AMERICAN PUBLIC UNIVERSITY
PRIMARY SOURCE ANALYSIS: “Experiences of Migration”
Matthew Oconer
HIST122 – Western Civilization before the Thirty Years War
15 November 2015
During the years 1870- 1890 there was economic change thru out Europe. These changes motivated people of most every European country to make a choice to leave their homes in search of a better life some where else. Europe simply could not produce enough land to support a rapidly expanding population. At one time the soil of Europe was fruitful soil, but it was soon ruined by shipbuilding from ancient Greek shipbuilders who stripped the forests of Sicily. “Migrants themselves appreciated the chance to begin anew without the harsh conditions of the Old World.”
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(Hunt p. 776) North America was the main attraction at the time and it was land that looked and sounded tremendous. What did North America have to offer? The land to the East was a country that followed the rule of law and provided an economic opportunity in both urban and rural areas. These opportunities attracted the “working man” hence, the journey of migration began for many families. As the migration began families where often separated and one or more would leave their families behind with the plan to send for them at a later time. “Once established elsewhere, migrants frequently sent money back home; the funds could be used to pay for education or to set up family members in small businesses, thus improving their condition.” (Hunt p.776) There was a point, a fitting reason behind why families would split up to seek a better living situation, it was quit simple actually. When the decision was made to leave Europe it only meant the beginning of a very lengthy and tough voyage.
“Once aboard the ship that would bring them to America, a two to three-month trip, the emigrating Europeans found almost intolerable conditions”. (www.yale.edu) The journey across the Atlantic Ocean was not a delightful trip. The living condition were less then ideal “The steerage compartments were about five feet high with two tiers of beds. Men, women and children (sometimes as many as 900 people) were crowded together with room only for themselves and their belongings rolled up next to them”. (www.yale.edu) This was a huge factor in why many families separated, it would be a little easier to travel either by yourself or with a smaller …show more content…
party. In a perfect world it would be nice to think that every family was reunited, and the plan to send for them become a reality for many families that were united together in North America and the plan was accomplished. That unfortunately was not the case for every family especially for a Poland woman by the name of Teofila Borkowski from Warsaw, Poland. She would write letters about her experience and feeling being left behind, and her waiting for her chance to to reunited with her husband Wladyslaw Borkowski. Teofila’s husband resettled in the United States, and her letters are clearly and eye opener to the cold harsh reality of being left behind. During these time women often relied solely on their husband’s financial support.
“In the next few decades, however, the new ideology of domesticity became so strong that male employers were unwilling to hire married women, and women in the lower-middle and middle classes were themselves ashamed to work outside the home.” (Hunt p. 773) In Teofila first letter written in 1893 she writes about having to move in with a family by the name of Rybickis, and how she is “not very well satisfied” (Hunt p. 778) by her new living situation, there is a sense she is use to living alone without her husband. Teofila talks of friends that think she has money because here husband is off to the new land and is sending her thousands and would often times ask to borrow money from her. It was very common for family members who had migrated to send money to those family members that they have left behind. “Cash-starved peasants in eastern and central Europe welcomed the arrival of “magic dollars” from their kin.” (Hunt p.
776) In another letter sent from Teofila to her husband in 1894 it reflects on the realizations and reality that Teofila husband has stopped sending money and is not going to return or even send for her. Teofila writes about how she is in need of money and the support from friends she once had is now gone. “Formerly we had friends, and everybody was glad to see us, while now, if I go to anybody, they are afraid I need something from them and they show me beforehand an indifferent face.” (Hunt p. 776) Although tragic this was common during the great migration of the 19th century from Europe to the Americas. The struggles were real and the choice to migrate seemed and easy one to make and it seemed that doing so would only bring happiness to start of a new life. Many families were never reunited and did not become whole again, but is was a decision that each and everyone of these families that decided to make the journey would accept the consequences of their decisions. Although not great this was better than the alternative. Not every story has a happy ending but sometime you have no other choice either good or bad it was a decision that needed to be made. Bibliography Hunt, Lynn, Thomas Martin, Barbara Rosenwein, Bonnie Smith. Making of the West, Volume II: Since 1500, 4th Edition. Bedford/St. Martin's, 01/2012. www.yale.edu
In the years from 1860 through 1890, the prospect of a better life attracted nearly ten million immigrants who settled in cities around the United States. The growing number of industries produced demands for thousands of new workers and immigrants were seeking more economic opportunities. Most immigrants settled near each other’s own nationality and/or original village when in America.
