Please carefully read all the uploaded documents.
HIST147 Historical Documents – Irish and German Immigration (10 points)
Due: May 5 by 11:59pm (post response to Canvas)
Instructions
Before students read the historical documents, they should read the brief background on Irish and German Immigration (entitled “Irish and German Immigration – Background” and located in the Week Five module). The historical documents (entitled “Irish and German Immigration – Documents” and located in the Week Five module) provide insight into the immigrant experience in the mid-19th century (1800s). Students should read all three documents and provide a written response to each of the assignment questions (see below).
The response for each question should be at least 150 words. Students are welcome to go over the minimum word count requirement. If you include the question in your response, it does not count toward the word count requirement. The response should be written in complete sentences. The response should be written in your own words. DO NOT use quotes from the historical documents.
These responses will be evaluated on how well the responses reflect the information presented in the historical documents.
Students should submit their responses as ONE Word doc or PDF file to Canvas.
Assignment Questions
1. What were problems facing newly arriving immigrants? What was the basis for Americans’ hostility toward the Irish in particular?
2. What steps did aid societies take to help newly arriving immigrants? How effective were these aid societies?
Background information and the historical documents are in separate files in the Week Five module.
Irish and German Immigration
Steamers carried Irish emigrants to Liverpool where their transatlantic voyage began
In the middle half of the nineteenth century, more than one-half of the population of IRELAND emigrated to the United States. So did an equal number of GERMANS. Most of them came because of civil unrest, severe unemployment or almost inconceivable hardships at home. This wave of immigration affected almost every city and almost every person in America. From 1820 to 1870, over seven and a half million immigrants came to the United States — more than the entire population of the country in 1810. Nearly all of them came from northern and western Europe — about a third from Ireland and almost a third from Germany. Burgeoning companies were able to absorb all that wanted to work. Immigrants built canals and constructed railroads. They became involved in almost every labor-intensive endeavor in the country. Much of the country was built on their backs.
Letter to the London Times from an Irish Immigrant in America, 1850 I am exceedingly well pleased at coming to this land of plenty. On arrival I purchased 120 acres of land at $5 an acre. You must bear in mind that I have purchased the land out, and it is to me and mine an “estate for ever”, without a landlord, an agent or tax-gatherer to trouble me. I would advise all my friends to quit Ireland — the country most dear to me; as long as they remain in it they will be in bondage and misery. What you labour for is sweetened by contentment and happiness; there is no failure in the potato crop, and you can grow every crop you wish, without manuring the land during life. You need not mind feeding pigs, but let them into the woods and they will feed themselves, until you want to make bacon of them. I shudder when I think that starvation prevails to such an extent in poor Ireland. After supplying the entire population of America, there would still be as much corn and provisions left us would supply the world, for there is no limit to cultivation or end to land. Here the meanest labourer has beef and mutton, with bread, bacon, tea, coffee, sugar and even pies, the whole year round — every day here is as good as Christmas day in Ireland. |
Anti-Irish sentiment permeated the United States during the Industrial Revolution. The prejudice exhibited in advertisements like this one sometimes led to violent outbursts.
In Ireland almost half of the population lived on farms that produced little income. Because of their poverty, most Irish people depended on potatoes for food. When this crop failed three years in succession, it led to a great FAMINE with horrendous consequences. Over 750,000 people starved to death. Over two million Irish eventually moved to the United States seeking relief from their desolated country. Impoverished, the Irish could not buy property. Instead, they congregated in the cities where they landed, almost all in the northeastern United States. Today, Ireland has just half the population it did in the early 1840s. There are now more Irish Americans than there are Irish nationals.
In the decade from 1845 to 1855, more than a million Germans fled to the United States to escape economic hardship. They also sought to escape the political unrest caused by riots, rebellion and eventually a revolution in 1848. The Germans had little choice — few other places besides the United States allowed German immigration. Unlike the Irish, many Germans had enough money to journey to the Midwest in search of farmland and work. The largest settlements of Germans were in New York City, Baltimore, Cincinnati, St. Louis and Milwaukee.
With the vast numbers of German and Irish coming to America, hostility to them erupted. Part of the reason for the opposition was religious. All of the Irish and many of the Germans were Roman Catholic. Part of the opposition was political. Most immigrants living in cities became Democrats because the party focused on the needs of commoners. Part of the opposition occurred because Americans in low-paying jobs were threatened and sometimes replaced by groups willing to work for almost nothing in order to survive. Signs that read NINA — “NO IRISH NEED APPLY” — sprang up throughout the country.
