Immigration and Moving West in Antebellum America

Chapter 15.1

AP US

November 3, 2010

Americans Move West

• “Europe stretches to the Alleghenies; America lies beyond” Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1844

• Young Republic - in 1850, half of Americans were under 30

• By 1840, the population center had crossed the Alleghenies and by 1860, it had crossed the Ohio River

“Raw” Frontier of the West

• Most frontier families were poorly housed, fed, and cared for

• Loneliness, disease, depression, and insanity were frequent rewards for carving out the new frontier

• Most frontier people were rugged individuals– But they did ask their neighbors for help with

barn raising and their government for help with internal improvements

Ecological Imperialism

• Tobacco farmers kept moving west again and again after exhausting their land

• Kentucky was burned in order to plant bluegrass for grazing

• Fur Trading became a huge business, leading to the endangerment of the beaver, buffalo, and sea otter

Preservation of Natural Wonder

• Some began to worry about the destruction of America’s pristine West

• George Catlin, a painter and student of Native American life, suggested the creation of national parks– Yellowstone was the

first of these in 1872

Demographic Changes• By 1860, 33 states in the Union.• Population still doubling every 25 years

– Natural birthrate accounted for most of population increase until 1840

– Immigration added hundreds of thousands more per year.

• U.S. 4th most populous western country behind Russia, France, & Austria.

• By 1860, 43 cities above 20,000; In 1790, only 2 – Urbanization resulted in slums, crime, filthy living

conditions

American Population Centers in 1820

American Population Centers in 1860

Why did Immigrants move to America?

• Population of the Old World doubled in the 1800’s

• Too many people, not enough jobs or land• Letters from previous immigrants spoke of

prosperity in America– Though it turned out to be not necessarily more

prosperity than you had before

• Steamships shortened the journey from 10-12 weeks to 10-12 days– Still perilous and disease ridden

Why now?Why now?

National Origin of Immigrants:1820 - 1860

The Potato Famine• 2 million people died from

the Irish potato famine in the mid-1840s and thousands of others immigrated to America to escape.– Became largest group of

immigrants to U.S. between 1830 and the Civil War.

– 2 million arrived between 1830 and 1860; more Irish in U.S. than in Ireland!

The Potato Famine

• Irish came to larger cities: couldn't afford to move out west

• Boston & NY contained more Irish than any other city in the world

Discrimination and the Irish

• Irish were targets for discrimination: Catholic and often poor – Hated by native Protestants as they took over jobs for

very low pay.

• Irish, in turn, hated blacks whom they competed with for low-wage jobs. – Race riots between black & Irish dock workers

occurred in certain port cities. – Irish did not support abolitionism.

Irish and Politics• Irish began to climb up the social ladder by

buying property. – Rather than going to school, children often

worked to help family buy a home.

• Irish were politically involved; came to control political machines in cities. – For example, New York's Tammany Hall – Dominated police departments in many big cities– Politicians courted the Irish vote by criticizing

Britain, whom the Irish hated. – Became a major force in the Democratic Party in

the North.

Germans Arrive in America

• Over 1.5 million came to America between 1830-1860

• Became largest group of immigrants by the 20th century. – Today as many as

25% of all Americans have German ancestry

Germans Arrive in America• Most were uprooted

farmers; many were displaced by crop failures – Some were political

refugees from the Democratic Revolutions of 1848 (that failed)

• Most moved to the Midwest (Wisconsin) where they built successful farms

German Culture and Influence• Formed an influential body of voters, but were less

politically influential than the Irish since they were scattered demographically.

• Better educated than frontier Americans; supported public schools including Kindergarten

• Strongly supported abolitionism prior to the Civil War. • Protestants concerned that German culture might alter

American culture– Germans often lived in own towns and remained separate from

other towns.

– Beer was important to German culture; • spurred on the temperance movement

Religious Fears• Irish and German immigration offended many

Protestant nativists who feared immigrants would overpopulate and unduly influence politics.

• Irish and large minority of Germans were Catholic; viewed as "foreign" church controlled by the Pope.

• Catholics eventually constructed a separate parochial educational system.

• By 1850, Catholics became the largest religious group in America; outnumbered Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, and Congregationalists.

Nativism• Nativism

– A form of discrimination– Nativists gave preference to those who were born in

America, “natives”– Additional preference was given for those of

Protestant and Anglo-Saxon descent

• Nativists created the Order of the Star-Spangled banner, which then became the Know-Nothing Party– Main issues were controlling immigration– Called Know-Nothing because they were so secretive

Know Nothing Party

Why So Much Immigration?

• If there was violence and racist tendencies against immigrants, why was there so much immigration?– The violence was not as much as it could have

been.– Industrialization needed workers and the recent

immigrants were those poorly paid workers