German and Irish Experience

Push and Pull Factors

Immigration during the 19th Century

Events or conditions which cause a person or group to seek life in another country; it pushes them out or forces them to leaveFaminefailing economylack of resourcesreligious persecution

Push Factors

Events or conditions which appeals to or attracts a person or a group to relocate to a non-native countryreligious freedomeconomic opportunityresource wealthland

Pull Factors

a person who migrates or relocates to another country, usually permanently

the goal of an immigrant is usually to obtain citizenshipCongress regulates immigration lawsthe President regulates policies on refugees

(a refugee is someone outside of his/her country who is unable or unwilling to return to their native country because of feared or actual persecution)

Immigrants

Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door.

What attracted them to America?

The Irish ExperienceThe Irish Potato

Famine 1840’spotato blightloss of income

nearly one million died

nearly one million left for America

Most settled in the northeast part of the country, in places like Massachusetts

Many worked as unskilled laborers, in jobs such as constructing railroads and canals or in factories, and as food makers

Upon Arrival…

German ExperiencePolitical upheaval in

GermanyFailed rebellion in

1848Little economic

mobility

approximately one million Germans made their way to the United States

German Experience“I would prefer the

civilized, cultured, Germany to America if it were still in its former orderly condition, but as it has turned out recently, and with the threatening prospect for the future of religion and politics, I prefer America. Here I can live a more quiet, and undisturbed life”--German immigrant in Wisconsin

Upon Arrival…

Click icon to add picture

Settled more

inland, in places

like Iowa and

Illinois

Many became

farmers, tailors,

and bricklayers

Americans who opposed immigration were called Nativists

They feared competition for jobsThey feared their different religious beliefs

most of the Irish immigrants were practicing Catholics whereas most Americans were Protestant

They did not like or understand the culture the immigrants brought with them

American Response to Immigration