Burk Edwards
Mr. Kriner
Us History
19 October 2017
Ellis Island Intro
Located in the upper New York Bay was the border or gateway for immigrants to come to the United States, in total over 12 million immigrants used Ellis island to get to the United States.
Ellis Island was used as a inspection center for immigrants for over 60 years. The process they used to get immigrants into the United States was asking basic questions like money on them, name and occupation. There was also a medical procedure to get by Ellis Island, Ellis Island closed its immigration process in 1954.
Early History
In the early history of Ellis Island, much of the upper New York Bay, which consisted of oyster banks,
The Oyster beds on the islands lasted for almost 3 centuries, but nevertheless the railyard company Lehigh Valley Railroad and The Central Railroad of New Jersey destroyed the oyster beds.
In the 1770s Samuel Ellis became the private owner of Ellis Island, but not too much later in 1794, the state of New York leased Ellis island, during the time 1794-1890, there was not much going on in Ellis island, but it still played a role in the United States military as a federal arsenal and other military stations. As the war ended Ellis Island stayed a military post for 80 years before it would be picked by the United States to be a federal immigration station.
Forming the island
Before Ellis Island’s immigration station opened, the immigrants trying to get into the United states had to go through the New York State officials at the Castle Garden station for
The medical inspection took place in the Great hall on Ellis Island, in the great hall, they would give brief physicals, for basic physical alignments. By 1916 it was said that the doctors on ellis island could tell if an immigrant had basic diseases just by looking at them.
The immigrants were also giving a 29 question test, which included their name, amount of money with them and their job or occupation. It was very important for the United states to know their money count because they needed to know if they could support themselves and not have arise in the homeless population, so immigrants were required to have anywhere from 18 and 25 dollars.
If an immigrant had a visible health issue, they would be put in the medical center on ellis island, they would either die, get better, or get sent back to their home country from there. Ellis Island got the nickname heartbreak island from those who got sent back to their home country, which was only 2% of immigrants who attempted to get through Ellis
“In September 1642, John Throgmorton , with 35 families applied to the Dutch authorities in Niew Amsterdam for permission to settle in. Permission was granted in October 1642, and the conlonists settled on the long neck lying south of what is Eastchester Bay today and named it Throgmorton’s Neck after their leader. By the time of the American Revolution, the name had been contracted to Throgg’s Neck. Throgmorton and his colony thrived for short time, for in the later part of 1643, the Siwanoy Indians attacked the colony and destroyed it. Eighteen persons were massacred. Fortunately, at the time of the attack, a passing boat managed to land at the Neck and helped the remaining colonist to escape to safety. Throgmorton escaped but didn’t return to his colony after the massacre. “ (Hamilton, Harlan. Throgs Neck Light. 1-2)
During Cedar Point’s very early history, Native Americans occupied the land. This included the Eries, followed by the Iroquois, who violently over took the Eries and the land, and lastly the Wyandots. Cedar Point could be first seen on an early map by 1826. A family named Winthrops owned the land by then, but they did not use it
Angel Island was an immigrant arrival station on the western coast of the United States. The station, which operated for thirty years, from 1910 to 1940, was the main entry point into the United States for people arriving from the Pacific routes. More than one million people were processed at the station; most were allowed to enter the United States but to do so they had to pass various medical examinations to meet the requirements for entry . There are many reasons that made people immigrate to the United States. One reason was the
Lemak, Jennifer A. "Albany, New York and the Great Migration" The Free Library 01 January
In general we can say that the Dutch had “some” influence when New Amsterdam was grounded. Later the Dutch came to the conclusion that the reason we established the outpost New Amsterdam, to trade and earn money, was not what we expected of it. More and more people sailed to New Amsterdam and never came back. They settled and find their way into this big and endless country. Later the Dutch lost New Amsterdam to the English and they give it his new name “New York”. The bond with the Dutch and the America of today is still very good. In these day’s there is still some sort of understanding between the two countries, is this a leftover from history?
