Immigration in America
The nineteenth century in the US had an unmistakable theme, immigration. Over 20 million immigrants, mostly European, came to the United States between 1820 and 1900. They came for a variety of reasons. Most came because the economies of many European countries were in crisis and workers had a very hard time finding work. As well, some fled religious and cultural persecution. Most of them decided to come to the US because of the opportunities they had heard abounded in the US. One immigrant put it well when he said, "We are in such bad shape and in need of so much that there is nothing left for us here, we must go." Once they arrived in the US, the immigrants were seen as second class citizens by the vast majority of US citizens. As one American put it, "I can't understand those scum, those immigrants, for they talk differently and do things differently than I do." The flood tide of Europeans also overwhelmed the limited charitable services available at the time. One historian referred to the settlement house movement as, "effective as bailing out the ocean with a teaspoon." Immigrants emigrated to America for the opportunity to improve themselves and found horrible working and living conditions that were a large price
In conclusion, the immigrants came to the US in search of opportunity but found harsh conditions. The opportunity and advances the immigrants made in the US came at a large price. Factory workers were not able to move up and were forced to work in horrid conditions for low pay. Many despaired and wanted to move back, but they couldn't due to lack of money. Many more, however, willingly stayed. The real benefits of American opportunity and culture would be passed down to the succeeding generations. Overall, the immigration from the Europe and Asia to the US was the largest in world history. As Christa Jackstone, historian, said about the affect immigrants had on the US, "Immigration in the late 19th and early 20th century really made this country because they literally built this country. As the blacks had done in the years before the Civil War, the immigrants were doing the hard work behind the scenes while other people took credit for it." Although the immigrants themselves paid a large price, they willingly took the first steps that would benefit future generations. In this way, the free education given in the US to most children, American or immigrant, was a mixed blessing. While it certainly prepared immigrant children for better jobs due to better education than their parents had had, education also resulted in a loss of cultural identity. Those children who were educated in the US were instilled with American and not old country values as well as English as the primary language. This was in fact an intended consequence of the education expansion, that the immigrant children be assimilated into American culture so as to eliminate the foreign influence on the US. While immigrants certainly didn't want their children to be assimilated into American culture, they were willing to pay the price if it meant better education. This accounted largely for the 3 fold increase in students from 7 million in 1870 to 22 million in 1920, as well as a rise in participation from 57 to 78 percent. While the doors of primary education were open, the doors of higher education remained largely closed to the immigrant. Immigrants could go to some lower tier private colleges and state universities, but not in general to the big names such as Yale, Harvard or Stanford. Yet, still it was a major improvement for now the immigrants could be educated the same as Americans. Immigrants hoped that by coming to America, they could still retain their culture which
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Approximate Word count = 1673
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)
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