II. European migration in the 19th century
Why do Europeans
migrate in the 19th
century?
I. Multiple Reasons for Migrating
A.Related to industrialization
1. In the 19th c, old seasonal migrations
and border crossing migrations continued
– for agricultural purposes
– Up to several hundred km for harvesting
– Migrations of skilled workers increased with urban
expansion
2. Industrialization of cities favored rural flight, attracting
inhabitants of overpopulated rural areas
- New farm machinery destroyed employment in the
countryside.
– People migrated first toward large cities then
emigrated toward another country
(seemingly the only solution possible)
European phenomenon with
diverse causes
B. Political migrations develop
- after the revolutions of 1831 and 1848
- Germans, Italians and Poles seeking refuge
- Various states intervened to accelerate or
hinder certain migrations
C. Religious migrations due to persecution
After 1880, pogroms pushed Jews in the Russian
Empire to emigrate
Immigration
numbers
reached
their peak in
late 1850’s
European Immigration: 1870-1920
•Europeans immigrated to the US in huge
waves during these years
• Old Immigrants: Western Europe
• New Immigrants: Eastern Europe
II. Europe unequally affected by migrations
Economic migrations which increased with
unemployment
e.g. Irish emigration after Great Famine
An Emigration of Poverty: Irish
Emigration in the 19th Century
A. Ireland: Land of Exodus
1. Product of British colonization
• Colonized in 17th Century by Great Britain and annexed
to United Kingdom in 1800
• Population majority Catholic to whom was imposed
protestant colonizers from England and Scotland
2. The Irish: A Tradition of
Immigration
•
•
•
•
Middle Ages: religious migrations of monks to
evangelize the continent
Modern Era migrations for religious and military
reasons, 18th century for economic reasons
Up to 1815, around 11,000 people per year
emigrated to Great Britain but also towards
America
Between 1815 and 1848, 1 million Irish cross the
Atlantic and 500,000 leave for Great Britain –
Beginning of the “great emigration of paupers”
3. An Emigration of Paupers
•
Irish immigrants of first half of 19th
Century : proletariats doing the hardest labor
– (terracing, drainage, building mining galleries…)
(e.g. Erie Canal in Great Lakes region)
•
Vast majority wind up in packed urban
ghettos – their arrival is very poorly viewed
by the Anglo-Saxon population (in U.S. and
U.K.)
B. The Great Irish Exodus (1845-1890)
1. Why does emigration increase?
• From 1845-1854, around 2.3 M leave
Ireland, more than 200,000/year for 5 yrs
• Potato Blight (food staple of Irish
population) causes a famine which leads
to 1 million deaths and incites more than
a million Irish to emigrate to the U.S. (the
poorest flee to G.B.)
Potato Production during the Great
Famine 1844-1857
Evictions Multiply
Tenants can no longer pay rents to the landlords who then proceed to
evict tenant families
generated numerous departures
which remained significant until the 1890’s.
Eviction of 300 tenants by Mrs. Gerrard from the village of Ballinglass, Co Galway,
on March 13, 1846
The Irish Famine:
a national
phenomenon but
mixed in its regional
impact
Which regions are
most affected?
Emigration
continues over the
years, despite the
depopulation of
the Island
Immigration to the United States
• Push and Pull Factors for the Irish
• Few immigration restrictions
• Famine
• Unemployment
• US industrialized in the late 19th century (= JOBS!!!)
• Abundant land
• Religious persecution of the Irish Catholics by the
English (Protestants)
• No social class restrictions
• Oppressive governments in Europe
Write push or pull after each factor
Atlantic Voyage
•Steerage: cheapest “seats” on a steamship
• Cramped disgusting quarters
• 14 day trip
•Ellis Island
• Inspection before entry to the US
• Physical Examination
• Questions
• Politics???, Criminals???, Can You Work???, and Do You Have Some
Money???
• 2% were denied admission
• 17 million immigrants passed through Ellis Island
• 71% of all immigrants
• 21% of Americans today can trace their ancestors to Ellis Island
How did the United States React?
1. Nativism
• Favoritism towards native-born Americans
• Socially acceptable discrimination against nonnatives
2. Irish Integration in U.S. society
•Irish immigrants were the 1st to feel
the wrath of Nativism
•They swelled the ranks of urban
proletariats and their social ascension
was slow
•Poorly viewed by Anglo Saxon
Protestants who rejected them
• Irish are accused of threatening the
basis of the American nation because
of their Catholic faith (loyal to the
Pope, Political Machines…)
Irish Paupers populated urban slums called tenements where
misery, lawlessness and poor hygienic conditions reign
Dilapidated Golden Flats Tenement* slum housing
*a run-down and often overcrowded apartment house, esp. in a poor section of a large city
Squalid Living Conditions
Cramped living quarters
Gangs of New York
Rioting in New York between “natives” and Irish
newcomers
Irish Integration into U.S. Society today
• Circa 1870 Irish immigrants settled in large Northern
cities (New York, Boston, Chicago);
• obtained social integration thanks to trade union
movement and political life (Democratic Party)
• In 1880, New York elected its first Irish Catholic
mayor
• Some success stories (e.g. Ford)
• In 1960, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the first Catholic
President descendant from Irish immigrants, was
elected
• Today 15-20 million Americans have Irish origins
Homework
• Watch Ellis Island – Island of Hope, Island of
Tears Video at home and answer questions
• Read the 2 page document on Gangs of New
York
• OPTIONAL: Read The Unfinished Nation,
chapter 18, “the growth of the city”, pp. 482496