CHAPTER 4 IMMIGRATION AND UNITED STATES

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CHAPTER 4 IMMIGRATION AND UNITED STATES

• The Golden Door
• I. Many reasons contributed to the migration of
  people since 1815. A. Rapid changes in
  agricultural methodstechnology, i.e., less farm
  labor needed. B. Food surpluses led to increased
  population growth. Consequently, people uprooted
  by changes from a pre-industrial form of social
  organization and these people formed the migrant
  streams or wavesfrom native lands to other
  countries.

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Three great immigration streams to the U.S.A. and
each had different characteristics

• 1. Great immigrant stream 19th centuryIrish
  potato famine, and by the mid-1850s two million
  Irish came to the U.S.A. and England. Natives
  reactions
• (i) Irish poverty-stricken and lived in Eastern
  cities, e.g., Little Dublins.
• (ii) Stereotyped as ruffians, ignorant, etc.
• (iii) dominated the Catholic Church hierarchy in
  the U.S.
• (iv) Politically activeconflicts with the
  English.

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• 2. 19th century Germans
• (i) by the end of the century, Germans were the
  single largest ethnic minority in the 27 U.S.
  States.
• 3. Changing Patterns of Immigration
• (i) 1861-1870 decade, Immigrants from Norway and
  Sweden increased rapidly.
• (ii) The shift to federal control of immigration
  was launched in 1875, when the U.S. Supreme Court
  ruled that only the U.S. Congress was empowered
  by the constitution to regulate immigration.

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• (iii) As the receiving facilities in New York
  became overcrowded and misused for political
  reasons, the federal government opened a new
  receiving station on Ellis Islandlater became
  known as Isle of Tears, because many immigrants
  were denied entrance to the U.S.A.

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• 4. The 2nd Great Immigration Stream
  
• (i) From 1890-1924 immigrants came from
  Southern and Eastern Europe, e.g., Italy, Spain,
  Portugal, Slovaks, Greeks, Poles, etc.
• (ii) Their languages and religions were further
  removed from the English than was the first-
  stream of immigrants.
• (iii) Labor recruiters brought most of the
  immigrants to U.S.
• (iv)Like the first-stream immigrants, they were
  poverty-stricken farmers who were forced off the
  land by industrialization.
• (v) After the 1890 census the U.S. frontier
  (border) had been declared officially closed.

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• (vi) By 1900, second-stream immigrant groups
  were the main source of workersindustrial
  production.
• (vii) The promise of a new life in America
  became a shattered dream because many lived in
  ethnic slums.
• The Italians
• (i) beginning in 1890 over 30 million Italians
  came to the U.S.
• (ii) most were farmers but some worked in blue
  collar and lower level white collar jobs.
• (iii) Many Italian immigrants did not intend to
  stay in the U.S.called Sojourners or birds of
  passage.
• (v) Many lived in houses that were unfit for
  human habitation.

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• Natives Reaction
• (i) Americans stereotyped Italians as criminals,
  mafia or cosa Nostra. Little Italys were
  built to commit crime, etc.
• (ii) Anglo Americans did not recognize the
  differences between the Northern and Southern
  Italians, as a result, the two culturally and
  economically different Italians joined together
  to form a new ethnic group within a different
  societyprocess called ethnogenesis. This can
  occur when the dominant group rejects immigrants.

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• Jews Sephardic and Ashkenazaic
  
• (i) Sephardim Jews were the earliest, and
  came from Spain, Portugal and Holland.
• (ii) Ashkenazim Jews came from Germany, and
  outnumbered the Sephardim Jews. They became the
  primary force within Jewish American life. (iii)
  1st and 2nd stream immigrant Jews were itinerant
  peddlerslay the foundation for the development
  of department stores, e.g., Macys,
  Bloomingdales, Sears Roebuck, etc.

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• Immigration Restrictions A Preview
• (i) Immigration laws passed in 1924 closed the
  Golden Door and introduced the use of the
  national-origins principle in the calculation of
  immigration quotas.
• (ii) Laws and legal agencies were created to
  deal with the increasing complexities of
  immigration.
• 5. The 3rd Great Immigrant Stream
• (i) the 3rd great immigrant stream or new
  immigration (1946-present) came mainly from Latin
  America and Asia.
• (ii) End of World War II refugees also came to
  the U.S.

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• (iii) the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA)
  of 1952 and its amendments of 1965 made Americas
  immigration law more democratic, more humane, and
  fairer to all of the worlds countries.
  (iv) Rejection of the National
  Origins Principle in 1943, a program to admit
  temporary agricultural workers from Mexico was
  initiated and in 1948 Congress passed the
  Displaced Persons Act. (v)The 1965 INAA
  (Hart-Celler Act) abolished the National Origins
  Principle and introduced special preference
  designations for people with skills and increased
  the entry of relatives, etc.

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• 6. Three socio-cultural effects of the new
  immigration laws
• (i) the laws concerning refugees and displaced
  persons, and also the governments parole
  authority were responses to new global realities.
  (ii) The new laws altered the racial and ethnic
  composition of the 3rd immigrant streamleading
  to Browning of America.
• (iii) The difficulty of immigrating legally to
  the U.S.A. increased the number of persons who
  came as undocumented.

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• 7.  In Summary 1st immigrant stream came from
  Western and Northern Europe, e.g., 1. England, 2.
  Ireland, Germany, 3. Norway, 4. Finland, and 5.
  Sweden.
• Anglo conformity model worked for them because
  they are similar to the English.
• 2nd immigrant stream came from Southern and
  Eastern, e.g., 1. Portugal, 2. Spain, 3. Greece,
  4. Russia, 5. Poland and 6. Yugoslavia.
• Melting pot ideology worked for themmore removed
  from the English.

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• 3rd immigrant stream came from Latin America and
  Asia, e.g., 1. Mexico, 2. China, and 3. rest of
  the world.
• Cultural pluralism worked for them
  dissimilarbrowning of America.