Immigration
American Studies
Cadorette / Sherwood
Are you an immigrant or have
you emigrated?
Immigrant – a person who comes IN to a
new country for an extended period of
time; possibly making it their new home
Emigrant – a person who has EXITED their
home country in order to become part of a
new country
Why did people come to America?
“Land of Opportunity”
Religious freedom
Promise of a better life
“Birds of passage”
Poverty, famine, land
shortages, competition for
industrial jobs at home
Desire for fortunes in gold
Jobs – railroads, industries
(Heritage Discovery Center)
Push-Pull Theory of Immigration
European Immigrants
•1870-1920 – 20 million European immigrants
arrived in the U.S.
•Prior to 1890, most came from western and
northern Europe (Great Britain, Ireland, Germany)
•After 1890, most came from southern and eastern
Europe (Italy, Austria-Hungary, Russia)
•1905-1914 – one million immigrants were
arriving yearly
PUSH from Europe:
Religious intolerance
(Public Broadcasting System – PBS)
rising population (doubled to 432 million
between 1800-1900)
lack of industrial jobs
Chinese and Japanese
Immigrants
(Ambrose)
1848 California Gold Rush lured Asian workers
•1851-1883 – about 200,000 Chinese
immigrants arrived
PULL to America:
•Building railroads
•helped build the Transcontinental
Railroad, connecting the eastern and
western United States
•Recruited to work in Hawaii as planters’
– sugar cane, pineapple
•Annexation of Hawaii in 1898 further
encouraged Japanese immigration (Santa Clarita Valley History of Photographs)
By 1920, 200,000 Japanese immigrants lived on the West Coast
West Indies and Mexican Immigrants
1880-1920 – 260,000 immigrants arrive from West Indies (Jamaica, Cuba, Puerto Rico)
PUSH from Mexico:
• jobs
• escape political turmoil
•PULL to America:
•The National Reclamation Act (1902)
improved irrigation methods in U.S. -
created more work opportunities
(Republican Voices)
Annexation of Texas (due to
Mexican War and Treaty of
Guadalupe Hidalgo 1848)
automatically made Mexican
Americans residents
(Latin American Studies)
One million Mexicans farm workers over the next 20 years arrived in the United States
Life for Immigrants
•Difficult journey – stormy, uncomfortable, frightening trip by sea, between one
and three weeks
•Ellis Island (primarily Europeans) and Angel Island (primarily Asian)
inspection stations – physical exam, documents, questionnaires, literacy tests
•Culture shock – confused or frustrated by traditions not familiar to a person
•Finding a place to live, getting a job, alien language and customs
(Wright Assoc.) (Rootsweb)
New ethnic communities helped immigrants socially, financially, medically, religiously and educationally
Immigrant Restrictions
•Nativism
•American Protective Association (1887)
launched anti-Catholic attacks
•Colleges, businesses, social clubs, employers
refused services to immigrants
•Immigration Restriction League (1894)
campaigned to keep out “undesirable” classes
•Chinese Exclusion Act (1882) banned entry
to all Chinese except students, teachers,
merchants, tourists, and government officials
•Gentlemen’s Agreement (1907-1908)
Japan’s government agreed to limit emigration
to the U.S.
(Latin American Studies)
Ellis Island “The Golden Door”
(both photos fromEllis Island)
Angel Island
(all three photos from the National Park Service)