The territory finally became a state in 1959, just ahead of Hawaii. Now, Hawaii is an archipelago, a chain of islands, located in the Central Pacific. Unlike Alaska, annexing Hawaii was due to United States imperialism. Around the middle 1800s, American began to migrate to the islands of Hawaii to start businesses, especially with sugarcane and pineapple. At that time, the islands were ruled by Queen Liliuokalani in a monarchy.
Immigrants were held for long periods of time before they could get into America. People who had to send here were Steerages, a lower class, they had been “named” by the medical exams “E” for eye trouble, “K” for hernia, “L” for lameness, “X for mental defects, “H” for heart disease, Mary Gordon, 1987. In the other hand, Angel Island and Ellis Island had many differences between them. Ellis Island was in the East coast, Upper New York Bay. In additional, Ellis Island was a castle garden, and it was used for immigrants from Europe. “Immigrants could pass through Ellis Island in mere hours, though for some the process took days”, May Gordon, 1987. The immigrants who passed Ellis Island had been treated by terrible things such as “stolen their names and chalked their weaknesses in public on their clothing” Marry Gordon, 1987. Immigrants who had to go to the Angel Island was treated worse. They would be separated men from women and children at the moment they had arrived. Then they had to do the medical exams which required undressing in front of strangers. If they fail the test for various diseases they would be deported immediately. After all of the examinations, the immigrants did not pass through yet, they would wait in a detention dormitory and a bunk until the interrogation process, and this process took a few days to months. In conclusion, I rather to live in Ellis Island and
In the early 16th century immigrants from England fled their country in search of a better life. They fled their homelands for many reasons; poverty, religious intolerance and persecution, others in search of an adventure or for a new start. They packed up their families and possessions some even brought their servants, embarking on a perilous journey across the Atlantic Ocean and reached the land known today as America. The first of the immigrants landed in two regions; the Massachusetts bay and the Chesapeake Bay. Both these regions would soon be colonies known as Massachusetts and Virginia, both major colonies. Throughout the years more and more people started to flee their homelands in Europe and come to America.
This test discriminated against people from poorer countries such as Europe and Asia as they would not be able o afford to learn English in their own country. But after a while this test began to fail as immigrates relatives that had already got in to America who had taken the literacy test told them what the test said in their language so they could then learn it in English. So in 1921 the immigration quota act was introduced which limited the number of immigrates allowed into the USA to 357,000 each year. It also stated that the number of people emigrating from any country should not exceed 3% of the number from that country already living in America. This quota system also worked in favour of people from Western and Northern Europe as they made up a large percentage of the immigrates in 1910.
The Native Americans lived there, but also made it a sanction place if someone needed punishment. “Native Americans believed the island was to be inhabited by evil spirits.”(The Ghost Of Alcatraz). They believed this so much they sent people there for severe punishment (The Ghost Of Alcatraz). The punishment had been that their tribe would exile them to this island to live there away from anyone else for the rest of their life. The Native Americans protested to have the land in many ways, and kept coming back refusing to accept defeat. “A fire tore across the island and destroyed several of Alcatraz’s historic buildings. The Indians claimed the blaze was an accident or perhaps even the work of outside provocateurs.” (Andrews). In the end Alcatraz is known to be a historical place for people to now visit. There will always be a tie to the Native
For those who had to wait, immigration processing included checking paperwork, medical examinations, mental health tests, and work interviews. For those that had some kind of disease or were deemed too unskilled to support themselves, rounds and rounds of the bureaucratic process started to take place. Ellis Island Hospital, on the south end of the island, became the eventual deathbed of 3,000 would-be
...on is low due to agricultural runoff, disease and over harvesting. However there is still a future for the bays oysters, people have come together and made a plan to save The Chesapeake Bay. With time the bay will be restored to what it once was.
Roark, James L. et al., eds. The American Promise: A Compact, Vol. I: To 1877. 3rd edition. Boston and New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2007.
The United States experienced major waves of immigration during the colonial era, the first part of the 19th century and from the 1880s to 1920. Many people immigrated to America for
Lee, Erika, and Judy Yung. Angel Island Immigrant Gateway to America. New York : Oxford University Press, 2012. Print.