Even though there were hundreds of immigrants coming to America, from the 1800's to the 1900's, each group was stereotyped once they arrived. In order for immigrants to get to America, they had to journey a harsh trip. People from all over the world came to America, either to get away from diseases or to get new chances in the growing industries. Once they arrived in the United States they were met with worse conditions than from what they were fleeing. Certain legislations were formed by the Americans against these Immigrants. Immigrant groups such as the Irish, Russians, and Chinese came to America for good opportunities or an escape but, instead were met with discrimination.
The Irish were suffering from the Potato Famine and as a result
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almost a million Irish arrived in the United States. The main reason that seventy five percent of the Irish appeared in the land of opportunities, during the 1800's, was because of the potato famine(Gavin). Ireland was going through hunger and poverty. They strongly relied on potatoes because of their ability to be grown in large numbers at once and they were easy to cook(Gavin). The Irish started to get sick from eating potatoes in 1846(Gavin). Since potatoes could not be eaten, the Irish were dying of hunger. The Irish were not only forced to go to America because of the famine but, the housing conditions in Ireland were horrid(Costly). Ireland had a lot of poverty on the streets and it was extremely unsanitary. However, the Irish were no better off in America then in Ireland. They were charged extra for products, could not find good work, and there was a high mortality rate for the age of six. Although the Irish's immigration was not an easy experience they were not the only group of immigrants going through this harsh trip. Similarly to the Irish, the Russians immigrated to America due to a disease and poverty(Alchin).
Cholera is a disease that was caused because of the lack of sanitation in food
and water (Alchin). Due to Cholera the Russians had a disadvantage and decided to immigrate. Also, Russians were going through religious persecutions. Russian-Jews were being killed by 'progroms' or riots aimed at the persecution of Jews(Alchin). This was a terrible time period for them and it made them immigrate. In addition to the Russians wanting an escape, they were going through a revolution against the British.(Alchin). America's industrial revolution was an influential factor in their decision to leave Russia. They wanted to flee all the persecutions, revolutions, and diseases and get a new life through these industrial revolutions. The reaction of Americans to the Russians when they arrived was not good, they were limited in the opportunities they had hoped for. There were reports against the immigrants which created more prejudice against them. The Russians were not accepted by the Americans after escaping horrors from
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Russia. The Chinese were treated worse then all the other immigration groups and were considered inferior due to their different customs and physical features. Most Chinese came to America in search of gold and jobs(Samuel). They would call California "The Golden Mountain" (Samuel). They were being pushed to America to gain wealth during the explosion of the railroad industry, which gave more job opportunities. China became largely populated during this time period. There was a quote in China that stated that it was "averaged more than a thousand people per square mile" (Samuel). As a result of the population it was hard to find food for everyone. The Chinese were starving and southern China was destroyed because of a rebellion against the British. This forced some Chinese to immigrate so they could survive. In order for any immigrant to enter America they had pass through Angel or Ellis Island. Angel and Ellis Island were two places in which immigrants were processed to ensure that they were sanitary. There they were questioned and their bodies were checked. Russians passed through Ellis Island while, the Chinese had to pass through Angel Island. This was torture for the Chinese because they had nothing to do for hours and were treated like slaves(Wong). In order to get to Angel Island they had to go on a ship. This ship was overcrowded and unsanitary(Samuel). Once in America, the Chinese worked in railroading which was hard and dangerous work. They were treated unfairly and paid less then white workers(Samuel). The Chinese came to get wealthy and to dodge any hunger or problems in China. Instead, America welcomed them with awful conditions and injustice . The Chinese Exclusionary Act of 1882 and the Immigration Act of 1965 were two different acts that had contrasting goals and ideas but, both had negative effects.
The Chinese Exclusionary Act of 1882 was directly aimed at the Chinese. It was the first act to directly attack a certain race of nationality(Wu). This federal legislation prohibited Chinese laborers from entering, prevented Chinese laborers who left from returning, and made a path for more acts to be passed against specific nationalities(Wu). This act was an example of discrimination against the Chinese. It had major impacts on the Chinese living in America. These result were that it increased the amount of prejudice against them, forced families apart, Chinese immigrated illegally, businesses were closed, and young men were traveling alone because of female restrictions(Wu). The Chinese came to America with good motives but, were faced with this negative legislation. The Immigration Act of 1965 was extremely different because its motives was to reunite immigrant families. It wanted to help the immigrants instead of hurt them. Any former quota system was destroyed and made a policy based on bringing families together and attracting skilled labor in the United States(History.com Staff). However, this had negative impacts on America because it grew the amount of illegal immigration. This issue is still debated on today. A break between the past immigration policy was also a conclusion of the act(History.com Staff).
