Immigration Change Over the Years Immigration is a serious and important part of history in the United States. First prior to the late nineteenth century the immigration policies were very easygoing. Most of the Europeans were taking in, only 2% of arrivals at Ellis Island were sent away, some were band for being criminals, mentally unstable, and communist. Most of that 2% were rejected for health reasons. Despite having to pick up their life and leave, the immigrants came in by millions to the United States in the late 19th century and 21st century to build better lives for their families economically, religiously, and educationally.
Many people came to America because getting there overseas was cheap and before 1917 they were almost guaranteed to be able to enter as the USA is the “land of the immigrants” and up until 1917 they had an open border policy. Due to the fair being so cheap even people who were coming from poverty were able to either afford it or if they had no money at all they were able to earn their fare by working in the kitchens and cleaning etc. A lot of people had to flee their country for religious reasons as they were being religiously persecuted in their own country an example of this is people from Ireland having to leave their own country which was majority catholic because they was being religiously prosecuted by British Protestants. The Irish also needed to escape because of the potato famine which caused mass starvation and even the British didn’t help as they decided to let things be and have as little interference as possible. Ireland wasn’t the only country where people were getting religiously persecuted as around this time Jews in Russia were also dealing with religious persecution as Russification was occurring were if you weren’t completely Russian you were to learn the ways of being Russian and you was also to speak Russian.
The Heart of the Irish Immigrant Barb Keil ETH/125 Axia College of University of Phoenix Once on American shores the next journey begins. Some Irish Immigrants docked in Boston and some in New York where most would continue to live because they had no money to travel any further. Because of the vast amount of immigrants arriving at the same time, housing was in great demand as was jobs. Housing wasn’t much better on land than the ships they arrived in. The Irish were segregated and were forced to move to small areas called shanties or slums.
The Irish: During the mid 1800s Ireland’s population grew rapidly and many of the people lived on small farms that produced very little, because of their poverty the people depended mainly on the potato crop. However, due to the failure of the potato crop in 1845 the US saw a large jump in those emigrated from Ireland. . Many of the immigrants to America from Irish were under the age of thirty-five and men [1]. Even though there was a low birth rate in the and plentiful jobs in America many of the Irish found that the fast paced economy they heard about was not as fast as they believed.
The newly arrived immigrants were also taken advantage of by people who promised jobs, housing, etc. in exchange for money. They had to deal with the high crime rates in the cities and were often left without jobs because of economic changes such as depressions and panics that led to high unemployment. Another problem faced by the Irish was that their expectations and norms were different than those of white, middle class Americans. Most Americans were Protestant and the Irish were Catholic.
Out of work and with few local options, many tradesmen and their families emigrated to Newfoundland and Labrador. Similar socio-economic conditions existed in Ireland. The collapse of the textile industry in the southeast and a series of poor farming seasons between 1770 and 1830 resulted in much economic hardship for members of the working class. The country's population jumped from about four million to seven million, placing even greater pressures on Ireland's limited jobs and resources. During the first three decades of the 19th century, between 30,000 and 35,000 people left Ireland for Newfoundland and Labrador, often to escape hunger, poverty, and overcrowded living conditions.
All these problems caused the “starving time” in the period of 1609-1610 in Jamestown with extremely high death rate. The number of settlers in Jamestown dropped from 500 in fall of 1609 to 60 in spring of 1610. Besides, at this time, the Native refused to help men in Jamestown
This was terribly inconsiderate of the military as the other 82% of the nation was left to starve as the military was the government’s top priority. This led to extreme cases of hunger across Russia which soon became famine. Food shortages were at their worst in the towns and cities, Petrograd suffered particularly badly due to the remoteness from the food-producing regions. Secondly, transportation was a key pre- existing war condition; it was the disruption of the transport system rather than the decline in food production that was the major cause Russia’s wartime shortages. The attempt to transport millions of troops and masses of supplies to the war fronts created unbearable pressure on the Russian transport system, and it bucked under the pressure.
This was followed by a cold spell in August and September. Because of this weather, corn and oats could not ripen, and wheat and rye completely failed, creating a smaller harvest than usual (29-32). Within months, the whole country was hungry. Prices had risen on what food was available. The King tried implementing several policies to increase the food supply, such as price controls on livestock and restrictions on the production of ales and other products made from the limited supply of grain.
Many were left unemployed and had to take to the road to find work. A severe drought also ravaged America, destroying crops causing vast, treeless plains. This came to be known as the Dust Bowl. The unrelenting drought and the plummeting prices of crops, ruined many farming families. The Great Depression is evident throughout the novel through the hardships that the people of Maycomb experience.