Immigration

• First settlers of the US

  • Great Britain
  • Germany
  • Netherlands
• Push factors for immigration to the US

  • Political unrest
  • Religious persecution
  • Famine in many parts of Europe
• Pull factors for immigration to the US

  • Availability of farmland
  • The Gold Rush
  • Work in mines or factories
• First wave of Asian people came to California in the 1850s
• Asian people needed not only in California, but all over America for cheap labour
• Number of undocumented immigrants estimated to be as high as 10 million
• Immigrant experience in US is celebrated and nothing more quintessentially American than illegal immigration
• George III drew a line on a map and declared it illegal to claim or settle land west of the line, reserved for Natives
• George Washington instructed agents in many ways of getting around the law
• Ethan Allen and brothers settled in Hampshire Grants
• New York held title to land but he threw out New Yorkers and sold their lots & hoped for illegals from Connecticut
• Illegal pioneers began moving across Alleghenies and into upper Ohio Valley
• Immigrants from Germany and Ireland settled were they wanted to
• Then as now your risk your life to bring family across line
• Once across good chance of settling in and avoiding arrest
• Problem: low-class illegals on highly valuable property
• Those who risked their life to become Americans are the reason why the nation was founded and lots of people are there today
• Ellis Island


  Immigration station from 1892-1924
• Eight million immigrants passed through Ellis Island, mostly from Northern European countries
• Ellis Island is an island in New York
• Ellis Island is a Historic Immigration Station