Trevor Mendola

Mr. Widenhofer

Honors U.S. History

February 27, 2018

Immigration Essay

America has always been an immigrant nation. The land was first colonized by Pilgrims

and grew from immigration. Two major periods of immigration occurred in this nation’s lifetime

before World War I: Old Immigration from 1176 to 1880, and New Immigration from 1880 to

1920. Immigration to America has always occurred for the same few reasons: freedom of

religion, economic opportunities, political opportunities, land availability, and social mobility.

However, Old and New Immigration had many differences, including: literacy of immigrants,

religion of immigrants, regions from which immigrants came, nativism that spawned due to

immigration, and the wealth of the immigrants.

As stated, immigration to America has occurred for many of the same reasons across both

periods of immigration. Religious freedom is one of the reasons America was born a nation at

all. The first people to settle in America were Pilgrims. Come New Immigration, and Jewish

people were coming to America in bulk to escape pogroms in Russia. Economic opportunities

were also abundant in America, especially during the first Industrial Revolution and the second

Industrial Revolution. America was also one of the first democratic nations, giving the people the

power to have a real say in the government. Many people came from places where royalty ruled,

and leadership was passed hereditarily. The United States also had a vast amount of available

land which was a great opportunity for people to get a start in America by farming. America had

no social classes, nothing that said, “Born a peasant, always a peasant.” This gave anybody an
opportunity in America. Immigration did lead to Nativist groups in both cases, but it did not have

too harmful of an effect on immigrants.

However, Old and New Immigration were very different periods. Immigrants during Old

Immigration were primarily from the British Isles or Western Europe. New Immigrants were

primarily southern or eastern European. Old Immigrants were mostly Protestant with the

exception of the Irish Catholics. New Immigrants were mostly Catholic, with the exception of

Jews. Old Immigrants were highly literate, while New Immigrants were highly illiterate. Most

Old Immigrants were middle-class citizens aside from the poor Irish. Most New Immigrants

were peasants. Old Immigrants moved everywhere in the nation, except the Irish who flocked to

east-coast cities. New Immigrants moved to any bustling city in the nation. Old Immigration led

to the formation of the Know-Nothing Party, a political party who was anti-immigration. The

New Immigration led to the formation of the American Protective Association, which was anti-

Catholic. New Immigration also brought new ideologies to America: Communism, Socialism,

and Anarchism. These ideas were scary to Americans and had a huge impact on the country.

After World War I, Russia became a Community nation, the Soviet Union. This was the

first time Communism was officially practiced and it led to the Red Scare, a fear of Communism

spreading and taking over. Congress passed the Emergency Quota Acts in response. This

declared that from a country, only a number of people equal to 3% of that country’s population

in the U.S. in 1910 could come to the U.S. annually. In 1924, the numbers were changed with the

National Origins Act. Now, only 2% of that country’s population in the U.S. in 1890 could come

to the U.S. annually. The Japanese were completely banned from coming to the U.S. This was all

done in response to Communism and in fear that eastern and southern European countries would
try to spread Communism to the U.S. Although these Acts were eventually repealed, they had a

big effect on immigration.