Who were the immigrants and why did they come? To answer this question we must first break it into two but first we should get some background info. Immigration to the United States started in the early 1800. People from all over the globe arrived US for particular causes, some in search of gold, others escaping poverty, and others escaping from the injustices in their countries. From 1820’s to 1840’s the industrial revolution caused unemployment to rise and as a result this caused many Europeans to leave and come to America in search of a better life. In the 1840’s till 1860’s 4 million people immigrated to the US escaping hunger from Sweden in Ireland because of the lack of crops and potatoes as in the case of the passage of “Old Skibbereen” on page 24. From 1860’s till 1880’s 5 millions of persons showed up in United States. Chinese people appeared in America in search of gold; this period was better known as the Gold Rush.
Crossing of multitudes continued until the 1900’s when 9 million newcomers took place for financial matters on the contrary Jews came in flee from persecution in Russia.Who were the immigrants? This question can be answered easily by reading page 10 since it explains the story of immigration to the States in a timeline and who came. The story “Melting Pot or Salad Bowl” describes and compares The United States at first with a melting pot assuring that as a soup or a stew back then all people in the United States would merge their traditions and believes until they would be indistinguishable. This text compares humans to the ingredients that make up the melting pot or salad bowl. “Today”, describes the story, “many immigrants like to keep their own traditions intact even when associating with others of contrasting background.” This is often called cultural pluralism that as defines the book is: a condition in society in which many ethnic, religious, or social groups coexist within a common civilization while keeping individual traditions. Consequently this is why as the exposition continues the US gets compared to a salad bowl instead of a melting pot, because instead of ingredients getting mixed up all together they remain separate and distinct but still flavors go along together.
Keeping this in mind this text gives us a good example of how the States and the population in it have changed for the last 200 years. Persons from all around the sphere have come and this has changed the variety and cultures in any which way.Why did they come? Most of the people who checked in the states were in search of an improved life, some were escaping from massacres and persecutions, while others were escaping famine and economic problems. Crowds were being convinced to come to America because it was thought that it would be exceptional. One method that was used to convince individuals to go to the new world was the pamphlet of “The Plantation in New England”. This pamphlet stated reasons such as that churches and schools were being corrupted, communities were living in poverty, and that in such way they could not live in prosperity to convince people to go and start all over in the new world.
In addition “Old Skibbereen” is a ballad that tells the story of father and a son and why they had to leave Ireland. By the time they left Ireland was passing an monetary crisis in which the rents were too high and the crops of potatoes were lacking, also his mother died when he was only two years old so his father couldn’t stay and they had to go to the United States. Not to mention, “The Golden mountain” is another poem that talks about the departure of specifically Chinese natives that came because economic dilemmas in search of gold to live a better life.
This story happens around 1860’s in a period better known as the gold rush; this was the largest mass migration of the US since it brought about 300,000 people to California. This text explains how these men were treated and describes how back in China they lived in poverty and hunger. As they arrived they would be locked on wooden barracks waiting for physical examinations; the few non-laborers that passed would then be taken to San Francisco. We know that the author of this poem was living in difficulty at China and came to work because of his words; the author affirms “At home I was in poverty, constantly worried about firewood and rice…” The last narrative of the chapter is called: “The Progroms were all around us” and it interprets why many Jews fled away from Russia in 1804. The protagonist of this narrative is originally from Poland and he defines why he had to pass the last of his years on California. Additionally the author addresses how Jews were treated like a plague and how they had to live in a Quarantine area.
Under those circumstances Russia blamed Jews for poverty, hunger and or making their race impure. As the narrative progresses the author describes why about 3 million Jews took flight to America escaping persecution of the Progroms.As can be seen most of the people that came to America were in search of something better. The greater amount of them because of budgetary problems or starvation complications. All of this narratives can help us conclude that for long time the US was and is still seen as a prosper place to come and live. To summarize and answer the overall question we can assert that the immigrants were from many diverse nationalities because travelers came from everywhere and that the purpose they came were all distinct.
As the years passed immigrants from divergent places came for their own peculiar motives such as hunger, famine, or persecution so we can conclude that they all came for negative reasons to live a good life here in America. Definitely we can say that all this immigration caused the United States to grow up in diversity and give space for new cultures and believes.?
