Immigration+and+nativist+reaction+pp.+381–385,+398–400

In the early 1800s, the U.S. was in short supply of laborers. Factories and farms found it extremely difficult to attract young and healthy men to work for low wages, so women and children became the main workers of textile mills while farms were run by family members. Producers took an interest in labor saving machineries. However, even in the 1840s and 50s, laborers were in demand to run and operate the machinery as well as to build the railroads. This led to mass immigration to the U.S. from European nations. From 1820 to 1840, approximately 700,000 people immigrated into the U.S.; most immigrants were from the British Isles and German speaking regions of Europe. From 184 to 1860, almost 4.2 million people crossed the Atlantic to come to the U.S.    The two main nations from where the immigrants came were from Ireland and Germany. Others came from Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, and the Netherlands. The “Great Potato Blight” caused a huge famine in Ireland which led to the immigration of 1.5 million Irish people from 1845 to 1854. Their transportation was made possible by low fares on ships delivering cargo from England to the U.S.   Te Irish traveled in the holds; the conditions were packed and unsanitary. Most immigrants arrived in the northeastern regions since that was the major trade between England and the States. They worked on menial jobs for low wages and lived in poverty; they were looked down upon by society. There was also religious conflict because Irish people were devout Catholics while America was mostly Protestant. As for German people, changes in German markets and landholding patterns put a strain on small farmers who could then no longer pay ff their debts to landowners. German immigrants usually had a little money to help hem make a fresh new start in America. Germans were usually artisans or farmers and they were able to make good lives in cities or Midwestern farm lands. They were faced with less discrimination and contempt than the Irish people probably because they were not in poverty and they were mostly Protestant. Economic opportunity was what appealed most to potential immigrants--some German Revolutionaries were enticed by the democratic political system. Immigration and economic prosperity usually went hand in hand as the rise in economy led to more immigration. The arrival of myriads of immigrants first led to more segregation of rich and poor among city-dwellers, then to the creation of suburbs where the wealthy resided while the poor remained in the center of commercial cities. “Slums”, were characterized by overcrowding, disease, poverty, and crime. This led middle-class reformers to demand professional police forces, sanitary water and sewage disposal, and better housing standards as the unsanitary and dangerous conditions could prove unsafe for all urban dwellers. Although there was segregation, the city-dwellers became unified through parades, public celebrations, and political contests. ** The New Working Class ** Most immigrants became wage workers in factories, mines, and construction camps. They fueled the rise of economy and the Industrial Revolution through a available cheap labor. During the 1850s, factory production in the States grew partly due to the cheap labor fees of Irish immigrants. In the mills, immigrants began to take the jobs of native born Americans. Work conditions in the mills deteriorated in the 1840s as owners and bosses became more cost conscious. Especially after the “Panic of 1837”, bosses cut wages, elongated work hours, increased the seed of the machinery, and gave more work to workers. Workers’ Unions formed to protect the rights of workers. Workers’ organizations petitioned state legislations for shorter work days (about 10 hours), though it was passed, it proved to be ineffective as employers required employees to sign special contracts regarding the elongations of work hours. Immigrants made it difficult to organize industrial workers since they had lower expectations of economy and society than did native Americans. Irish people were willing to do more work for lower wages in bad conditions. It took time and effort for rural folks to adapt to the industrial production methods. ** An Appeal to Nativism: The Know-Nothing Episode ** The Know-Nothing Party (formed of Americans) appealed to the Americans who were against further immigration of foreigners in the U.S. They feared and loathed the many European immigrants. Despite their popularity during the beginning, they lost support and members because of ineffectual leaders, lack of cohesion, and a failure to work out the nation’s major problems.
 * Mass Immigration Begins **