The Causes and Effects of America's First Wave of Immigration

1. 14.1Essential Question: What were the causes and effects of America’s first great wave of immigration?

2. Lesson 14.1: The Hopes of Immigrants Today we will identify the reasons for immigration and describe their experiences in America.

3. Copy the following graphic chart onto Portfolio p63 Emigrant – define Immigrant – define

4. What is an emigrant? An emigrant is a person who leaves a country.

5. What is an immigrant? An immigrant is a person who settles in a new country.

6. Throughout history, millions of immigrants have come to America. In the first half of the 19th Century, most immigrants came from Germany, Scandinavia, or Ireland.

7. Most immigrants came to the United States by crossing the Atlantic Ocean in the steerage areas of ships.

8. For these immigrants, the crossing of the Atlantic was horrifying.

9. The Irish sailed in vessels known as ‘famine ships.’ They were called famine ships because the Irish were fleeing a terrible famine in their homeland.

10. Hundreds crowded below decks.

11. Disease spread rapidly, and 20% of the immigrantsdied. Why would immigrants risk so many dangers and hardships to reach America?

12. Immigrants came to America because of a variety of push-pull factors. A push-pull factoris a factor that pushes people out of their native lands or pulls them toward a new place.

13. There are five typical push factors. • population growth • crop failures • religious persecution • political turmoil

14. Three pull factors led immigrants to the United States. • political or religious freedom • economic opportunity • land ownership

15. 1. What were the push-pull factors that led to immigration? • PUSH: • Population growth • Agricultural changes • Crop failures • Industrialization • Religious/political unrest PULL: • Religious freedom • Economic opportunity • Abundant land

16. Government oppression was one cause of immigration.

17. In 1849, a revolution by intellectuals seeking democratic reforms was put down in Germany. Liberals were arrested and imprisoned.

18. The liberal German emigrants sold their farms, their shops, and all their belongings.

19. They withdrew their savings and sailed forAmerica.

20. Many German immigrants arrived with some money and a valuable skill. They set up businesses or bought farms in Midwestern cities or in the countryside.

21. Most German immigrants settled in the Midwestern United States, especially Wisconsin.

22. Some Germans were drawn to Texas, where a group of Germannobles bought land and sold it in parcels to German immigrants.

23. Germans also settled in Eastern cities, where they opened businesses as bakers, butchers, carpenters, printers, shoemakers, and tailors.

24. 2. Where did most German immigrants settle? • The upper Midwest, especially Wisconsin • Texas • Eastern cities

25. Although there was some anti-immigrant resentment from native-born Americans, most German immigrants made a good life for themselves and their families.

26. In Ireland, a massive crop failure caused a huge wave of immigration.

27. Economic conditions had been getting worse in Ireland for generations.

28. In Ireland, poor people lived on a half dozen potatoes and acup of milkeach day.

29. But in the late 1840s, a disease called blightstruck and nearly wiped out the entire potato crop.

30. With their major source of food gone, hundreds of Irish peasants died each month.

31. Eventually, over a million people are believed to have starved.

32. Two million others left Ireland, with 1.5 millioncoming to America.

33. Most of these emigrants were tenant farmers and unskilled laborers.

34. 3. What were the results of the Potato Famine? • Over a million people starved to death in Ireland. • Two million others left Ireland, most settling in America.

35. Money to pay for their passage came from relatives, relief organizations and local Irish governments.

36. Most Irish immigrants arrived in America without enough money even to buy a train ticket to the frontier, let alone to buy land.

37. Unable to move any further inland, where homesteads were available, the Irish had to make a life for themselves in the eastern cities.

38. The Irish had to take whatever jobs they could find as laborers, cooksandservants.

39. They lived in crowded, unhealthyapartments in cities like New York and Boston.

40. Cities over-crowded with new immigrants suffered from many problems. • Housing shortages • Cramped apartment buildings that lacked sunlight and fresh air. • Outdoor toilets that overflowed, spreading disease • Depressed urban neighborhoods, filled with crime

41. How did the arrival of so many immigrants affect U.S. cities? The arrival of so many immigrants caused U.S. cities togrow rapidly, leading to overcrowding, disease, and crime.

42. Immigrants were frequent victims of prejudice. Prejudiceis a negative opinion that is not based on facts.

43. Americans had mixed feelings about immigrants.

44. While factory owners welcomed immigrants as a new source of cheap labor, native-born workers saw them as competition for jobs.

45. The Irish were hated almost as much as blacks among most working class Americans during the mid-1800s, because both groups were willing to work for low wages.

46. Many Protestant Americans especially objected to the presence of Irish immigrants.

47. Many Protestant Americans distrusted Roman Catholics. They feared that the Irish would remain loyal to the pope in Rome, who could control America through their votes.

48. In addition to being Catholic, the Irish were also criticized for their fondness for whiskey. Likewise, the Germans had a reputation for drinking beer.

49. Anti-immigrant feeling was especially strong among nativists. A nativist is a native-born American who wanted to eliminate foreign influence.

50. Some U.S.-born citizens were prejudiced against immigrants because they believed that foreigners could not learn American ways.