In past times, many people wanted to emigrate from their home country to the United State of America, all with many different motives. Unfortunately, once they arrived, they were faced with many hardships that came along with their new life in America. During the late 1800s and early 1900s, a myriad of immigrants came to the United States for various reasons and most, if not all, of them were met with numerous hardships. Some of their motivations include: to escape from problems in their home country, to take advantage of America’s opportunities, and to live under America’s laws. Some hardships they faced were: nativism, the language barrier, and poverty.
People who emigrated from their home country to the United States were enticed …show more content…
During an interview with Greek immigrant George Kokkas, he describes Greece during the time by saying, “...work over there was very bad” and “...I was concerned about the education of my kids.” (source Gladys Nadler Rips, Coming to America: Immigrants from Southern Europe, Delacorte Press). Those are just a few examples of national problems occurring throughout the world that encouraged immigration to the United States. Hopes to enjoy America’s opportunities was another key motive for the immigrants. For example, at this time, the United States had a superior education compared to other places in the world. No child was denied basic schooling, and the government was helping to fund higher education schools to open. The Morrill Act of 1862 said that the government was to provide public land to build higher-education schools on. These schools became known as land-grant colleges. One well-known land-grant university is Cornell. In addition to better education, America could offer immigrants better jobs than they previously had. During this time, America’s industrial economy was expanding faster than any other economy had ever expanded. As a result, many jobs in the city became available. The United States government had much better treatment of its citizens than …show more content…
immigrants had much better lives in the United States than they had in their home country, they were still faced with various difficulties. One major problem immigrants faced was nativism. Nativism, the belief that native-born citizens should have more opportunities or preferences over non-native citizens was beginning to spread at an alarming rate. At this time, with immigration at its peak, there were many hard feelings towards immigrants who were taking more and more jobs that native-born citizens could have had, since they would do the same work for lower pay. Nativism can clearly been seen in a poster from 1885 that says “Restrict all immigration! Protect yourself and your children against ruinous labor and business competition through unrestricted immigration.” (source: Edward G. Hartmann, American Immigration, Lerner Publications (adapted)). The government also passed acts to exclude immigrants. In 1882, the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed and in 1917 the Immigration Act of 1917 was passed. The Chinese Exclusion Act tried to limit the amount of Chinese immigrants, and the Immigration Act of 1917 said that, in order to emigrate into the U.S., the person must be able to read in either English or their native language. In addition, the language barrier caused masses of difficulties for them. For one, communicating with employers was difficult. The immigrants who couldn’t speak English weren’t able to communicate with employers which made it
People who emigrated from their home country to the United States were enticed …show more content…
During an interview with Greek immigrant George Kokkas, he describes Greece during the time by saying, “...work over there was very bad” and “...I was concerned about the education of my kids.” (source Gladys Nadler Rips, Coming to America: Immigrants from Southern Europe, Delacorte Press). Those are just a few examples of national problems occurring throughout the world that encouraged immigration to the United States. Hopes to enjoy America’s opportunities was another key motive for the immigrants. For example, at this time, the United States had a superior education compared to other places in the world. No child was denied basic schooling, and the government was helping to fund higher education schools to open. The Morrill Act of 1862 said that the government was to provide public land to build higher-education schools on. These schools became known as land-grant colleges. One well-known land-grant university is Cornell. In addition to better education, America could offer immigrants better jobs than they previously had. During this time, America’s industrial economy was expanding faster than any other economy had ever expanded. As a result, many jobs in the city became available. The United States government had much better treatment of its citizens than …show more content…
immigrants had much better lives in the United States than they had in their home country, they were still faced with various difficulties. One major problem immigrants faced was nativism. Nativism, the belief that native-born citizens should have more opportunities or preferences over non-native citizens was beginning to spread at an alarming rate. At this time, with immigration at its peak, there were many hard feelings towards immigrants who were taking more and more jobs that native-born citizens could have had, since they would do the same work for lower pay. Nativism can clearly been seen in a poster from 1885 that says “Restrict all immigration! Protect yourself and your children against ruinous labor and business competition through unrestricted immigration.” (source: Edward G. Hartmann, American Immigration, Lerner Publications (adapted)). The government also passed acts to exclude immigrants. In 1882, the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed and in 1917 the Immigration Act of 1917 was passed. The Chinese Exclusion Act tried to limit the amount of Chinese immigrants, and the Immigration Act of 1917 said that, in order to emigrate into the U.S., the person must be able to read in either English or their native language. In addition, the language barrier caused masses of difficulties for them. For one, communicating with employers was difficult. The immigrants who couldn’t speak English weren’t able to communicate with employers which made it