Patterns of immigration into the United States during the first two-thirds of the nineteenth century

The speed of immigration started from the period of 1840 and 1850 as the people of Europe try to find land, freedom, opportunity and jobs in the United States. The rate of immigration was very few during the period of 1770 to 1830 but it started to take pace from the 1830 from different parts of Germany, Britain, Ireland and other parts of the Western Europe. The immigrants found the United States attractive because of the availability of cheap farmland and the growth of industries in the United States. The weak economic condition of Europe was considered as another factor of the increase in the number of immigrants in that period.

Immigration from Europe

The immigrants from Europe started to work in various parts of the United States in accordance to the type of jobs and earning opportunities available to them. The immigrants from the Ireland started to work in the various infrastructure projects such as the construction of canals and railroads and settled in the urban areas. Many Irish people started to work in the textile mills in the towns of the northeast while some of them become dockworker in the developing Atlantic and gulf port cities. The immigrants from Germany started farming especially in the Midwest and Texas, while some of the German migrants became crafts men in the urban areas.  

During the period of 1841 and 1850, the number of immigrants almost tripled totaling 1713000 immigrants.  From Ireland (1845 to 1849) due to the potato famine in Ireland several Irish people started to move to United States in huge number, they emigrated directly from their homeland to keep themselves safe from poverty and death. The failed Irish revolution of 1848 bought many intellectuals and activists to exile in the United States.

The gold rush of California

In 1848, the residents of California had shifted to the north to the gold fields with the vision to make more wealth and in 1849 peoples from different parts of then world started to visit California with the vision to earn more wealth, which mark the beginning of the gold rush. The gold rush of the California expanded very rapidly and that increase the population of US as the gold rush attracts the thousands of immigrants from Latin America, Australia, Europe and from China.

Most of the immigrants were unskilled specially the Chinese immigrants. The Chinese immigrants started to work in the mines of the California. The Chinese people were laborious and they started to take over digging others, abandoned as worthless, and worked them until every scrap of gold had been found. The Americans started to loose their jobs for the Chinese people and that create problem in the economic condition of the country. The people of United States started to feel deprived and they started to discriminate the Chinese people.

To stop the problem of immigration the government of United States started to impose tax on the foreign miners.  The Chinese people who started to stay in us even after paying the tax were killed and punished brutally. In 1882, the congress after coming in the power started to impose new rules that restrict the immigration by restricting the further immigration of Chinese.

Immigration and worker exploitation

The Germans and Irish immigrants give hard competition to the native labors of the United States as they used to work for long hours and at low rate. Because of this, the native workers started to misbehave with the immigrants. The women workers of Irish origin were more skilled than the native workers that forced the American women to face hard challenge in the job and that lead to the rise of conflict among the immigrants and the native people. As work become increasingly deskilled, no worker was irreplaceable and no one’s job was safe.

Waves of Irish immigration into the United States

The waves of their Irish immigrants started from 1840 due to the occurrence of the potato famine in the Ireland. The Irish people started to stay in America from the time since 1700 and many had settled in the upland areas of the American interior. When the second part of the immigrants started to enter in America during the 1840 due to the effect of the potato famine the old Irish immigrants started to refer themselves as the scotch Irish to distinguish themselves from the newly arrived immigrants.

The potato famine

The potato famine in Ireland destroyed all the potato filed of the country and that send the entire nation in to poverty and poverty. People of Ireland to save their life started to leave their country and started to move to America. The Irish people were primarily catholic and most of them became unskilled labor in America and started to live in the urban areas of New York, Chicago and Boston. Some of them also move d in the textile mill towns of northeast and some of the immigrants migrated to the interiors of the America and selected to work as unskilled labors in the infrastructure projects like the canals and roadways.

From 1830 to 1914, around 5 million Irish people moved to America that can easily indicate the massive relentless immigration occurred in the United States. In 1890, two of every five Irish born people were living abroad.

Discrimination and assimilation

With the increasing pressure in the population, the native people of America realized that they are losing their jobs for the Irish people and that lead to the occurrence of discrimination with the Irish people. American men with families to protect their job started to work for low wages in order to keep their jobs.

Effects on the culture of America

The Irish Americans contributed to the US culture in a wide variety of fields such as the fine performing arts, film, literature, politics, sports and religion. The immigration has lead to the evolution of a new culture in the world that is the Irish American culture.

Summarize the political significance of German immigration in mid-nineteenth century America

Effects of German immigration

The largest flow of the German immigration to America occurred during the 1820 and World War 1 at around six million Germans immigrated to the United States. Half of the German immigrants settled in the cities and with their skills, they become entrepreneurs and skilled workers and the rest of the part of the German immigrants become large farmers. The German immigrants used to settle in the cities of Milwaukee Cincinnati, St Louis, Chicago, New York and Baltimore. The skilled workers of German origin produced many crafts and the entrepreneurs created the beer brewing industries.

Politics and role in the society

The German Americans mostly contributed in the antislavery revolutions. Hundred of German Americans volunteered to fight for the union in the American civil war making them the largest immigrant groups to participate in the civil war of America. In the late nineteenth century, the Germans in the United States were socialist and they played a significant role in the labor union movement.

The Germans fought very hard to establish their language in the United States especially through newspaper and classes in elementary and high schools. By the late nineteenth century, the Germania publishing company published books magazines and newspaper in the German language.

Anti-immigrant sentiment in mid-nineteenth century America

With the increase in number of immigrants in the mid nineteenth century the native people of America started a anti immigrant movement and named it as nativism. The native does not mean the i8ndegenous or the American Indians but rather their decedents from the inhabitants of the original British thirteen colonies. The nativists primarily objected the Roman Catholics because of their loyalty towards the pope and their negligence of the American idealism of republicanism.

The anti immigrant movement outthrusted in the time of the 1830 to the 1850 primarily because of the Irish catholic immigration. In the year 1850, Charles Allen had founded a nativist society called the order of the star spangled banner in the New York City. In order to join the order one has to be 21 years of old a protestant and believer of god. The anti immigrants mainly have two issues one against the catholic Irish people and the other one, were against the high competition of jobs for which the natives lose their jobs.

The nativists went to public in 1854 when they formed the American party with the main objective to prevent immigration of Irish Catholics and campaigned for laws to require longer waiting time between immigration and naturalization.

Contribution immigration made to economic growth in nineteenth-century America

The immigrants though bring many problems in the economic growth in America at the same time they have also contributed in the development of the economic situation in the United States. The immigrants provide the population growth that was necessary for the booming American economy of the nineteenth century.

The immigrants came to America for job opportunity and there by fulfill the requirement of both the skilled and unskilled labors in the United States. The immigrants worked in the process of the infrastructural development in America like in the building of roads and canals and there by helped in the economic development of the country.