In this section of the unit, you will learn about the immigration of people to America from Europe, Asia, the Far East, and other sections of the world. They came to escape religious and political persecution and to seek employment and new opportunities that would enhance the quality of life. You will also study about the ethical and social problems the immigrants faced and how they dealt with those issues. Finally, you will examine the importance of family life and the psychological needs of people who found themselves in a foreign environment.
Anglo-Saxon: A member or descendant from the English nations.
Assimilate: To adopt the ways and customs of another culture; to make part of oneself.
Descendant: Offspring.
Ethnic: A group of people sharing common physical traits, language, customs, or other cultural values.
Immigrate: To come to a new country to live.
Origin: Where something, such as a family, begins.
Pluralistic: Many groups.
Most citizens in this country are descendants of people who came here in the last four hundred years. From the very beginning of this nation, people have come to the United States from many different countries. For example, eighteen different nationalities were represented in New Amsterdam in 1664. By 1776, one-third of the people in Pennsylvania were German. Eighteen of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were not English. The French, German, Irish, African, and Jewish Americans who helped to fight the American Revolutionary War were the beginning of this pluralistic society we know today.
From its earliest years, the American culture has been dominated by the language, values, and beliefs of the Anglo-Saxon Protestant culture. Many other nationalities have also contributed to our way of life in this country. Many of the immigrants came to the United States to escape religious and political persecution, to find new opportunities, to seek adventure, and to escape poverty. Foremost in the minds of all who came was the desire to obtain economic, political, and social stability. Many sought religious freedom and the opportunity to advance their standard of living.
Western Europeans. When conditions in Europe became too oppressive and unbearable, people looked for ways to escape from the intolerable situation. As more and more Europeans learned about America and its freedoms and opportunities, they sold what few possessions they had in order to sail on the long voyage to America. The first wave of immigrants came from Great Britain. Other nationalities that came included the Germans, French, Dutch, and Italians. From the Baltic lands, the Scandinavians came, and from the Mediterranean area came the Greeks.
England, Scotland, and Wales are three island countries of Great Britain from which many people emigrated. In time, the English-speaking immigrants founded many of the cities in the eastern United States, and they were the basis of the Anglo-Saxon Protestant culture in this society. Consequently, the period before the Revolutionary War shaped the language, government, history, and customs of this nation.
Some immigrants from Great Britain settled in the towns and villages of the Appalachians and the Ozarks. Many are still there today in the mining and farming towns of Arkansas, Tennessee, Virginia, Kentucky, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New York. The descendants of these people now live in every state in the union and comprise the majority of the population in many places.
Later, the Irish joined the first colonists in Virginia. More Irish came to work on the great canals in the Northeast, and still more came to lay the new railroads across a growing country. Additional Irish people came to raise cattle, horses, and crops on the farms of the South and the Midwest. Between 1840 and 1860, more Irish immigrants came than any other group. One reason that they left Ireland was because of a blight that destroyed the potato crops in their country, causing a serious famine. Eventually, the Irish found jobs in the industrial towns of the Northeast, and many still live in ethnic communities in this region.
Since 1820, more Germans have come to the United States than any other national origin group. Some of the descendants of the German people live on the farms of the Midwest. Germans were here in large numbers before the Revolutionary War, and the wave of immigration between 1840 and 1860 brought more than 1,500,000 Germans to this country. The need for labor was great, and the Germans developed these needed skills in the new society and advanced economically. Many German communities can be found in America. One unique community is the "Pennsylvania Dutch" in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The word Dutch is the United States spelling of the German word Deutsch, which means German. In addition, many Germans settled in the cities of the Northeast. Some settled as far west as California. One famous German, Captain John Sutter, built a fort in the Sacramento valley of California.
