Nativists and Immigrants in Antebellum America

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Nativists and Immigrants in Antebellum America
America is one the most diverse nations in the world, with so many ethnic groups from different ethnic backgrounds. For a very long time people from different nations and continents have been moving to the US for various reasons. From the look of things some of the communities are actually more in the US than in their mother lands. This diversity is what makes the states to be unique nation and a destination of choice for so many even after decades of immigration. This diversity was never like this and there used to be a time where the Americans used to be alone in their country.
Immigration like any other process has a beginning and the reasons that contributed to it. The early immigration process was from the nineteenth century with the Germans and the Irish being the first group to come from the Eastern part of Europe. This immigration process was not a process that was done in vain but it was forced upon the immigrants. The Nativists thought that the immigrants came to America because they wanted a better life than that they had in their countries since they were industrialized while the immigrant states were still practicing agriculture. (Chapter2 25) clearly shows that the Germans and the Irish people left their countries when their economies were changing from agriculture to industrial and the times when there was a serious economic situation in their economies while the States had a lot of jobs available.
The reasons for doing things normally differ from different people each person will see from their own perspective. Just as the Natives had their own reasons why the immigrants relocated the immigrants themselves also had their own reasons for relocation. The Irish people who decided to migrate to America were mostly the poor who were dissatisfied with their lives in Ireland and thought that the migration would be their breakthrough to poverty.
The Irish are not just among he migrants to go America but the y indeed were the first Europeans to relocate America from their homeland because of the Irish poor law of 1838, the enclosure movement on the land and the great famine brought by potato blight which brought starvation (Chapter2 26).
The immigration of the Germans came about because of the change of economic situation which led to the desire for the relocation. Most of the affected individuals were the farmers who decided to find jobs in America since their economy was changing from an agriculture state to an industrialized one which saw many of them loose their land for development. (Chapter2 27) shows that crop failure, high rates, high prices and change over to industrial economy stimulated the move.
As much as the move was meant for those who were poor who suffered there were those who saw that there were good opportunities in the States and decided that they too would like to relocate there since the options for survival were far much better their own country Germany.
The migration process in the US that was supposed to be a solution to the problems of the immigrants soon became a threat to the Nativists who saw the migrations a threat to their existence. Initially the migration process became a benefit to them since it not only provided labor for them but also the immigrants were a source of the industrial development of America which improved their economy.
The massive immigration of the immigrants resulted to congestion and this lead to competition for the public amenities such as schools and housing. The Nativists realized that despite the fact that there were jobs available the immigrants made it difficult since there was serious competition for the jobs and most employers opted for ...