Race and Ethnicity in 19 th Century America

1. Race and Ethnicity in 19th Century America Prof. Jose Alamillo CES 101-06 Spring 2008

2. 1790 Naturalization Act “That all free white person who, have, or shall migrate into the United States, and shall give satisfactory proof, before a magistrate, by oath, that they intend to reside therein, and shall take an oath of allegiance, and shall have resided in the United States for one whole year, shall be entitled to the rights of citizenship” 1790-1870 “Whites only” • “White” was written into state laws governing: • -Who could marry whom (not blacks or Indians) • -Who could participate in the militia • -Who could vote and hold office • -Who could be “free” against “bondage” (slaves)

3. Irish Immigration • Why did Irish emigrate to the U.S.? • How were the Irish treated? • Who was the “Know Nothings” • How did Irish become “white”?

4. “What I'm really talking about is how the Irish went from being members of an oppressed race in Ireland to being members of an oppressing race in the United States. The period that the book covers begins in the 1790s and closes in 1877, but the real heart of the book is the 1830s and 1840s, when I think the decisive elements fell into place.” –Noel Ignatiev First, they had to distance themselves as much as possible from the black population of North America. Second, the Irish used different institutions to gain them admission into the white race in America. -the Democratic Party - early labor unions -the church -race riots

6. German Immigration • How did the German immigrants compare with the Irish? • How were the German immigrants treated? • Why were German language schools considered a threat?

7. German population, 1862

8. “Why should Pennsylvania, founded by the English, become a Colony of Aliens, who will shortly be so numerous as to Germanize us instead of us Anglifying them, and will never adopt our Language or Customs, any more than they can acquire our Complexion.” -Benjamin Franklin, Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind (1751)

9. Chinese Immigrants • Why did Chinese emigrate to the U.S.? • How were the Chinese treated? • Explain the 1852 Foreign Miners Tax • What are the root causes of the Anti-Chinese Movement?

12. 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act Anti-Chinese Movement (united white elites and poor whites) • Created a new federal bureaucracy (INS) worked against legal and illegal immigrants. • Became a foundation for immigration law that arose afterwards. • Chinese became the first immigrant group to be excluded from the United States on the basis of race and class.

15. Mexicans: natives and immigrants • Why did U.S. go to war with Mexico? • What did the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo promise those Mexicans who remained in the U.S.? • How did Mexican land grantees lose their land?

17. Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo • ARTICLE IX : The Mexicans who, in the territories aforesaid, shall not preserve the character of citizens of the Mexican Republic, conformably with what is stipulated in the preceding article, shall be incorporated into the Union of the United States. and be admitted at the proper time (to be judged of by the Congress of the United States) to the enjoyment of all the rights of citizens of the United States, according to the principles of the Constitution; and in the mean time, shall be maintained and protected in the free enjoyment of their liberty and property, and secured in the free exercise of their religion without; restriction. • ARTICLE X: The United States Senate eliminated Article 10, which stated that the U.S. government would honor and guarantee all land grants awarded in lands ceded to the United States to citizens of Spain and Mexico by those respective governments.

18. African Americans • After the civil war and the abolition of slavery did African Americans gain their freedom? 1875 Civil Right Act • Compromise of 1877- “Black codes” • Explain the significance of Plessy v. Ferguson • Segregation “congregation” • How did African American resist Jim Crow in transportation?