The break increased the amount of discrimination for all immigrant groups. Both these acts made immigration a larger problem or made immigrants life worse. Another form of discrimination against the immigrants was the Know Nothing Party which flourished around the 1850's and was a powerful and influential political party(Young). It supported the deportation of foreign beggars and criminals, twenty one year naturalization period for immigrants, mandatory bible readings in school, and the elimination of all Catholics from public affairs(Boissoneault). They defined immigration as a negative and large issue. They were against immigration and would become violent with them. The Know Nothing Party had its own vision of America which was Protestantism, moderation, and nationality(Boissoneault). They believed these were the nations most sacred beliefs. The Know Nothing Party impacted immigrants life because they would attack and traumatize nativists(Young). The group would beat men and women in mobs and completely torture immigrants(Young). This was the type of horrors that immigrants were facing. The party ended after leader's death and slavery became a larger issue(Boissoneault). Immigrants from all over the world such as the Irish, Russians, and Chinese came to America looking for a better life. Instead, they were criticized when they arrived. Irish Immigrants came to the United States looking for an break from the Potato Famine. The Russians were forced into America because of death threatening situations. The Chinese were considered inferior, as well as other immigrants. An overall affect of the Immigration Act of 1965 was to bring immigrants to the United States in order to save families while, the Chinese Exclusionary Act of 1882 was an act based on pushing immigrants out of the United States. The Know Nothing Party had its own hope of America and worked to achieve it. Immigration is the main factor that makes America unique and different from other countries but, it has spent many years trying to end it.
YES/NO SUMMARY: In the yes summary “Oscar Handlin asserts that immigrants to the United States in the late nineteenth century were alienated from the cultural traditions of the homeland they had left as well as from those of their adopted country.” On the other hand Professor Wyman “argues that as many as four million immigrants to the United States between 1880 and 1930 viewed their trip as temporary and remained tied psychologically to their homeland to which they returned once they had accumulated enough wealth to enable them to improve their status back home.”
In Marcelo M. Suarez- Orozco and Carola Suarez- Orozco’s article “How Immigrants became “other” Marcelo and Carola reference the hardships and struggles of undocumented immigrants while at the same time argue that no human being should be discriminated as an immigrant. There are millions of undocumented people that risk their lives by coming to the United States all to try and make a better life for themselves. These immigrants are categorized and thought upon as terrorist, rapists, and overall a threat to Americans. When in reality they are just as hard working as American citizens. This article presents different cases in which immigrants have struggled to try and improve their life in America. It overall reflects on the things that immigrants go through. Immigrants come to the United States with a purpose and that is to escape poverty. It’s not simply crossing the border and suddenly having a great life. These people lose their families and go years without seeing them all to try and provide for them. They risk getting caught and not surviving trying to make it to the other side. Those that make it often don’t know where to go as they are unfamiliar. They all struggle and every story is different, but to them it’s worth the risk. To work the miserable jobs that Americans won’t. “I did not come to steal from anyone. I put my all in the jobs I take. And I don’t see any of the Americans wanting to do this work” (668). These
One particular ethnic group that suffered severe discrimination was the Chinese people. They first came to America for several reasons. One of them was the gold rush in California in 1849, in which they were included in a group of immigrants called the “Forty-Niners” (179). From gold mining, they switched to other jobs with resulted in the rise of anti-Chinese sentiments. People felt that Chinese people were taking the jobs away from them, because Chinese people worked for much smaller salaries that businesses preferred. This mindset gave way to the creation of The Chinese Exclusion Act passed in 1882, which prohibits more Chinese immigrants from coming to America. In addition, the act states “no State or court of the United States shall admit Chinese to citizenship”. Like the Naturalization Act, the Chinese Exclusion Act was created to hinder Chinese people from becoming citizens so that America could remain homogenously white (186). It also aimed to stop Chinese people from establishing a bigger community in the country in hopes of eliminating the threat of competition to their white counterparts (186). Like African-Americans, Chinese people were considered racially inferior and have struggled to prove that they were worthy to be called true Americans, rather than
Ellis island brought millions of immigrants to America between the years 1892 and 1954. It is said that 40% of our population today can trace their ancestors to Ellis Island. Many people of many nationalities came to The United States get a chance at having the “American Dream”. Whilst pursuing their dreams, they left their marks on American culture. No one has influenced us so much as the Italians and their way of life.
Beginning in 1882 with the Chinese Exclusion Act, the United States stopped being a nation of immigrants and instead became a new type of nation, a gate-keeping nation. For the first time in its history, the United States did not welcome immigrants with open arms. As a result, the United States began to exert federal control over immigrants, which would change the ways Americans viewed and thought about race, immigration, and the nations’ identity as a whole.