The Know Nothing Party’s platform included the repeal of all naturalization laws and a prohibition on immigrants from holding public office.
Ethnic and ANTI-CATHOLIC RIOTING occurred in many northern cites, the largest occurring in Philadelphia in 1844 during a period of economic depression. Protestants, Catholics and local militia fought in the streets. 16 were killed, dozens were injured and over 40 buildings were demolished. “NATIVIST” political parties sprang up almost overnight. The most influential of these parties, the KNOW NOTHINGS, was anti-Catholic and wanted to extend the amount of time it took immigrants to become citizens and voters. They also wanted to prevent foreign-born people from ever holding public office. Economic recovery after the 1844 depression reduced the number of serious confrontations for a time, as the country seemed to be able to use all the labor it could get.
But NATIVISM returned in the 1850s with a vengeance. In the 1854 elections, Nativists won control of state governments in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and California. They won elections in Maryland and Kentucky and took 45% of the vote in 5 other states. In 1856, Millard Fillmore was the American Party candidate for President and trumpeted anti-immigrant themes. Nativism caused much splintering in the political landscape, and the Republicans, with no platform or policies about it, benefited and rode to victory in the divisive election of 1860.
Part lI Social LW in a New Nation, 178b1-877
DOCUMENTS
Irish lmmigrants: A Sympathetic Viezo, c. 1833
One of the greatest works now in progress here, is the canal planned to con-
nect Lac Pontchartrain with the city [New Orleans]. Lr the month of Febru-
ary it was completed to within three miles of the lake; and as it was a
pleasant ride to the point where the digging was in progress, I two or three
times visited the scene, after its bearings had been explained by the two in-
telligent persons under whose guidance I first penetrated the swamp.
I only wish that the wise men at home who coolly charge the present
condition of Ireland upon the inherent laziness of her populatiory could be
transported to this spot, to look upon the hundreds of fine fellows labouring
here beneath a sun that at this winter season was at times insufferably
fierce, and amidst a pestilential swamp whose exhalations were foetid to i
degree scarcely endurable even for a few moments; wading amongst
stumps of trees, mid-deep inblack mud, clearing the spaces pumped outby
powerful steam-engines; wheeling, digging, hewing, or bearing burdens it
sonncu: Tyrone Power, Intpressians of America During the Years 1833, L834, and 7835 2 (Lon-
don: R. Bentley, 1836):238*2M.
224
Chnpter 12 New PeoPle in aNant lnnd
made one’s shoulders ache to look upon; exPosed meantime to every
change of temperature, in log-huts, laid down in the very swamP/ on a
foundation of newly-felled trees, having the water lying stagnant between
the floor-logs, whose interstices, together with those of the side-walls, are
opery pervious alike to sun or wind, or snow. Here they subsist on the
coarsest fare, holding life on a tenure as uncertain as does the leader of a
forlorn hope; excluded from all the advantages of civilization; often at the
mercy of a hard contractor, who wrings his profits from their blood; and all
this for a pittance that merely enables them to exist, with little power to
save/ or a hope beyond the continuance of the like exertion.
Such are the labourers I have seen here, and have still found them civil
and courteous, with a ready greeting for the stranger inquiring into their
condition, and a quick jest on their own equipment, which is frequently, it
must be admitted, of a whimsical kind.
Here too were many poor women with their husbands; and when I con-
templated their wasted forms and haggard sickly looks, together with the
close swamp whose stagnant air they were doomed to breathe, whose as-
pect drangeless and deathlike alone met their eyes, and fancied them, in
some hour of leisure, calling to memory the green valley and the pure river,
or the rocky glen and sparkling brook of their distant home, with all the
warmth of colouring the imaginative spirit of the Irish peasant can so well
supply, my heart has swelled and my eyes have filled with tears.
I cannot hope to inspire the reader with my feelings upon a mere sketch
like this; but if I could set the scene of these poor labourers’ exile fairly forth,
with all the sad accompaniments detailed; could I show the course of the
hardy, healthy pair, just landed, to seek fortune on these long-sighed’for
shores, with spirits newly lifted by hope and brighter prospects from the
apathy into which compulsory idleness and consequent recklessness had re-
duced them at home; and then paint the spirit-sinking felt on a first view of
the scene of their future labour,-paint the wild revel designed to drown re-
membrance, and give heart to the newcomers; describe the nature of the toil
where exertion is taxed to the uttermost, and the weary frame stimulated by
the worst alcohol, supplied by the contractor, at a cheap rate for the purpose
of exciting a rivalry of exertion amongst these simple men.
