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Us Immigration Research Paper

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People immigrated to the US in some cases to escape persecution, whether it is racial, social, religious or political persecution in their home countries. The Irish for example were persecuted as Catholics and suffered racial prejudice from the English who were Protestant. In contrast people chose to come to America for the American Dream, a promise of liberty and freedom from persecution. They would have the ability to own land and make a living without interference. Furthermore there is a larger availability of jobs which led to the US economy having a rapid surge in economic growth due to the significant increase in the workforce. This growth was assisted by the developments in transport, such as steam ships which made passage to the US …show more content…
By 1890 there was 9.2 million foreign born Americans in the US . The earliest immigrants were from Northern Europe, these included Britain, Ireland, Germany and Scandinavia. Yet after the 1900s Southern and Eastern Europeans arrived such as Jews from the Russian empire. The influx of these millions of new immigrants accelerated the transformation of the USA particularly in terms of economic growth. This was due to a new constant supply of cheap, unskilled labour. With little understanding of employment law and desperate for work the workers were easily exploited. However in some cases immigrants brought with them skills that benefitted the expansion of business and the economy. The majority, however, were unskilled. As a result of this many worked for a rate most local workers would not accept; this increased competition for jobs. Again this caused tension as the earliest settlers felt threatened by the influx of new immigrant workers. Matters were made worse by religion; most of those who arrived in the 19th century were white Anglo-Saxon Protestants, whereas those arriving after 1900 predominantly consisted of Catholics and Jews. This again contributed to rivalries between the different ethnic groups as they competed for jobs and

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