Civil War

My history teacher wants us to write a blog about our theme as it regards to the Civil War and the Reconstruction period after. So by the time of the war, the North was so much more populated because of immigrants that they greatly outnumbered the south. While many people disregard immigration during the Civil War period, it was actually a very important part of the War and the Reconstruction period after. But almost none of them went to the south, because it was much harder to find jobs with so much unpaid slave labor. It wasn't necessarily the time during the War, but before the war, so many people had immigrated into the country that 13% of the country was made up of immigrants. Also the North was able to create much more weaponry because they had a lot more workers in factories while all the south's workers were working on plantations. I agree with this article because it makes sense that all the immigrants would not ant to go south because they would not have been able to fin jobs down there.

Link to article- https://longislandwins.com/news/national/immigrant-america-on-the-eve-of-the-civil-war/

Gilded Age Immigration

The rush of immigration during the Gilded Age was the cause of new small "towns" such as Chinatown that popped up all over the Unites States. Despite all the good the heavy immigration brought, many US laborers were opposed to all the job competition that the new immigrants brought. Many Jews, who because of the increased persecution in Eastern Europe, came to the United States. Other groups, such as criminals and alcoholics were also banned from entering the United States. Also, the peak of immigration took place between the years 1880-1920, which was right at the end of the Gilded Age. These people, called "Nativists" eventually convinced Congress to sign the "Chinese Exclusion Act" which banned all Chinese from entering the country. They brought new cultures, languages, and beliefs, and helped shape the way the United States is now.I agree with this article because it summarizes well the events that had to take place in the United States before it could be considered a "melting pot". The Gilded Age was very important in talking about immigration because it was the peak of immigration into our country. I agree with this article because immigration during this time period has a big impact on our country today.

Link to article- http://www.ushistory.org/us/38c.asp

Immigration and the Founders

I'm blogging on the theme of immigration, specifically how it related to the founding fathers. In class we watched "Hamilton" which was about Alexander Hamilton's experience as an immigrant. The play assumes that he supported immigration without qualification. But this link shows that Hamilton was more lukewarm on the issue. In 1776, at the Constitutional Convention, there was a debate on limiting membership to Congress to native-born Americans. Hamilton opposed it – “The advantage of encouraging foreigners is obvious…” and a residency requirement was put in place as a compromise. But his views on immigration began to change. Later, he worried that “the influx of foreigners” would “change and corrupt the national spirit.” Like Hamilton, many modern day Americans have made the same change in opinion. 

Colonial Immigration

I'm back and this will be my blog on the colonial period. As you remember I picked the theme of immigration. This is the period of when Europeans started to out number Native Americans. This article describes which Europeans came to America and why they came. Like we learned in class, English immigrants came for a mixture of religious and economic reasons. They came to make a better life for themselves or to escape religious persecution. But what I didn't know is that Germans, Dutch, and Swedes had migrated to the middle colonies for similar reasons.

Syrian Refugees

I believe that immigrants is what makes this country the way it is today. It brings diversity and other cultures making it the greatest place on earth.

This article talks about Syrian refugees and the struggle they are facing in a place they believed was their home. It says they are forced by militants in very harming ways, including bullets and knives, doing what they could to protect their family from the harmful militants. Their seek to protection included walking for days, riding in the back of pickup trucks and hiding in the back of delivery vans.

This article explains the long suffering that the refugees have been facing, struggling to find a place they can call home, and most importantly struggle for a place they can be safe.

I think that immigration to America would be a great idea. It allows others to start their new lives in a new scenery that they are not that familiar with but they know that they are safe. It would be a better place for Americans and immigrants.

I agree with what the refugees are doing to get to a safer place so their family's wont be in harms way. Its not safe to live in an environment in which people are being abused physically and financially by their own government.

Link: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2015/03/syrian-refugees/salopek-text