Brandons paper

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America is the Melting pot of the world where people of all races come to live in search for a better life. In the early 1900’s there was a great migration of people to the U.S for a number of reason from escaping political tyrannies to wanting to come to America to mine. Although when immigrants moved to America they weren’t greeted with the Roads paved in gold that they were told about, but rather prejudice and segregation. Immigrants came to the U.S to find a new life in many ways that were different from their old ones, but upon arrival and while living in the U.S they would come to learn the struggles of an immigrants life in the United States.
Among the many immigrants the Irish people made up a high percentage of the migrating people. “Many Irish immigrants first came to the US around 1893 during the potato famine” (Doc 1), which was a mass shortage of the Irish’s main food source potatoes. Later around the early 1900’s many Irish came to escape high unfair taxes implemented by England as expressed by Catherine Moran McNamara in this statement “Every war England had she had you pay her part even though you just had nothing”(Doc 2). Immigrating to the U.S. didn’t end the hardships in Ireland from the British. Americans viewed the Irish as lazy, unintelligent, carefree alcoholics. Due to the Irish peoples willingness to work for low wages they were often used as scabs, or strikebreakers, to break up union strikes. The use of Irish as scabs led to strong nativist feelings from Americans.
Nativism, which is a strong favor of native customs which lead to a prejudice towards foreigners. Many Americans saw them self as a higher people being Anglo-saxon or white native born Americans, but also feared them because immigrants wo...

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...s wanted them to “ I am a polish man. I want be American citizen… But my friends are polish people-I must live with them-I work the shoes-shop with polish people-I stay all the time with them-at home-in the shop-anywhere” (Doc 7).
Immigrants came to America for the bettering of their lives although they faced many hardships while living in the U.S it eventually turned out for the best. They came to escape the segregation, and religious/political oppression that they faced it their home countries. When they got to America it wasn’t that much better having to live in tenement houses and the constant pressure by nativists to become more “American”. Coming to America was probably the best decision for many disregarding the suffering, henceforth in the end the migration of so many races religions, and cultures to America made it the great Melting pot that it is today!

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