Immigration: There’s No Place Like Home

1. Immigration: There’s No Place Like Home Between 1860 and 1900, almost 14 million people came to America looking for new opportunities and a new home.

2. Answer the Following: “Melting Pot” or “Tossed Salad” What is America? A land of “Americans” or a land of many different ethnic and cultural groups?

3. Reasons for Immigrating: • Religious turmoil • Political turmoil • Economic reasons

4. Immigration Waves in US History • Before 1776 • 1840-1860—largely northern European, especially England, Ireland and Germany—approx. 4.5 million • 1900-1920—largely Southern and Eastern European, including Polish and Russian Jews, Italian, Greek—approx. 14.5 million

5. Before 1776. . . • Half of all white laborers were indentured servants who were usually from England. • Indentured servants were not slaves; however, they were not permitted to leave their master until their debt was paid off.

6. Before 1776. . . • Indentured servants agreed to work in exchange for passage to the new world. • Once debts were paid, servants were free to work for whom and where they wanted. This led to a need for constant labor. • Inexpensive, plentiful labor was available in the form of slavery. By 1790, 1 million African slaves were living in America.

7. Immigration After the 1800s • Dramatic population increases in Europe- too many people in Europe. • Spread of commercial agricultural. People with subsistence farms can no longer compete with large farms. • Commercial farmer- a person who grows surplus (extra) food to sell for profit. • Subsistence farmer-a person who grows only enough food for himself and his family.

8. Immigration After the 1800s • Rise of the factory system, need for inexpensive labor. • Immigrants begin to encounter resistance from some Americans. • Immigrants seen as different • Example: Irish – resented because of Catholicism.

9. New Immigration • Until 1880 most immigrants had come from northern Europe. • After 1885 new immigrants came from southern and eastern Europe. • Italians were one of the largest groups. • Another large group were European Jews.

10. The Newcomers • Most immigrants were poor, poorly educated, had few skills. • Met the need of inexpensive labor force. • Extended families helped people feel connected in a strange land.

11. New Immigrant Life • New immigrants flocked to cities • Lived with people from their homelands • Language was still spoken, and cultural traditions still kept. • Established churches, clubs, newspapers, and social centers to help face the challenges of their new lives in a foreign land. • Neighborhood stores and markets featured familiar foods from home.

12. Were they welcomed? • Americans wondered if they would ever become truly American. • Workers blamed immigrants for low wages or shortages of employment. • A resentment of foreigners crept into America’s attitudes. New immigrants were easy scapegoats for the fear of social change that many experienced due to the rapid changes based on the Industrial Revolution.

13. Naturalization Law in US History • 1790 - Congress limits naturalization to whites • 1870 - Congress adds African Americans • (limited to “free white persons” & “persons of African descent”) • Chinese Exclusion Act • Quota Act of 1921 • Immigration Act of 1924 • 1952 - racial prerequisite for naturalization eliminated

14. Immigration Restriction - Literacy Tests

15. Restrictions – Quota Act of 1921 Limits entrants from each nation to 3 percent of that nationality’s presence in the U.S. Population recorded in 1910!

16. Immigration Act of 1924 • Based ceilings on the number of immigrants from any particular nation on 2 percent of each nationality recorded in the 1890 census • Was directed against immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe who arrived in large numbers after 1890 • Barred all immigrants ineligible for citizenship on racial grounds, including all south and east Asians (including Indians, Japanese, and Chinese)

17. 1924 – Annual Immigration Quotas • Germany - 51,227 • Great Britain - 34,007 • Ireland - 28,567 • Italy - 3,845 • Hungary – 473 • Greece – 100 • Egypt – 100