Immigration to and population characteristics of the Midwest

David A. Lanegran Ph.D.

Immigration is the result of push and pull factors

Immigration to Midwest coincided with great European Migration

• People came for jobs• People came for land• People came to set up utopian communities

Federal government got all the land north of Ohio and West of Appalachian mountains.

• Confederation Congress needed to pay for war debts• Needed to settle claims for interior land• Passed the Northwest Ordnances to facilitate selling

and settling of the land• Thomas Jefferson developed the basic plan.• State would not allow slavery• Territories would become states

Jedadiah Morse

Jefferson’s idea for NW Territory vs. what actually developed

The waterways focused the first settlement

Steamboats and early RR. And beginnings of industrialization Caused rapid growth in cities and on good farm land.

Railroad enabled full settlement and the emergence of large cities

Full development of industrial and automobile established national net and population

rectangle

Although many small towns had factors, large cities soon dominated the industrial economy.

Migration to Midwest coincided with great European migration

Nativists did not want immigration to continue

The Polka Belt

Polka Radio belt

Germans in the Midwest

Hungarians

Polish in the Midwest

Czech, Slovak or Czechoslovakians in the Midwest

Quotas on international migration resulted in northward migration of African Americans

Source regions for international migrants to US have changed

Midwest is not a major destination region for international migrants

Population of USA 2000

Population concentrated in cities

Cities tend to have younger population than rural areas because of migration

Midwest is racially/ethnically diverse

Midwest Hispanic population found in large cities and agribusiness based smaller towns

Midwest Asian population essentially all in urban areas

Midwest African American population in urban areas

Midwest one of the wealthy regions of USA

Church membership is high in Midwest on not uniform.

Catholics have a strong presence in the Midwest in Cities and selected rural areas

UCC or Congregationalists are decedent form Puritans of New England

Lutheranism associated with Nordic and German Immigrants

Mennonites associated with German immigration

Jewish population in Midwest is small and concentrated in cities.

Orthodox pattern result of Slavic immigration to Mines and Manufacturing centers

Baptists not common in Midwest

Midwest population

• Prosperous• Agricultural occupation still important• Church goers• European over all• African American and Hispanic in cities• Native American very small and concentrated

in a few states