Immigrants: Becoming American and Defining What It Means to Be an American

From the time Christopher Columbus first landed in America precedence was set; the people migrating to this land would be the driving force in keeping this county dynamic in many aspects. Immigrants arriving in America in the last fifty years certainly are not an exception to this precedence. The large influx of immigrants to America has had a great number of diverse effects that have shaped our country into what it is today. In light of the last half-century, immigrants have helped push the frontier westward, urbanize cities in the east, establish labor organizations, industrialize the economy, participate actively in politics, and bring in cultural diversity.

Most Irish immigrants that arrived during the mid nineteenth century faced very few options in finding work. First off, since many Irish arriving in America generally had a very limited amount of money readily available, finding paid work was a very high priority. The large flow of immigrants provided the necessary work force to allow continued industrialization in America. Since immigrants were often willing to work harder and for lower wages than many natives, they took over many factory jobs that were once the work of mostly natives. After the War of 1812, textile mills emerged and marked the beginning of American Industrialization. They were the country’s first factories. Although originally the textile mills employed mainly natives, by 1860 Irish immigrants made up 46.9% of the work force, and natives only made up 38.2% of the workers in these factories. By the onset of the Civil War, many of the less desirable factory jobs were taken over by European immigrants. This led to jobs such as shoe-making and cigar-making, a job that previously had belonged to Artisans, now turning into a factory enterprise. Not only were the Irish a needed force to drive industrialization, but in taking many of these unwanted jobs they also initiated the urbanization of America.

As a result of the large number of European immigrants that worked in factories, many Irish immigrants were more likely to live in the nation’s cities than those who were born in the U.S. With immigrants flowing into America, the cities to which they came grew in population as well as area. Before the invention of the street car, people needed to live in very close proximity of where they worked, so the large numbers of people who were employed by factories lived within close proximity. As a consequence, cities grew larger and denser; large scale urbanization occurred. Advancements in technology, specifically the development of street cars, allowed those who worked in cities and could afford to live out of the cities the freedom to do so. Unfortunately, the evacuation of those that had money allowed many more poor people to rapidly move into these areas taking over old homes as multi-family units. In addition to old homes serving as multi-family units, new cheap homes were built for the poor to live in. Industrial cities became so densely populated that they became dirty and were eventually hit hard with the outbreak of disease. In the years of 1832, 1849, and 1866 there were major cholera epidemics in American cities. There was also a large amount of Irish violence in large cities. These cities eventually transformed into slums. Many immigrants surely wanted to stay out of the large cities, but had no choice; the housing was the only thing they could afford.

The violence in areas such as New York’s Five Points was largely the result of gangs. Gangs formed and would fight over ethnicity, race and religion. Many believe that the Catholic Irish came to destroy the American idea of freedom. Many foes of immigration focused on Catholics. The book A Plea for the West, by Lyman Beecher attacks Catholics. In this text the author states that the minister of Austria and the Catholic order of priests are sending Catholic immigrants to America with a supposed plan to seize the American west, and in doing so undermine democracy. This idea is ridiculous. Many people think like this man, however the Irish have helped form America into what it is by bringing laborers and ethnicity. Many Americans also do not like celibate men and women. This is because Americans want a continuously growing population to help the push west. Catholic sexuality seemed to characterize the anti-immigrant movement.

Controversies over religion were soon transferred to public schools. Bishop John Hughs, a catholic, did not approve of the fact that public schools were teaching religion from the viewpoint of Protestants. He believed that education of religion should be done in private interpretations and is not a corporate responsibility. Struggles over control of public schools led to the Kensingtion Riots in Philadelphia in 1844, in which Catholic churches were burnt down. This riot can be largely attributed to controversies over religion and public schools, but the need for