Next comes disease, either a sweeping pestilence that deals, wholesale
on its victims, or else a gradual sinking of mind and body; finally, the abode
in the hospital, if any comrade is interested enough for the sufferer to bear
him to i! else, the solitary log-hut and quicker death. Could these things
with their true colours be set forth in detail before the veriest grinder of the
poor that ever drove the peasant to curse and quit the soil of his birth, he
would cover his eyes from the light of heavery and feel that he yet pos-
sessed a heart and human sympathy.
At such works all over this continent the Irish are the labourers chiefly
employed, and the mortality amongst them is enormous/-a mortality I feel
221
Part lI Social Life in a New Nation,1784-L877
certain might be vastly lessened by a little consideration being given to their
condition by those who employ them. At present they are. where I have
seen them working here, worse lodged than the cattle of the field; in fact,
the only thought bestowed upon them appears to be, by what expedient the
greatest qua4tity of labour may be extracted from them at the cheapest rate
to the contractor. I think, however, that a better spirit is in progress amongst
qp co_mpTies requiring this class of labourers; in fact it becomes necessary
this should be so, since, prolific as is the country from whence they are
drawry the supply would in a little time cease to keep pace with the de-
mand, and slave labour cannot be substifuted to any extent, being much too
expensive; a good slave costs at this time two hundred pounds sterling, and
to have a thousand such swept off a line of canal in one season/ would call
for prompt consideration.
Independent of interest, christian charity and justice should alike sug-
gest that the labourers ought to be provided with decent quarters, that
sufficient medical aid should always be at hand, and above all, that the
brutaLizing, accursed practice of extorting extra labour by the stimulus of
corn spirit should be wholly forbidden.
Let it be remembered that, although rude and ignorant, these men are
not insensible to good impressions, or incapable of distinguishing between
a kindly and paternal care of their well-doing, and the mercenary cold-
blooded bargain which exacts the last scruple of flesh it has paid for. . . .
At present the priest is the only stay and comfort of these men; the occa-
sional presence of the minister of God alone reminds them that they are not
forgotten of their kind: and but for this interference, they would grow in a
short time wholly abandoned and become uncontrollable; unfortunately of
these mery who conscientiously fulfill their holy functions, there are buttoo
few,-the climate, and fatigue, soon ihcapacitates all but the very robust.
Those who follow the ministry of God in the swamp and in the forest must
have cast the pride of flesh indeed out from them, since they brave the mar-
tyr’s fate without a mart5rr’s triumph. . . .
The gloomy picture of the labourer’s conditioru which my mention of
this canal has drawn from me, mayby some be considered overcharged; but
I protest I have, on the contrary, withheld details of suffering from heat, and
cold, and sickness, which my heart at this moment aches when I recall. . . .
222
Chnpter 12 New People in aNeut Land
lmminent D angers, 1, 8 3 5
I have shown what are the Foreign materials imported into the country, with
which the Jesuits can work to accomplish their designs. Let us examine this
point a little more minutely. These materials are the oarieties of Foreigners of
the same Creed, the Roman Catholic, over all of whom the Bishops or Vicars
General hold, as a matter of course, ecclesiastical rule; and we well know
what is the nature of Roman Catholic ecclesiastical rule,it is the double re-
fined spirit of despotism, which, after arrogating to itself the prerogatives of
Deity, and so claiming to bind or loose the soul etemally, makes it, in the
comparison, but a mere trifle to exercise absolute sway in all that relates to
the body. The notorious ignorance in which the great mass of these emi-
grants have been all their lives sulk, until their minds are dead, makes them
but senseless machines; they obey orders mechanically, for it is the habit of
their educatiory in the despotic countries of their bfuth. And can it be for a
moment supposed by *y one thatby the act of coming to this country, and
being naturalued, their darkened intellects can suddenly be illuminated to
discern the nice boundary where their ecclesiastical obedience to their priests
ends, arrd their cioil indEmdence of them begins? The very supposition is ab-
surd. They obey their priests as demigods, from the habit of their whole
lives; they have been taught from infancy that their priests are inJallible in
the greatest matters, and can they, by mere importation to this country, be
suddenly imbued with the knowledge that in civil matters their priests may
err, and that they are not in these also their infallible guides? . . . Must not
the priests, as a matter almost ol certainty, control the opinions of their igno-
rant flock in civil as well as religious matters? and do they not do it? . . .
