4 December, 2018

Read and take notes on pages 84-85 in the handout.

Well, we had already read the handout pages, and I had already posted the notes I took before. I'll put the notes I already had:

The United States has had three main eras of immigration: Colonial settlement in seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; mass European immigration in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; and Asian and Latin American immigration in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.
Recent United States immigrants have emigrated from two regions: Latin America and Asia.



But, I'll read the pages again to get more information and expand on what I already had. Below are the notes I took:

First era

• The US population in 1790 (first census after the American Independence) was of 3.9 million, which is a little bit more than an 84th part of the US population now.
• Migration came from two principal places:
• Europe (62%)
• 45% to 50% (of the 100%) from modern day United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland.
• Sub-Saharan Africa (38%)
• Forced to migrate to be sold as slaves.
• Importation of Africans as slaves was made illegal in 1808.
• Most Africans were forced to migrate as slaves, whereas most Europeans migrated voluntarily.
• However, harsh economic conditions and religious persecution in Europe blurred the distinction between forced and voluntary migration for many Europeans.

Second era

• Between 1820 and 1920, 32 million people migrated to the US. 
• 90% of the people came from the US.
• US offered great opportunity for economic success.
• Migration peaks:
• 1840s and 1850s (Ireland and Germany)
• 75% of the US immigrants (during the two centuries) came from the two places.
• Desperate economic factors pushed the migrants away, and political unrest also pushed the Germans away.
• 1870s (Ireland and Germany)
• Immigration resumed after the decline during the Civil War (1861-1865).
• 1880s (Scandinavia)
• Immigration increased to half a million per year.
• Mostly Swedes and Norwegians.
• After the increase in population due to the Industrial Revolution.
• 1905-1914 (Southern and Eastern Europe)
• Annual immigration reached a million.
• Two thirds came from Southern and Eastern Europe, especially Italy, Russia, and Austria-Hungary.
• Overall emigrants from each country:
• Germany, 7.2 million.
• Italy, 5.4 million.
• UK, 5.3 million.
• Ireland, 4.8 million.
• Russia and former USSR, 4.1 million.

Third era

• US immigration dropped sharply by 1930s and 1940s (Great Depression, WWII).
• Then increased in 1950s steadily and in high levels at the start of the 21st century from two main regions:
• Latin America
• Around 13 million immigrants.
• Asia
• Around 7 million immigrants.
• Mexico passed Germany in 2006 as the country that has sent more immigrants to the US.
• But, because of the large numbers of undocumented immigrants, Mexico may have been the leading source during the 1980s.
• As a result of the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act, an unusually large number Mexico and Latin American countries immigrated the US, the act issued visas to people who had entered the US in the previous years without legal documents.
• Throughout the years, the reason for immigration remains the same: rapid population growth has limited prospects for economic advancement at home.
• With poor conditions at home, immigrants were lured by economic opportunity and social advancement in the US.
• The symbolic closing of the frontiers of the US coincided with the end of the peak period of emigration from Europe.