2. Map showing the different immigrants living in United States
Questions
Description and Analysis
- Immigrants came to the U.S. mainly for profit. America was a land of opportunity for poor Europeans. Opportunity to get better paid jobs was the main cause of immigration. The religious freedom in America prevailed and meant that there settled also refugees from persecutions in Europe. Liberal economic law favored the formation of companies and shops, where immigrants undertook work. New settlers were attracted by personal freedom and voting rights for all white men. Also good climatic conditions were not without significance.
- The period to 1776 is the colonization of North America. Settlers were mostly Anglo-Saxons (the English, Scots and Welsh), the Dutch and French. In the period from 1775 to 1865 the immigrants were mostly Anglo-Saxons, Germans and Irish. In the period from 1865 to 1914 political and economic changes in Europe were reflected in the pattern of migration to the United States. Gradually the numerical superiority of the Anglo-Saxons, Germans and Irish disappeared in favor of Russians and Russian Jews, Italians, Poles, Czechs, Hungarians, Romanians, Bulgarians, Greeks and Scandinavians.
- English - states: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, New Mexico.
Dutch – part of states: Michigan, Iowa.
French – part of states: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and southern Louisiana.
Germany - land of the Great Lakes and the Wild West.
Spaniards – part of states: New Mexico and Colorado.
Irish - Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Oregon, part of Florida.
Poles – part of states: Illinois, New York, Wisconsin, Minnesota.
Italians – part of states: Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Florida, New York.
Norwegians – part of states: Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana.
Geographical/Historical Context
The end of the Civil War was the moment in the history of the United States, which gave rise to rapid economic development. In the late nineteenth century, the United States started to lead the way in terms of industrial production. This success was the result of the influx of people from Europe. Immigrants came to the U.S. mainly for profit. America was a land of opportunity for poor Europeans. The opportunity to get better paid jobs was the main cause of immigration. The religious freedom in America prevailed and it meant that also refugees from persecutions in Europe settled there. Liberal economic law favored the formation of companies and shops, where immigrants undertook work. New settlers were attracted by personal freedom and voting rights for all white men. Also good climatic conditions were not without significance.
Links
http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polonia_w_Stanach_Zjednoczonych - the Polish community in the U.S.
http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amerykanie_niemieckiego_pochodzenia - the Germans in the U.S.
http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amerykanie_francuskiego_pochodzenia - the French in the U.S.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5c/Polonia_USA.png - map showing the location of the Polish community in the U.S.
http://www.comenius.mechanik.edu.pl/migration/emigr1.jpg - map „Polish emigration in the United States before World War I”.
Presentation
Influx of people to America to the year 1776 can not be called immigration. It was the colonization of North America. Among the settlers Anglo-Saxons dominated (the English, Scots and Welsh), the Dutch and French. The colonists gave birth to the American people, American culture and took part in the American War of Independence. In the period from 1776 to 1865, most immigrants were still Anglo-Saxons. However, they were joined by Germans and Irish, mainly colonizing the Great Lakes area and the Wild West. They also developed the U.S. economy. Political and economic changes in Europe were reflected in the pattern of migration to the United States after the Civil War (1861 - 1865). Until the 1890s , immigrants from Germany, Great Britain and Ireland constituted a majority. But as the development of German and British industry, new jobs were created in cities and fewer and fewer people were forced to emigrate in search of work and a better life. At the end of the 1890s among immigrants predominated Russians and Russian Jews who were forced to leave their homeland because of persecution. Many were also Italians, mostly from south of the country, who, shortly after the unification of state, escaped from the country because of poverty. In addition, the Poles, Czechs, Hungarians, Romanians, Bulgarians, Greeks and Scandinavians increased the number of immigrants. In the years 1915-1925 the authorities gradually introduced immigration restrictions, reducing the number of entrants in 1926 to around 150 thousand people annually. In the period from 1865 to 1914 there was the first great internal migration in the United States, called the "acquisition of the Wild West." British, Germans, Scandinavians, and the so-called Dutchmen migrated westwards. New immigrants, mostly Irish and Italians, settled on the east coast. Polish immigrants have gathered at that time in Illinois (especially Chicago) and New York (mainly New York City, Buffalo and Rochester). Fewer clusters of the Polish community were formed in the states of Wisconsin and Minnesota.