigrants. The people feared change might distort the course of our prospering country. We did not want to become what those immigrants were fleeing.
Immigrants have always been an important part of United States’ population. Each year, there are hundreds of thousands of immigrants, from all around the world, including legal and illegal, come into the United States for job opportunities, new life, or the American Dream. “Immigrants have contributed significantly to the development of the United States. During the Lincoln administration, immigrants were actually encouraged to come to America, as they were considered valuable to the development of the country.” (Soylu & Buchanan, 2013). They believe that the US will give them more freedom, protection, and opportunities, which sometimes it becomes the major issues for immigrants. That’s why “the U.S. population is becoming more racially and