1. Immigration

2. Immigrant  Definition: A person who enters a new country in order to settle (live) there  1840-1850: 4 MILLION immigrants come to the US  2015: 1.7 million immigrants (legal & illegal) came

3. AN AMERICAN TAIL There are no cats in America  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bC07e7PReM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bC07e7PReM  Who do the characters represent?  What do immigrants think the USA will be like?

4. Why did Immigrants come to America?  Positives:  The American Dream  Gold Rush  Demand for skilled workers: mechanics, carpenters, and miners

5. Irish Potato Famine  1840: Disease destroys potatoes in Ireland  Famine: a severe food shortage  Thousands die of starvation & disease  1845-1860: 1.5 million flee to the USA

6. German Immigrants  Bad weather in Germany leads to food shortages  By 1832 more than 10,000 Germans were coming to the USA a year  1848: Revolutions for Democracy fail, thousands flee to the US  1820-1860 Jewish Germans  1848-1860: almost 1 MILLION Germans came to the US

7. Difficult Journey  Came by steam ship: up to 3 weeks  Many spent entire voyage under the deck in cramped disease ridden places.

8. Ellis Island  Passing Inspection  Physical Examination  Those with serious health condition/ disease weren’t admitted  Government Inspection  Inspection of documents  Never convicted of felony  Able to work  Had $25

9. Imagine…  Imagine you have just arrived to Elis Island and are awaiting inspection and hopefully admittance. What would you be thinking? Would you be more worried or excited?

10. Making a Foreign Place a Home  Immigrants group together  Neighborhoods formed to celebrate the same language, culture, religion

11. Enriching the Nation  What types of jobs do you think immigrants filled?  Irish: extremely poor, had experience farming but didn’t have the money to buy land  Men: worked in factories, built canals & railroads.  Women worked as servants in homes  Germans: Had some money  Moved west to buy farmland  Artisans & Merchants  Midwest towns of St. Louis, Milwaukee, and Cincinnati had German grocers, butchers, and bakers

12. Conflict Rises  People born in America found Immigrants to be a threat to the American way of life.  Why might they have felt this way?

13. Nativists  Nativists: wanted to preserve the country for native- born, white citizens  Does it still exist today?

14. Nativism and Immigration Restrictions  People born in the USA who were anti-immigrant.  Beliefs:  Thought their ancestors (Western Europeans) were superior  Protestant, concerned Immigrants threatened American peace and prosperity  Feared losing jobs to immigrants who would accept lower pay  Feared immigrants’ different language, culture, and dress  Blamed immigrants for the rise of crime  Wanted laws to limit immigration

15. Gangs of New York  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMkz-Mrxs-c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMkz-Mrxs-c  Natives vrs Irish

16. Know-Nothing Party  Natives form a political party that was anti-Catholic and anti-immigrant  Blamed nation’s problems on immigrants  Very secretive, called the Know-Nothing party

17. Immigration Today  Many Immigrants come from Mexico, Central and South America  Also many are refugees from war torn countries.  Current debate on how to handle immigration.  How many of you can trace your ancestry to a country outside of America?  Many immigrants today want to immigrate to the US just as others have been doing for hundreds of years, should they have the right to?