Compare the first wave of immigration ins the 1840s to that in the 1880's-1920's.?

Question

Did the addition of these new peoples radically change the American scoiety? How so (or not)? Consider the modern world-wide phenomenon of migratin peoples. How does the current wave of immigration to the US stack up to those of past times? Will these people radically change American Society? How so (or not)? Is the addition of immigrants good for a nation?

Answer 1

The first wave was almost entirely Irish Catholic. There were a smattering of Germans fleeing the failed revolution of 1848. But the big boom in immigration started in the 1880's; it was stimulated by 1) our governments need for agricultural workers to homstead in the midwest; and 2) big industry's need for cheap unskilled labor. The land grant opportunites brought over about 5 million Swedes and Norwegians and an equal number of Germans. The Scandanavians settled entirely in the upper Midwest and largely remain there to this day. The Germans are spread all over. Of the unskilled labor,most were Sicilian (only technically Italian; they came in under Italian passports because Garibaldi had conquered Sicily,but "Italian-Americans" are actually of a different ethnicity and more properly referred to as Sicilian Americans. The other major group consisted of Polish and Ukrainian Jews,and some Catholics from both countries. In this case,a Jewish organization was formed called the Hebrew Immigration Aid Society,to facilitate Jewish immigration ( mostly from Poland) to the U.S. where conditions were more favorable. Interestingly,Jewish Poles tended to settle in New York,while Catholic Poles went on to settle in Chicago; of course this was only generally true. It ended in 1923 when Congress heavily restricted immigration since the surplus of cheap labor was depressing wages,which in turn depressed spending,causing businesses to sell stock beyond their net worth,in order to compensate. This led to the Depression. The fact is,we should have slowed down immigration gradually after 1905 or thereabouts. We wouldn't be as multicultural as we are,but we would be a lot more stable.

Answer 2

The first wave of immigration was Irish Catholics. They were probably the most hated wave of immigration because, asside from a small population in Maryland, the US was Protestant and very much still tied to its British, Catholic (and Irish) hating roots.

From the 1890s-1920s, the wave was coming from southern and eastern Europe. Whereas the Irish spoke English, these people did not. They were still hated, but there were few, if any signs saying "No Italians Need Apply" because they were not renouned for drinking world-wide.

The current wave of immigrants bears a lot of resemblance to both of these waves, but more so the second one because their native language isn't English. The Irish and the Italians had an impact on society, but neither flipped the nation upside down, and neither will Mexicans. Immigrants are good to a certain point, but when a country outstrips its natural resources, everybody, immigrants and natives alike, become a strain on the available land, food, water, etc.

Answer 3

Take a look at the evolution of stereotypes for each of these groups. In the 1840s the Irish in the New England states were considered the scum of the earth. They arrived with nothing from the potato famines and took ANY job they could get. They worked on the docks, in factories, and as maids and cooks. Sound familiar?

During the Civil War the Irish proved they were good fighters and, by the end of the Civil War, there was a new scum of the earth--freed slaves who knew even less than the Irish did.

The Irish became soldiers, policemen, firefighters and the stereotype of the Irish by 1900 was the Irish cop on the beat. Since then we've had a man with Irish Catholic ancestry in the White House and NO ONE looks down on the Irish any more.

Yup, they changed America.

Blacks have also changed America. First they came as slaves, then they were freed slaves only fit for menial labor, but they have worked their way up the ladder. You see a lot of professionals who are black now. Of course, there's still that group who thinks they are owed something, but there's also white trash.

Our concept of the Chinese has changed drastically since the 1850s. Then they were cheap labor escaping from an oppressive government. The stereotype was the Chinese worker on the railroads or the Chinese laundry. They didn't speak English and they dressed funny.
Today the only stereotype of the Chinese we get is connected to the Chinese restaurant. It is an advertising gimmick now. Anyone can cook Chinese, but you have to have some Chinese associated with the restaurant to convince Americans that it is good Chinese. Again the majority of Chinese have been educated and spread out throughout mainstream America--enough so that they must import new Chinese to front those Chinese restaurants.

Now for the Hispanics. They have been considered (no surprise) the scum of the earth, but that is changing. As they become more essential to the running of this country and as more of them learn English and learn to blend in, they become more acceptable. Yes, we've learned more Spanish words than we knew before, but we've also picked up Irish, African, and Chinese words over the centuries (along with German, French, Japanese, Italian, and who knows what else).

America is a melting pot. We take in, whether we want to or not, the people of other countries and make them our own. That is both our strength and our weakness, but it is American.

Answer 4

The immigration in the 1840s was more and more a Catholic immigration to the New Mexico Territory and California from Mexico and South America after the Mexican War and the Californian Gold Rush, shifting the population from about 95% Protestant down to about 90% by 1850.

Between 1881 and 1885, a million Germans emigrants settled mostly in the Midwest. After 1840, Catholics Irish arrived in large numbers, in part because of the famines of the 1840s. Between 1840 and 1930, about 900,000 French Canadians left Quebec to emigrate to the United States and settle, mainly in New England.

In 1882 Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act.

The years 1910 to 1920 were the high point of Italian immigration to the United States wiith over 2 million Italians immigrants. About 1.5 million Swedes and Norwegians immigrated in the same period, mostly to the Midwest.

Over 2 million Eastern Europeans, mainly Catholic Poles and about 2 million Jews, immigrated between 1880 and 1924.

"The Dillingham Commission was instituted by the US Congress in 1907 to investigate the effects of immigration on the country. The Commission's analysis of American immigration during the previous three decades led it to conclude that the major source of immigration had shifted from northern and western Europeans to southern and eastern Europeans."

"New immigration was a term from the late 1880s that came from the influx of immigrants from southern and eastern Europe (areas that previously didn't have large numbers of immigrants) into the United States. Some Americans feared that the new to life in their new land. This raised the issue of whether the U.S. was still a "melting pot," or if it had just become a "dumping ground," and many Americans subsequently became unhappy with this development."

"Americans’ preference of old immigration rather than new immigration reflected a sudden rise in conservatism. Immigration, although always being a part of American culture, swelled during the 19th century, coinciding with the rise of urban America. Before the “flood” which occurred in the 1870s was a period called “old” immigration. Old immigrants were mostly from Western Europe, especially Britain, Germany, Ireland and Scandinavia. Since most of them, With the exception of the Irish, had Anglo-Saxon and Protestant backgrounds, they were quickly incorporated into American society, welcomed into the “asylum of liberty” . However, beginning in 1870, “new” immigration began, with large numbers of people arriving from Eastern and southern Europe as well as Asia, Russia, Italy, and Japan. Not only were these peoples’ language and culture less like that of America; they looked different. They were predominantly Jewish and Catholic, which sparked tensions."

"The Congress passed the Emergency Quota Act in 1921, and the Immigration Act of 1924."

"Quotas were set for European immigrants so that no more than 2% of the 1890 immigrant stocks were allowed into America. In addition, Congress passed a literacy act in 1917 to curb the influx of low-skilled immigrants from entering the country."

"Immigration to the United States : Immigration 1850 to 1930" : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_to_the_United_States#Immigration_1850_to_1930

Answer 5

that's a tactic used in court. The paintings of circumventing the final subject by technique of coming up a clean subject, whilst each and all of the time attempting to cajole you that that's the final subject. the final subject is unlawful immigration. i won't be in a position to be confident that legal immigration is what I must be discussing. good attempt l. a. Raza!!