Comparing Old Immigration and New Immigration Instructions: Read the following selection, which compares immigration between 1830 and 1860 and immigration between 1880 and 1920. Between 1880 and 1920, 23 million immigrants came to the Untied states during the so-­‐called period of New Immigration. The 10 million people who immigrated to the United States between 1820 and 1860 belong to the period called Old Immigration For the most par, the “old” and “new” immigrants came for the same reasons. They wanted to escape hardships at home. Some left because they could not fid work or save enough money to buy a farm that could support a family. Others wanted to get away from political persecution they suffered for having views different form their government’s. So they came to America, hoping to improve their lives-­‐ to find work, land, and freedom. While many immigrants did find a better way of life in America, it was not always easy. Some native-­‐born Americans were unwilling to accept foreigners who did not fit quickly into existing American culture. As a result, many immigrants faced some form of discrimination (unfair treatment of a minority by the majority. There was much more opposition to the “new” immigrants than to the “old.” The “old” immigrants had come chiefly from northern Europe; Great Britain, Germany, Holland, Scandinavia, and Ireland. They were mostly Protestant, as were most native-­‐born Americans. The Irish immigrants were an exception; most of them were Roman Catholics. The “new” immigrants came chiefly from southern and eastern Europe: Italy, Poland, Russia, and Hungary. They were mostly Roman Catholic, Jewish, or Eastern Orthodox. They held on to their European traditions and usually took a longer time to learn English than the “old” immigrants. Many of the “old” immigrants were skilled workers who came to the United States with money in their pockets. The Germans and Dutch were generally well educated, and the Scandinavians were usually skilled farmers. Many of the “new” immigrants were poor. Some did not even know what money was. In their homelands, they had traded the goods they possessed for the goods they needed. Most had little education and possessed few skills. Some Americans demanded an end to the flow of “new” immigrants into the Untied States. Some of these critics came from families that had been “old” immigrants. Although laws were passed in the 1920s to limit future immigration, the many millions already here could not be sent back to their homelands. Today more than half of the American people are descendants of the “old” and “new” immigrants. Similarities 1._______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 2._______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 3._______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Old Immigration New Immigration 1. ___________________________________________________ 1. ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ 2. ___________________________________________________ 2. ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ 3. ___________________________________________________ 3. ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________