Daniels, Chapter 6

Chapter 6 is about breaking down the barriers of "old" and "new" immigrants. Usually, immigrants who came to the states before the 1880s had a somewhat easier time adjusting to American culture and are considered to be "old" immigrants. While those who came after the 1880s are thought of to be the "new" immigrants, the people who struggled with conforming to American life and fought to keep homeland identity.   In this section of the book Daniels does not focus on the distinction of "old" and "new" immigrants, he instead focuses on the immigrants themselves and the countries that they emigrated from. Daniels makes the point that while there are differences between old and new immigrants in actuality the two are not really all that different.  He notes that while there are significant changes that occur before and after 1880, each group was still dealing with many similar problems.

The three large groups that he talks about are the Irish, German, and Scandinavian. The Irish came mostly during the great potato famine of 1840-1850.  The Irish helped to build much of the buildings and such in the United States because they held most of the manual labor jobs.  They played a large part in politics because they all voted based on what their boss’s told them to for fear of losing their job; a lot of “dirty politicians” at that time.  After the famine, in 1860-1930, many single Irish females came to America.  They worked in domestics, laundry, and textiles’ making what was considered a decent pay.

The Germans came with mixed religions of Protestants, Catholics, and Jews unlike the Irish who were devout Catholics because the English disapproved of it.  The Germans tended to stay in small communities that kept the native language.  The neighborhoods were mainly centered around taverns because the Germans were very social amongst themselves.  It was sometimes to tell where some Germans came from because many changed their surnames once they got to the sates; a common thing amongst many immigrants seeing as some surnames were very hard to pronounce and made you and the fact that you immigrated stick out like a sore thumb.  The Germans eventually lost their native language because once the children started learning English in schools more and more people started speaking English at home.

The Scandinavians who came from Norway, Sweden, and Denmark came in much smaller masses than the Irish and Germans.  They settled in more rural areas in the mid-west and the Great Plains also unlike the Irish and Germans who stood in more urban areas.  The Scandinavians consisted of Protestants, Lutherans, and Mormons.

Between 1860 and 1920, America made the massive jump in population from 30 million to 105 million persons. The country went from being largely agricultural to being a mostly industrial one. These immigrants changed our nation.  Reading these chapters it is very interesting to see what the different groups of immigrants did to help shape and change America to essentially help it become the type of country that it is today.