Chapter 14
Immigrants
Immigrants
•
•
•
•
People who move and settle in a new country
Many came from Europe in the mid to late 1800s
Most made voyage in steerage (cheapest deck on a ship)
Many died on journey to USA
Why immigrate?
•
•
•
•
•
Population growth/overcrowding
Crop failure
Freedom
Economic growth
Abundant cheap land ($1.25/acre)
German Immigrants
• Largest group to come from Europe in the 1800s
• Many went to Wisconsin and its fertile farm land
• Influenced America: kindergartens, gyms, Christmas tree, hamburger,
frankfurter (hot dog)
• Many moved to cities and started businesses
Irish Immigrants
• Most were Catholic and in Ireland could not vote, hold office, own land, or
go to school (forced them into poverty)
• British controlled Ireland at the time and most were Protestants
• Potato famine of 1845 destroyed the main crop of Ireland (killed 1 million
people)
• By 1855, 1.5 million Irish had come to America
• By 1850, the Irish made up ¼ of the population of Boston, Philadelphia,
NYC, and Baltimore
• Had to compete with free African Americans for the worst, lowest paying
jobs
Cities Explode
• Immigrants and Americans moved to cities in record numbers in the mid
1800s
• Cities were unprepared (no sewers, police, fire)
• More opportunities in the cities for jobs and most the large cities were in
North (not many opportunities in south)
Nativists
• Want to eliminate foreign influence
• Feared the Pope would influence policy if Catholics were in positions of
power within the gov’t
• Feared immigrants outnumbering “native” Americans
• Signs at businesses “No Irish need apply”
Know Nothing Party
• Political party that wanted to ban Catholics and foreign born people from
holding public office
• Called for limits to immigration and 21 year wait to become a citizen
• Not a lot of power and disappeared quickly (did elect 6 governors)
Factory Workers Life
• Factory workers worked 12-14 hour days for 6 days a week and began at 5am
• Factory workers pay could be cut at any time and longer hours demanded at
any time
• Factory owners could pay women and children less money to do same job as
men (this was legal)
Labor Organizing
• Women at Lowell factories started a labor union
• Lowell factory owners increased the rent workers paid to live in factory
owned housing b/c of the union
• 1500 women went on strike b/c of the rent increase and were demanding
better conditions at work and better pay
• 1835-36, 140 strikes took place in east coast factories
• Panic of 1837 and the economic depression that came with it, destroyed the
labor union movement of the 1800s
• One success unions and strikes had, 1840 the President made it law to have a
maximum of 10 hour workday for gov’t workers
Social Reform
•
•
•
•
Horace Mann led the growth of public education in MA
By 1850, most northern states had opened public schools
Boston opened the first public high school in 1821
Dorothea Dix worked for reforms in the mental health facilities
Abolition
•
•
•
•
Fight to end slavery
By 1804, most northern states had banned slavery
1807, US made it illegal to bring in new slaves to USA
John Quincy Adams, former president, defended slaves who revolted on the
Amistad , in a trial before the Supreme Court in 1841 (they were allowed to
return home)
Frederick Douglass
• Former slave who escaped and who spoke throughout the US urging an end
to slavery
• He wrote an autobiography detailing his life as a slave
• Bought his freedom with his money earned from his book and speaking
tours
• Housed 11 escaped slaves at one time in his home in NY as part of the
Underground Railroad
Sojourner Truth
• An escaped women slave who spoke throughout the US trying to end slavery
Underground Railroad
•
•
•
•
Series of escape routes from the south to the north for escaped slaves
Not a railroad or underground
Slaves traveled by night and hid during the day in “stations”
“Conductors” were the people who helped the slaves escape to freedom
Harriet Tubman
•
•
•
•
Most famous “conductor” on the Underground Railroad
Escaped from slavery
Made 19 trips into the south to help other slaves escape
$40,000 reward for her capture (never was caught)
Women’s Rights Reforms
• Lucretia Mott, Susan B Anthony, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton led reforms for
women in 1850s
• Seneca Falls Convention was held to discuss women’s rights issues (300
attended)