American History

America has been described as the nation of immigrants. This is because a good number of the American population has their heritage in other continents. There is a strong support for the argument that the America economic and social prosperity emerging to be a world superpower can be attributed to the contribution of the large number of immigrants have had in the country. It is estimated that about sixty million Americans today which is almost a quarter of the total population are either immigrants or descendants of immigrants. For over four centuries now, the number of immigrant into America has been increasing. They have had both positive and negative influence to the social, economical and political development of the American society. The immigrants view America as a land of opportunities. The immigrants have had different reception into America which has impacted on the opportunities and in the long run the well being of the immigrant.

Immigrants in the 1892 to 1920
The period between the late 19th century and the early 20th century saw a very large number of immigrants moving into the United States. It is approximated that in the last two decades of the 19th century and the first two decades of the 20th century, about twenty four million immigrants arrived in America. Many of these immigrants commonly known as the New Immigrant come from the south and east Europe. During this period, the movement of these immigrants was motivated by several factors. The population in the European countries doubled in the 19th century which created social pressures and hardship in Europe leading to mass migration. The continent was also faced with the challenges associated with industrialization which was in the rise. Since the mid 19th century there was a large increase in industries and development of cities. Many people moved from the rural areas into the cities which had changed the peoples lifestyles and made the peasant lives undesirable. As more people moved from their farms into the cities is search of jobs and better living conditions, agricultural production reduced creating more hardships. As a result, over sixty million people moved out of Europe most of whom came to the United States.

The undesirable salaries, lack of jobs, outbreak of diseases, famine, religious prosecution and oppression in the European countries forced large number of Europeans especially Jews to flee Europe and move to America. The immigrants were encouraged to move to America by it international reputation as a land of opportunities and liberty. They were encouraged by their friends and family members who had immigrated to the United States earlier. Despite this, the immigrants were faced with many challenges in the new world which included the difficulties in adapting to the new American culture which was different from their culture back at home. The immigrants in first half of the 19th century were however not faced with these challenges in the late decades of the century. Most of the immigrants were illiterate in their language and could not effectively communicate in English. Their countries of origin did not have well established democracy and political leadership and the government was distrustful. The case was very different in the new world.

As the immigrants from different cultural groups arrived in the United States in search of opportunity and better living conditions, there number increased and they were able to establish their ethnic societies in some parts of United States. Most of the immigrants settled in the northeastern cities while others moved to Chicago. This led to the development of ethnic societies in the outcasts of cities in north east where they were able to preserve their original cultures. The immigrants promoted their culture in the foreign land where they promoted their languages through newspapers. However, this did not prevent them from being influenced by the American cultures. The establishment of these foreign cultures in the American cities resulted into discrimination of by other races such as the Native Americans. They established small businesses such as stores, small hotels and restaurants. As a way of preserving their religion, they built churches, synagogues and other places of worship.

The new immigrant in the late 19th century and the early 20th century settled along the eastern coast where they were able to get poorly paying jobs. During this period, industries were growing very fast in the region partly due to the high number of immigrants from other continents who provided cheap labor. The industries were filled up with lowly paid workers from overseas. The immigrants were also employed in other industries like construction of structures and sewing industry. The immigrants lived in poverty, poor housing and in overcrowded neighborhoods due to the little money they arrived with or the poor wages they received in the factories. In the beginning of the 20th century, the number of immigrant had increased significantly to a level that the infrastructures especially in the northeast coast cities were unable to maintain. The sanitation in the city could not handle the increased population which led to overflowing sewers, accumulation of garbage in the cities and lack of clean water. As a consequence of the increased population, the rate of crime increased significantly. These problems resulted into an uproar by the Native Americans who blamed the problems experienced in their cities on the high number of immigrants from Europe, Asia, Latin America and Middle East. The Native Americans even claimed that the immigrants were taking over their cities and nation.

Since the early 1980s, the congress had enacted laws that limited immigration into America. The laws required the immigrant to pay a levy of 50 cent tax and restricted immigrants who had a criminal record or had committed political crimes as well as the lunatics from immigration to America. In the early 1990s laws  disqualified polygamists, those infected with dangerous illnesses and individuals accused of moral turpitude crimes from immigration. In 1917, President Wilson proposed a law that required all immigrants to have a minimum literacy qualification before being admitted into the country. The law also restricted immigration of people from the Asian countries where only immigrant from Philippines and Japan were accepted into America. Following the event of the Second World War in the European countries, there was a very high increase in the number of immigrants into America where there was relative peace. It is estimated that over eight hundred immigrants moved into the United States between 1920 and 1921 that were mainly from the unstable region in the south and east Europe. This led to the Emergency Quota Act off 1921 which sought to restrict the number of immigrants into United States by country of origin. The law required that only three percent of people from the country of origin were allowed to migrate into United States.

The development of steam engine in the late 19th century necessitated the high increase in immigrant in the United States. The steam powered ship took less time to voyage from Europe not united states where the duration of the journey reduced from about three months to about fifteen days. The ship carried larger number of immigrants with ships carrying up to two thousand immigrants. Due to the high number of passengers in the ships and poor sanitation, the ships were very unhygienic and a health hazard. Lice were out of control among the passengers in the ships due to overcrowding. The food provided by the ship staff was also horrible. However, by 1920 there were better ships which had been developed which provided better services to the immigrants.