Immigration has existed around the world for centuries, decades, and included hundreds of cultures. Tired of poverty, a lack of opportunities, unequal treatment, political corruption, and lacking any choice, many decided to emigrate from their country of birth to seek new opportunities and a new and better life in another country, to settle a future for their families, to work hard and earn a place in life. As the nation of the opportunities, land of the dreams, and because of its foundation of a better, more equal world for all, the United States of America has been a point of hope for many of those people. A lot of nationals around the world have ended their research for a place to call home in the United States of America. By analyzing primary sources and the secondary sources to back up the information, one could find out about what Chinese, Italians, Swedish, and Vietnamese immigrants have experienced in the United States in different time periods from 1865 to 1990.
Immigrants such as Catholics, Italians, and the Chinese were not welcomed into America in the late 19th century and early 20th century because of their differences in beliefs and cultures. Irish Catholics were not welcome in America because of their different traditions which caused conflicts within the communities. Nativists were one of the main groups who
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.
The Chinese Exclusion Act allowed only Chinese immigrants that were merchants, diplomats, students, and very few others. The Chinese were discriminated in reaction to the large amounts of Chinese immigrants entering the United States. Americans feared
The Chinese Exclusion Act was passed in 1882 to target Chinese immigrants coming to the United States. It restricted Chinese immigration to the U.S. as well as prevented Chinese immigrants from returning back to America after leaving. A majority of the workers in California were Chinese males, because they were viewed as better workers. This of course made the natives hate the Chinese, leading to violent conflicts between the races. To add on, they had a different culture and lifestyle than the typical people in America. Racial conflicts continued to arise with more and more Chinese immigrants coming to the U.S., until the government restricted the Chinese immigration altogether with the Chinese Exclusion Act. The Chinese Exclusion Act and the hatred towards the Chinese was mainly caused by the competition for jobs and because they had a different
Millions of immigrants over the previous centuries have shaped the United States of America into what it is today. America is known as a “melting pot”, a multicultural country that welcomes and is home to an array of every ethnic and cultural background imaginable. We are a place of opportunity, offering homes and jobs and new economic gains to anyone who should want it. However, America was not always such a “come one, come all” kind of country. The large numbers of immigrants that came during the nineteenth century angered many of the American natives and lead to them to blame the lack of jobs and low wages on the immigrants, especially the Asian communities. This resentment lead to the discrimination and legal exclusion of immigrants, with the first and most important law passed being the Chinese Exclusion Act. However, the discrimination the Chinese immigrants so harshly received was not rightly justified or deserved. With all of their contributions and accomplishments in opening up the West, they were not so much harming our country but rather helping it.
The majority of migration was often due to available employment in industries during wartime, dust bowls destroying farmland in the Great Plains, and the immigrants' desire to avoid the conflict in Europe. Acts and laws such as the Emergency Quota Act were often passed to restrict immigration and naturalization due to large-scale migration from southern and eastern Europe and to satisfy nativist sentiments towards foreign people during WWI and the Great Depression. During the early 1900s, specifically 1900 to 1945, many Americans migrated to various parts of the country for many social and economic reasons, changing how individuals interacted with one another as well as changing the overall economy of the United States.
People say that immigration has not changed. Do you think it has changed? What do you think about immigration? Are you for it or against it? I have gotten my background information from sources I have read. I say immigration is different now from the 19th and 20th century because there is more people, crime, and it is more difficult to become a citizen.
During the 18th Century a lot of European immigrants started coming to the new land to seek new opportunities, at first since there was no laws placed, around 3 million of Europeans traveled to the Americas. Clearly some laws had to be established and that is where the Alien and Sedition act and the Naturalization act derive. As one of the congressman who supported this law, Harrison Gray Otis, clearly stated “ No need to invite hordes of Wild Irishmen, nor the turbulent and disorderly of all the world, to come here with a basic view to distract our tranquillity." These laws included new powers to deport foreigners as well as making it harder for new immigrants to vote. Previously a new immigrant would have to reside in the United States
Cholera is an acute diarrheal disease caused by infection of the intestine with the bacterium Vibrio cholera (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/cholera/general/). Number of researches has been conducted and it has concluded that thousands of people are infected around the world. For more than two centuries, cholera has evaded some of the top scientist and still remains a threat to the world populations. A major cholera epidemic began in India in 1817, from India the disease spread to Russia, appearing at rapid speed and crossing all across the continent. Cholera is believed to originate in 1817 at the Ganges River in India and then later spread to other areas and regions due to poor removal of water mainly from British ships.