That a change of some kind in the Naturalization Laws is required,
seems to be conceded on all sides, but the nature and extent of this change
are strange$ opposite in character. Whjle some/ and doubtless the greater
part of the American population, would have them changed with the view
of discouraging immigration, and of guarding our institutions from foreign
interference, at the point where they are not only assailable, but where they
are at this moment actually assailed and greatly endangered; others would
have them changed so as to throw down all the barriers which protect us as
an independent natiory and extend the right of suffrage, strange as it may
seem, with such an unheard of universality of applicatiory as no advocate of
the proper and just principles of universal suffrage ever before ventured to
dream of; to the extent, in fact, virtually of giving the administration of our
government to any and all nations of the world, no matter how barbarous,
who choose to take the trouble to exercise it. Instead of guarding with
sor-rncr: Sarnuel F.B. Morse, lmminmt Dangers to the Llnited States Through Eoreign Immigra-
floz. Document from Bibtiobase@, edited by Micheal Bellesiles. Copyright @ Houghton Mifflin
Company. Reprinted by permission.
223
Part Il Social Life in aNew Nation,1784-L877
greater vigilance and care our instifutions/ when attacked, by new defences,
these pakiots would not only make no resistance, but would actually invite
the enemy, by demolishing the fortresses already existing, and yield up the
country into his uncontrolled possession.
Coming to the Aid of Immigrants, L857-L858
Annual Report of the Officials of the German Society in Chicago
for the year from April 1857 to April1858
Our’attention has been focused on preventing the swindling of immi-
grants by innkeepers and their runners* in and around the train stations.
We had presented the crty council with recommendations for laws to this ef-
fect and obtained their passage. One ordinance enacted inlune requires that
a licensed German innkeeper or mnner present a business card when rec-
ommending his irm to arriving passengers. The card must give the follow-
ing information in both English and German: name of the innkeeper, name
of the inn and the street where it is located, the cost of meals per day, the
cost of a room per night and per week, and whether he transports his guests
with or without charge to and from his inn.
In order to see if and how the police were enforcing the new ordinances,
the agent and I made an inspection of the various train stations, during
which we were insulted by the runners in the most vile manner; the police
captain was at a loss and could only suggest that we too be deputized. Irr
this new capacity we brought about the arrests of several transgressors of
the above-mentioned ordinance, and this had the desired effect.
Each day, however, we were unpleasantly reminded that our effective-
ness would have to remain one-sided and insufficient as long as we did not
have access to financial resources. M*y families arriving from New York
had been forced to ask for advances in Cast1e Garden using their baggage as
collateral, and they subsequently pestered us with requests to retrieve their
baggage for them. But this could only be done by payrng the freight and the
outstanding debt in New York. Similarly, there were people who were still
in possession of their baggage and wanted to continue on their way but had
no more money to do so; mirny of them wanted to deposit their bags with us
instead of with an immigrant innkeeper. Our means were unfortunately in-
soi-mcr: “Annual Report of the German Society for Apn7,1857-58,’ (Chicago: Ctrg. Sonne,
1858) in Harhut Keil and John B. JenA, (eds.), Germnn Workers in Aticago: A Documentary His-
tory of Working-Class Culture from 1850 to World War I (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illi-
nois Press, 1988), 35-39.
*Runners were agents of boarding house operators. Their goal was to win the migrants’
trus! and then proceed to bilk them of as much cash and property as possible in retum for
ovelpriced travel tickets, baggage transport at exorbitant rates, and boarding house accommo-
dations at highly unfair prices. (Eds.)
224
Chapter L2 New People in aNew Land
sufficient to aid each person in this manner/ and it is possible that this led to
frequent and considerable losses at the hands of the innkeepers. . . .
As mentioned above, since last sumner, together with the agent, I have
taken over the surveillance of the train stations to see that the city ordi-
nances are being enforced. But even if they had sufficient time, two officials
would still be too few. I would therefore recommend that the president and
agent be assigned to a committee of six to be elected for this purpose and to
be called the Train Station Surveillance Committee.
