One of the most important and perhaps unique historical elements contributing to the character of the American system is the diversity of backgrounds from which the nation’s citizen come. Immigrants from almost every corner of the world have decided to leave their ancestral homes and make a new life in the United States. Except for the American Indian, Eskimos and native Hawaiians, every American is either an immigrants or a descendant of immigrants. The flow of people to what is now the United States began in the sixteenth century. It continued largely unrestricted until 1921, when congress enacted legislation setting quotas for the number of the persons who could annually enter the United States. Above all, this continuing immigration made a tremendous and dramatic contribution to the size of the population of the United States.
But the impact of immigration on the development of the United States goes far beyond its effect on the size of population. The tide of immigrants that began to swell in the 1840s and crested at the end of nineteenth century made possible the astounding industrial and commercial growth of the United States, as well as its territorial expansion. Another impact feature of American immigration has been the ethic, economic and religious diversity of the immigrants. Other nations can trace their development to mass influxes of immigrants.
Conditions abroad and in the United States caused these people to arrive here in great waves. Almost all African immigrants came prior the Civil War, but unlike most other immigrants, they did not come of their own free will. Chinese immigrants, recruited to help build the railroads, settled in large numbers on the West Coast in the 1850s and 1860s. Many people from Northern and Western Europe came before 1880. at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries, other from Southern, Eastern and Central Europe arrived in larger numbers for several years. Hungarians and Cubans have fled their homelands to escape communist regimes.
Immigrants in Politics
The ethnic diversity made possible by immigration to the United States has enriched American music, literature, art, and the whole fabric of the nation’s society. It has also had a noticeable effect on the American political system. One of the most notable aspects of the American experience for most immigrants has been a virtually unlimited opportunity to take part in American life despite their newcomer status. After five year’s residence and the passing of a series of tests on the principles of government and law in the United States, any adult can become an American citizen.
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.
Immigration has existed around the world for centuries, decades, and included hundreds of cultures. Tired of poverty, a lack of opportunities, unequal treatment, political corruption, and lacking any choice, many decided to emigrate from their country of birth to seek new opportunities and a new and better life in another country, to settle a future for their families, to work hard and earn a place in life. As the nation of the opportunities, land of the dreams, and because of its foundation of a better, more equal world for all, the United States of America has been a point of hope for many of those people. A lot of nationals around the world have ended their research for a place to call home in the United States of America. By analyzing primary sources and the secondary sources to back up the information, one could find out about what Chinese, Italians, Swedish, and Vietnamese immigrants have experienced in the United States in different time periods from 1865 to 1990.
As the hostility toward immigrants had begun to relax, the residency period was reduced to two years by 1824. More reforms were made over several decades, and by 1870 new legislation gave persons of African descent, Asians and other non-white groups access to citizenship. As the country matured and became more multiracial, additional legislation would be passed to prevent “protected groups” from discrimination and exclusion. Present day, the United States is still a country of immigrants and continues to expand its laws to be inclusive of all its citizens and residents. All participants who contributed to the diversity of this county helped to create the vibrant economy and democracy that we know
The United States of America has the largest foreign-born population in the world. With nearly thirteen percent of the total population being foreign-born, one may find it hard to imagine an immigrant-free country (U.S. Bureau of the Census). Immigration has been an integral part of the United States’ overall success and the country’s economy since it was established and without it, would have never been founded at all. Although there are some negative issues associated with immigration and many native-born Americans believe to be more of a problem than a solution, overall it actually has a positive effect. Immigrants in America, among other things, fill jobs where native-born Americans may not want to work or cannot work, they contribute to Social Services and Medicaid through taxes and they help provide the backbone of America, especially by working jobs that natives may have not even considered.
In the United States, the cliché of a nation of immigrants is often invoked. Indeed, very few Americans can trace their ancestry to what is now the United States, and the origins of its immigrants have changed many times in American history. Despite the identity of an immigrant nation, changes in the origins of immigrants have often been met with resistance. What began with white, western European settlers fleeing religious persecution morphed into a multicultural nation as immigrants from countries across the globe came to the U.S. in increasing numbers. Like the colonial immigrants before them, these new immigrants sailed to the Americas to gain freedom, flee poverty and famine, and make a better life for themselves. Forgetting their origins as persecuted and excluded people, the older and more established immigrants became possessive about their country and tried to exclude and persecute the immigrant groups from non-western European backgrounds arriving in the U.S. This hostile, defensive, and xenophobic reaction to influxes of “new” immigrants known as Nativism was not far out of the mainstream. Nativism became a part of the American cultural and political landscape and helped to shape, through exclusion, the face of the United States for years to come.
America’s first wave of immigration began in 1840 through 1860 and lead to many demographic changes. Population increased due to natural reproduction and immigration. Many immigrants relocated to America seeking economic growth and opportunity or to escape religious persecution and political tensions. The Irish and the Germans were the first immigrants to migrate to America during the first wave of immigration. Each group had different reasons for settlement, but both faced discrimination from the Nativists.
