from: http://www.wou.edu/LiberalArtsScience/SocialScience/kimjensen/immignatOL.html Click Here: <A HREF="http://www.wou.edu/LiberalArtsScience/SocialScience/kimjensen/immignatOL .html">immignatOL</A> ----- URBANIZATION, IMMIGRATION AND NATIVISM: DEFINING "AMERICA" AND "AMERICANS" IN A PERIOD OF ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CHANGE A. INTRODUCTION "DEFINING AMERICA AND AMERICANS" B. GATEKEEPING: Debates about who will become citizens in the new nation are about defining "America" and "Americans" Naturalization Law of 1790 adult white male had to reside in the United States for two years make "proof" in a common law court that he was a person of good character had to be "white" By early 19th century, this is still in force. State Legislation No federal legislation restricted the numbers of immigrants States had immigration laws in the first half of the 19th century set minimum health standards excluded "paupers" these were not well nor consistently enforced, not effective C. IMMIGRATION PATTERNS 1820-1860 By 1860: 1/4 of adult white males in United States and 1/3 of adult white males in North are immigrants 1820-1860 2 million Irish Immigrants 1.5 million Germans 750,000 Britons and Canadians some skilled, more than 2/3 unskilled workers, peasants and farmers Why did they come? Traditional patterns of life disrupted by industrial revolution, agricultural revolution For the Irish, disease and death of potato famine The economic situation of immigrants varied greatly by national group. The wealthiest were the British. In their numbers--professionals, former landowners, skilled workers. Many German immigrants also relatively prosperous. Many had resources to begin businesses or to purchase land. The poorest were the Irish. Many of the new immigrants--the French Canadians, some Germans, and particularly the Irish, were Catholic. Difference in culture, belief. D. THE IRISH EXODUS AND COMMUNITY BUILDING IN AMERICA 10351 Irish Emigrants Leaving for America 1. Transformation of Ireland After English conquest of Ireland in 12th century--takeover of Irish lands, laws. By 1700, the Irish owned only 17 percent of Ireland. The English colonizers had forced the Irish to become Christian, but when the Church of England became Protestant in the 16th century, the Irish found themselves defending Catholicism. Beginning in the late 18th century, Protestant landlords decided to make their estates more productive and more profitable. campaign to commercialize the Irish economy transform Ireland to a "cattle civilization" enclose estates, evict peasant families, shirt agricultural production from farming to pasture for cattle. This caused a dramatic transformation and dislocation: more than 90% of workers previously needed for working the land were not needed in this new economy poverty many men become migratory workers, leaving their cottages each spring for agricultural or construction labor, then returning to their families in the fall with "the rent money sewn into their clothes." 2. The Great Famine and the Journey to America A little known fungus changed Irish history and American history. 1845: potato blight destroyed about 40% of the crop By 1855, about 1 million people had died from hunger and sickness. Some 1.5 million came to the U.S. Generally they were poor and not skilled in industry or craft production. They were young, the average age under thirty. Many came in family groups. Overwhelmingly Catholic, also Gaelic culture and language was strong. Crossing the Atlantic In the 1840s, as many as 20% died during the passage or immediately after their arrival in America. 3. Life in America Many Irish immigrants did not have the resources to settle beyond the coastal Atlantic cities like New York and Boston. By 1850 the Irish accounted for more than a third of the workers in Boston. Their labor enabled Boston industrialists to compete for the first time with manufacturers in the smaller mill towns like Lowell. In New England, but also elsewhere, anti-Catholic prejudice and the needs of the industrial marketplace combined to create few opportunities for economic security and social acceptance. In Protestant, English Boston, signs of "No Irish Need Apply" Merchants and professionals refused service, goods. Community and Catholic identity Catholicism was belief, also reinforced ethnic identity Settlement in communities, church, priests and nuns, Catholic schools provide center when Irish Catholic children find discrimination in public schools mutual aid societies fire companies, lodges, female auxiliaries The Democratic Party on the national level, and Democratic party machines in the cities family wages necessary young women in domestic service, textile mills young men as laborers, later on RR, priests, politics E. URBANIZATION Cities 1820: 6% 1860: 20% Industrialization Ethnic Neighborhoods Class Structure wealthy elite (approx. 3%) middle class (approx. 27%) working poor and poor (approx. 70%) F. NATIVISM Anti-Catholic literature Maria Monk, Awful Disclosures in the Hotel Dieu Nunnery (1836) Samuel F.B. Morse, Foreign Conspiracy Against the Liberties of the United States (1834) Native American Clubs Called for: extension of the waiting period before naturalization to 21 years restriction of public offices to native born Americans exclusive use of the Protestant Bible in schools (the public schools started the school day with scripture readings from the Bible) Political Expression 1850s: Nativism has a national political platform with the Know Nothings or American Party Violence: The Philadelphia "Bible Riots" of 1844 Irish Democrats vs. native-born Whigs conflict over the use of the Protestant King James Bible rather than the Catholic Douay version Protestant mobs attack Catholic neighborhoods, burned thirty buildings and killed 16 G. CONCLUSIONS Debate: who belongs? race, ethnicity, culture, economics ----- Aloha, He'Ping, Om, Shalom, Salaam. Em Hotep, Peace Be, All My Relations. Omnia Bona Bonis, Adieu, Adios, Aloha. Amen. 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