During the late 1800's and early 1900's hundreds of thousands of European immigrants migrated to the United States of America. They had aspirations of success, prosperity and their own conception of the American Dream. The majority of the immigrants believed that their lives would completely change for the better and the new world would bring nothing but happiness. Advertisements that appeared in Europe offered a bright future and economic stability to these naive and hopeful people. Jobs with excellent wages and working conditions, prime safety, and other benefits seemed like a chance in a lifetime to these struggling foreigners. Little did these people know that what they would confront would be the complete antithesis of what they dreamed of.
... many immigrants faced discrimination, thus leaving them no choice but to live in the slums of some areas and try fight their way up to success.
There are many cumulative events that have influenced Western Civilization reflective in today’s modern world, but the most impactful was the French Revolution. Western Civilization has many historic milestones building to the world as we know it, but none set such broad themes that are felt in our everyday life. Many of these themes have become so ingrained into the way we live that we can’t understand a world without them. For this reason, the effects of the French Revolution molded the westernized world more so than any other event. I consider the French Revolution the catalyst to how our world is shaped today. It’s ideas and events continue to echo through our lives century after century.
Between 1880 and 1920 almost twenty-four million immigrants came to the United States. Between better salaries, religious freedom, and a chance to get ahead in life, were more than enough reasons for leaving their homelands for America. Because of poverty, no future and various discrimination in their homelands, the incentive to leave was increasing. During the mid-1800's and early 1900's, the labor and farm hands in Eastern Europe were only earning about 15 to 30 a day. In America, they earned 50 cents to one dollat in a day, doubling their paycheck. Those lower wage earners in their homeland were st...
Since the 19th century, America became a place where millions of people aspire to immigrate intensively. In order to pursuit a better life, freedom, and equality, people have to leave their hometowns and family, deal with uncertainty. Why were so many people willing to leave their family and go to the United States for pursuing their American Dreams? The most important reason that people chose to immigrate to America was they believed that they had opportunities to earn a better life. No matter how hard they tried, their lives are barely improved. Therefore, people were dissatisfied and despaired with their own countries since their efforts did not pay off. However, reality was cruelly destroying the path to the dream, additionally; people
Gregory, James N.. "Second Great Migration: Historical Overview." UW Faculty Web Server. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Sept. 2011. .
The causes of the Great Migration has many reason and different stories for each induvial that part in the migration.
Many years later Isabella, the wife of King Edward II of England, plotted to kill
There is quite a difference between “New” immigration and “Old” immigration in which, the old immigrants came from Northern and Western Europe such as, Ireland, Germany, Great Britain, and Scandinavian countries before 1890. They arrived when the frontiers were open to them, in which they settled down on farms. On the other hand, “New” immigrations occurred at a later time, particularly after 1890, where immigra...
A continuing high birthrate accounted for most of the increase in population, but by the 1840’s the tides of immigration were adding hundreds of thousands more. Before this decade, immigrants had been flowing in at a rate of 60,000 a year ; but suddenly the influx was tripled in the 1840’s and then quadrupled in the 1850’s. During these two feverish decades, over a million and a half Irish, and nearly as many Germans, swarmed down the gang planks. Why did they come? The immigrants came partly because Europe seemed to be running out of room. The population of the Old World more than doubled in the nineteenth century, and Europe began to generate a seething pool of apparently "Surplus" people. They were displaced and footloose in their homelands before they felt the tug of the American magnet. Indeed at least as many people moved about within Europe as crossed the Atlantic. America benefited from these people churning changes but did not set then all in motion. Nor was the United States the sole beneficiary of the process : of the nearly 60 million people who abandoned Europe in the century after 1840, about 25 million went somewhere other than the United States.
Though a popular definition of immigration is believed to be a process pertaining to, set-up and controlled by a government, it's true denotation is moving into a foreign country with the intent to permanently live there, and when one studies history, the most prominent, influential events were the movement of people into a new land, either due to exploration, seeking refuge, or a number of other situations that `are abundant in history. Yet the majority of the time it has led to destruction and chaos for at least one group involved. This is exemplified well in the colonization of the Americas. As European settlers flooded into the New World, the forefront of their arrival was a tsunami of disease that wiped out up to ninety five percent of
Wilcox, Walter F. 1929. “Migrations According to International Statistics: Continental Migrations.” National Bureau of Economic Research I:219-227.
The Thirty Years’ War was the last major religious war in Europe. The war started in 1618 and lasted until 1648. This made it rather convenient for Historians and they decided to call the war “The Thirty Years’ War”. The war is often forgotten, and I dare say that the majority of the American population doesn’t even know that the Thirty Years’ War is a thing. I wanted to expand my knowledge and learn about this great and mystical thing historians call the “Thirty Years’ War”. So, What was the Thirty Years’ Wars and what effects did the war have on Europe?
arduous travel by land and sea. It was no unexpected that they never return. Travel during those days was filled with danger. Today we take travelling far distances for granted. The risks are negligible. People are more concerned about whether they travel first-class or economy.