Every wave of immigration into the United States has had several impacts on the American society. The case was more aggravated by the large numbers of immigrants in the mass movement experienced in the late 19th century and the early 20th century. As a result of large number of immigrants, they experienced hostility due to the fear that the American society will be harmed by introduction of other societies in the continent. It was suspected that the large number of immigrants was not likely to conform to the American culture and was more likely to erode some of the cultural values. This argument was based on the incidences of the mid 19th century where Pennsylvania was greatly influenced by the Germans immigrants who were reluctant to learn English. However, Irish immigrants especially those who were Catholic found it easy to adopt the American way of life and were considered to be full Americans. They had the same status and cultures as the Native American.

The hostility between the Americans and the new immigrants reached its peak in the last decade of the 19th century and early 20th century. The racial and anti Semitism ideologies had become part of the multicultural society of the United States. The increased hostility of the Native Americans to the immigrants was based on fear of influence and dominance by the foreigners. The natives feared the foreign extremists who had emerged among the immigrant and the influence of European Catholicism. These ideologies were instigated by the intrinsic that the Anglo Saxon race was the superior race compared to other races. This inherent belief contributed to the immigration restriction in the early 20th century and was supported by majority of the educated elites. The immigration regulations based on the literacy level was proposed by Harvard educated fellows who believed that literacy test will reduce the number of immigrants from Europe. The test would reduce the number of illiterate, criminals and paupers who were thought to impact negatively on the American society and character.

The racial biasness resulting from these immigrations were so severe that cities with large numbers of immigrants were feared as they were considered dangerous people filled with extremist ideas. It is surprising to note that these sentiments originated from the intellectuals in the society. These ideas resonate in the Native Americans dominated cities where the society was homogeneous. From the Chinese Exclusion Act which was enacted in 1882 to prohibit Chinese immigrant into the United States, policies that sought to close the American society were enacted. The Native Americans society also reacted to the increased population of immigrants where different groups such as the Ku Klux Klan, the New England and the Progressive Movement were established. The groups launched legal and illegal campaigns to halt the ever increasing population of immigrants into the country. The groups were guided by their principle that the immigrants from Europe were undesirable and should not be allowed to contaminate the American society. the scientist claims on the superiority of the old stock American race when compared to other races was intended to prohibit immigrants from Africa and Asia and significantly reduce the number of immigrants from east and south Europe.

Despite the negative reception of immigrants from Europe, Africa and Asia to the United States, the history and prosperity of United States can not be separated from these foreigners. From the mid 19th century Irish immigrants contributed in the building of cities and were the major sources of labor in the development of transport networks. They were employed in railway construction as well as building of roads and canals. Moreover, immigrants from Europe had a major contribution in settling the frontier. It is also important to note that during the American Civil War, the strong union forces were mainly composed of immigrants from Africa and Latin America who had settled in the northern states.

The tremendous growth of the American economy in the late 19th century and the early 20th century can be attributed to the high number of immigrants who flocked the country during that period. They played a major role in transforming the American society into an urban and industrialized economy. The immigrant population in many sections of the economy such as skilled traders and merchants, mine workers and laborers in the industries was always over represented. Immigrants workers were the foundations of textile industries in New York, coal mining industries in Pennsylvania as well as the stockyard in Chicago. During the industrialization era in the United States, the cities in America were mainly immigrant cities. The late 19th century and the early 20th century industrial development depended on the cheap labor from large influx of immigrants from Europe, Asia and Latin America. At the beginning of the 20th century, about 75 percent of the population in the industrial cities in the United States was composed of foreigners. The immigrants dominated the urban population in all major cities until the 1920s when the old stock Americans started flocking into the cities.

Immigrants from Ireland due to the great famine among other factors had the greatest contribution to the development of the American society in the late 19th century and early 20th century. The Irish immigrants were assimilated into the American society faster than any other group of immigrants. By the end of the 19th century the Irish immigrants and their children formed a large percentage of work force and residents in all major cities in the country. For example the Irish population in 1890s was twelve percent in New York, eleven percent in Philadelphia, sixteen percent in Boston, ten percent in a San Francisco and about six percent in Chicago. During the same period, over ten percent of the American police force was made up of Irish immigrants and six percent of the total Irish immigrant population owned their own businesses. The main advantages of the Irish immigrants over other immigrants from Europe, Asia, Latin America and Africa, they were not considered an inferior race. They enjoyed the same social status and culture with the old stock Americans. The Irish immigrants were able to dominate the leadership of majority of the labor unions. They also held a good percentage of the white collar jobs in some major cities such as New York and San Francisco in the late 1890s.

The immigrants continue to play a major role in the social, economic and social life in America today. The Irish Americans have been involved in varies political and social escapades in the United States. They played a major role in the formation of Roosevelt coalition in 1932 and the election of President J F Kennedy in 1960s. However, since 1920s, the United States government has continued to regulate immigration of people into the country.

Conclusion
Immigrants into the United States before 1920s had a great contribution to the social and economic development of the United States. The late 19th century and early 20th century saw a large number of immigrants from Europe, Asia and Latin America into the United States. Although they were faced with many challenges initially, they formed the labor force that transformed the United States into an urban industrial economy. They were initially seen as a threat to the American culture which resulted into racial hostility and anti Semitism.