These officials would likewise have to have police authorization. Their
duty would not only entail being frequently present at the arrival of im-
migrant trains, but also at their departure. Here they would ask their de-
parting countrymen whether they were satisfied with the food, living
conditions, and treatrnent at the inn where they stayed; in the case of com-
plaints or accusations, the officials would either take notes or detain the
people until the case could be looked into by the proper legal authorities.
After having collected information of this kind for a few months, this
comrnittee would be in a position to draw up a list of those immigrant inns
whidr are of good repute in our city. This list would then be sent to those
German Societies in eastern port cities which could best make use of it. On
the other hand, it would also be the duty of this committee to present the
mayor with a list of those inns which have proven detrimental to the inter-
ests of immigrants, and to petition for the revocation of their licenses. Here,
too, the character of our highest municipal authorities guarantees us the
necessarysupport….
Last winter some hones! upright craftsmen and their families, who
were reluctant to ask strangers for help, were forced to bring beds, clothes,
and household goods to the pawnbroker. For many, the payment or foreclo-
sure date is at the door, and most of them still have neither work to earn the
money nor friends from whom to borrow it. Several sudr families have
fumed to me in the past few days to advance them the interest for one or
two months in order to put off the due date. They all hope to thus redeem
their hard-eamed possessions. I would like to recommend lending good
families the interest needed to prolong foreclosure, while holding their
pawn tickets as security. . . .
I still hear it said that the agent’s wages are too high and that he has too
little to do, that people would of course like to support the society, but that
they don’t want their entire contribution going to the preservation of the
agent.
I am convinced that these people have not gone to the trouble to investi- 225 Part Il Socinl Life in aNeu) Nation,1784-1″877
sees to the relevant notice in the newspapers; the other has lost his baggage But what the agent has to suffer when he has evoked the righteous I will not tax your patience any longer. But I would again like to *A railroad junction in westem New York State, @ds.)
226
gate what they maintain, and if they had, they would have found that the
activities of this official fulfill the most important objectives of the German
Society as it has efsted to date. These people have not been to the society’s
office, they haven’t seen the throngs-
on the way from New York to Chicago, the agent writes off to Detroit and
Dunkirk* a third would like to send money-safely and without cost-to a
relative tiving somewhere or other, the agent takes care of this, too. Now
immigrants come who want advances against their baggage so they can
continue their trip; the agent accompanies them to the train station or to the
inn, estimates the value of the baggage, pays the advances and has the
things brought back to the office. O:r the way he picks up five letters, all ad-
dressed to the same person. The first is not very flattering; “Mr. Agent, I’ve
been waiting so long for my two suitcases, and you said you would see to
them immediately. Send the checks back to me so I’11 know what’s going
on!” The good man is of the opinion that the lost things must still be where
he last saw them on his trip. His bags, in the meantime, were either pilfered
by corrupt railroad officiali or have-been sent on a grand tour without their
owrrer/ but the latter suspects the agent of negtgence or even deceit. Next
comes an entire family of immigrants, freshly arrived. They have lost one of
their suitcases in the train station or have been cheated by an innkeeper; the
agent goes along with them so that they, too, will be content. A local citizen
wants to bring over a relative from his hometown in Germany. He requests
a travel guide with exact directions for getting from his hometown to
Chicago, as well as sure means of alerting the cousin of swindlers along the
way; the agent, to the best of his ability, also tries to satisfy this request.
News is received from an immigrant inn that the proprietor wants to throw
out a sick immigrant. The agent goes to see the sick p-e.ror; gets medical as-
sistance, calms the innkeeper or sees to it that the sick person is brought to a
hospital. The agent is once again busy trying to finish a letter to somewhere
or other when a man comes in and interrupts him with the words: olisten,
the goy you sent me last time was even worse than the others. I told him to
go to the devil! Do you have anyone good today?” Two years ago this same
man with the charming manners-always on the lookout for slave labor-
was a dues-paying member of the German Society; now, however, he’I1 not
hear of supporting the societybecause he had the misfortune of havingbeen
dissatisfied with the workers referred to him free of charge.
anger of a patroness by having secured her a good-for-nothing maid-it
would be better if he told you himself. No one, i, *y case, would envy him
this pleasure.
strongly recommend that eac-h member try to introduce at least one of his
friends to the sociefy; membership is so easily acquired, as the minimum
arurual contribution is only $1, and from then on upz absolutely no limits are
imposed on generosify.