Coming to America Answers

Answer three of the following questions following the instructions below.

Question Choices:

1. Define the differences in the “push”, “passage”, and “pull” factors of three different immigrant groups which come to America between 1607 and 1830? Use testimonies from the various websites provided in the first three weeks of readings which illustrate individuals from these groups. Also, are their any testimonies which present how the resident Anglo-Americans feel about subsequent groups which came to America , especially after the Revolution? (For example, what does Benjamin Franklin think about German immigrants and their presence in Pennsylvania?)

2. Many immigrants came to America as “indenturers”. Their experiences, however, would vary considerably depending on their origin and circumstance, where they settled, and what they faced after having worked off the terms of their contracts. Your task is first to explain what being “indentured” meant. For example, the first Africans to be brought to America were originally considered “indentured”. Yet their fate would be very different from the whites who also came as “indentured”. (Dinnerstein goes to considerable length to show the evolution of the concept of “slavery” in the American colonies.) What did being indentured mean to those who settled in Virginia and the southern colonies, versus those who came as indentured and settled in the northern colonies? Finally, provide testimonies for each of the kinds of experiences which to you, best illustrate these different kinds of immigrants.

3. In the several decades after the American Revolution, the new American government had a sometimes conflicted policy towards immigration. Note the difference between how the Federalists like President John Adams acted towards immigration during the 1790’s, and the kinds of legislation passed by the federalist congress, in contrast to the policies of Thomas Jefferson and his administration which came into power after Adams, in 1801. Your job is to define several of the main changes in immigration policy from 1796 to 1820. What particular groups entered the country during these decades? Which people were kept out of the country during these years and why? Use the testimonies you have read to back up your conclusions where possible.

4. When we reach the late 1840s, we see the arrival of two new large groups of immigrants. First are the Germans who will move through the East Coast and settle in the Midwest. The Irish will also come at this same time. Unlike the Germans, however, the Irish will settle in cities along the East Coast of the country. Your job is to describe what makes these two groups so different from one another. Why are the Irish so different from other groups that have arrived by this time period? In the readings, what are some of the “native” American fears being presented over the Irish presence in America?

1. A. Cite your source citations informally within the text as you write.    For example, if you are citing Dinnerstein, then at the end of the sentences of your quote or paraphrase, write: (Dinnerstein, 100).

You may quote or paraphrase Dinnerstein, or the class lecture notes. These are your main sources for your written responses. You are also to use the primary source websites provided in the first three weeks of readings.

1. On the second page of this midterm are a list of terms related to our work. Use no fewer than four terms within each of your written responses. Underline the terms as you use them. Do not count any single term more than once. You may use them repeatedly in your responses to different questions, however.
2. C. All  responses should be submitted by November 3^rd.

TERMS:

William Bradford, Of Plymouth…        Capt. John Smith, Generall Historie       Thomas Paine

“Asylum Theme”                                   indenturers / redeemptioners                   “regulators”

Headright system                                   “City on a Hill”                    Hartford Convention, 1814

“Americanization”                                 “Papists” of “Romanists”                                 Amistad

Huguenots                                                 ethnicity                                                    assimilation

Naturalization Acts of 1790, ’95, ’98, ’02         pluralism                                               Nativism

Denationalization                                   American “Wake”                         Know Nothing Party

Samuel Slater                                       “push” / “pull” / “Passage”                   “Great Famine”

Hessians                                                   royalists-loyalists / rebels                         Scotch-Irish

Paxton Boys                                             Moravians                                   enclosure movement

Sedition Act of 1798                             “American Letters”                                      Moravians

“Glorious Revolution” of 1688-89