Immigration has always been a major part of America. In fact, without immigration the creation of America would not have been possible. The majority of immigrants came to America for religious freedom and economic opportunities. However, for the most part before the 1870’s most immigrants were Protestants from northern and western Europe. These immigrants often migrated to the United States as families and usually lived on farms with family or friends who had already migrated beforehand. A lot of immigrants came to America with a plan or goal in mind. They often had saved up money for the long immigration overseas, were skilled in a certain trade, or had already been educated at a high level. Sadly, this would not last. Immigration became so prominent in America between 1870 and 1900 that the foreign-born population of the United States had almost doubled. A lot of German and Irish Catholics had immigrated in the 1840’s and 1850’s, and more decided to immigrate after the Civil War. A portion of Americans were biased against Catholics. Thankfully, the Irish spoke English and the German Catholics reputation was improved because of their Protestant countrymen’s good reputation. However, their children often lacked any skill or education, but they were able to blend in quite well with the American society. More and more immigrants would migrate to the United States without any skill or education and on top of that they were usually poor. These immigrants were called “new” immigrants and they came from all over the world including Italy, Greece, Poland, Hungary, and Russia. However, you cannot blame immigrants for migrating to America. Many immigrants faced religious persecution in their home countries which pushed them away, otherwi...
Immigrants were first welcomed in the late 1700s. European explorers like Walter Raleigh, Lord Baltimore, Roger William, William Penn, Francis Drake, John Smith, and others explored to the New World for religious purposes and industrial growth. The first European settlers that settled in the late 1700s were the Pilgrims. After the Pilgrims first settled in Virginia, the expansion of immigrants started. Then in 1860 to 1915, America was growing with its industries, technology, and education. America’s growing empire attracted many people from Europe. The factors that attracted many people to the American cities where job opportunities with higher income, better education, and factory production growth. As the population grew in the American
The United States was in a period of fast industrialization and urbanization in the years 1880 to 1920. The United States to in over 20 million people. The vast majority of those coming to the United States originated from Europe, specifically the central, southern and eastern areas. During the time period 1900 to 1910 approximately 600,000 immigrants had arrived from Italy, but come 1920 in excess of 4 million Italians had been accepted into the United States. During this time period a little over 2 million Jews originating from eastern Europe in and attempt to flee persecution.
Immigration in America is often broken down into distinct “waves”. These waves were the greatest influxes of immigration into the United States. The first settlements consisted of people from Spain, (in Florida) England, (in Virginal and Massachusetts), and others from France, Sweden, the Netherlands and sadly the slaves from Africa (Matthews, 2013). These people were the foundations of a nation that from its beginning was already multicultural, but still considered American. The second wave of immigration was in the 1800’s. 4 million Irish immigrants and 6 million German immigrants flocked to the eastern shores of the United States to escape from bad economies, hunger, and war. Tapering off during the Civil War another influx in the second wave of immigration happened after its conclusion. Hailing from Sweden, Norway and Denmark, these immigrants once again sought American shores to escape hard times in their home countries, this time shrinking land holds being the reason. After the discovery of gold in 1849 yet another influx of immigration boomed. With though...
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
Millions of new immigrants came to the United States during the last three decades of the nineteenth century and the first decade of the twentieth century. In contrast to the earlier American settlers who were mostly from British, Irish or German backgrounds, the new immigrants came from the nations of southern and western Europe such as Italy, Russia, Poland and Greece. Most of these immigrants were attracted to America because they were trying to escape from the problems they faced in their home countries. For example, many Russian Jews came to America in order to escape violent persecution on the part of the Russian government (Cox 32). These new immigrants were attracted to the freedoms offered by
Many people were forced to immigrate to safer places fleeing war or conflict to save their lives in their countries. For instance, the events in Ivory Coast where the conflict forced more than one million people to flee to different nations. Some immigrants were brought to the new land against their will whereby they were shipped to America as slaves to work on the farms. Moreover, some people fled their countries because of poor governance. Those governments that were not ruling to the interest of the people or treated them in groups as a result of ethnicity, political opinion or religion made them immigrate to U.S. For instance, more than one million people fled Burma because of poor governance from the military that treated them differently
The United States is a country known for its variation of nationalities and ethnic races. After extensive research, and questioning I discovered that my ancestors originated from Norway and Switzerland. My family migrated to the United States in the late 1800’s from Norway due to social, economic, and religion reforms as well as, a surplus in the population. Learning of my ancestor’s migration to America has very much influenced my views on the existing immigration problems that the U.S. currently faces.
In the second half of the nineteenth century, America had the largest number of immigrants moving to the United States ever known. There is a recorded three million Irish, four million Italians, and four million Jews that immigrated to the United States during the later half of the nineteenth century. People immigrated for a number of reasons. Many of them dreamed of leaving behind their old worlds. Worlds of oppression, fear, and crime.