Immigration+Assignment

 Huddled Masses-This document was about the Statue of Liberty. The Statue of Liberty was a gift from France and was based off of the Roman goddess Libertas. The statue was meant to symbolize the oppression of slavery but over time it came to symbolize the freedom of the new land and "the Lady of Hope".

The New Immigrants- Many immigrants came to America for hopes of new lives for them and their families if they could afford to bring them along. The trip cost 10 dollars to get across the Atlantic Ocean in steerage, which was the bottom of the ship. Millions and millions of immigrants ended up coming to America from the 1800s to today.  The Chinese Exclusion Act- This was a law passed by the United States government to prohibit Chinese people from coming to the US. This law stated that no Chinese people could gain naturalization, there were only few exceptions. Then the Geary act was made to require Chinese people to carry around a residence certificate at all times unless they would get deported.

Contract Agreement- The contract agreement had to do with getting immigrants to work for contractors. If the immigrants chose to do the hard manual labor then they would have to be stuck doing the job for five to seven years. This work was long and hard, nine hours a day and six days a week, and the pay was very small.

Immigration Restriction- Starting in the 1880’s more restrictions for immigrants were made. They banned Asians, illiterate people and immigrants that were imported to be contract workers. The United States caused a chain reaction with this when a lot of other countries started to make immigration restrictions too.

United State's Changing Face- The United States has become very culturally and ethnically diverse over the past century all due to immigration. And immigrants are still coming! Though this can be good it can also be a bad thing, due to people needing jobs to provide for people when there aren’t any available. Overall the United States is what it is today all because of immigration.


 * Immigration Essay**

June 17th, 1904 Dear Aunt Erin, I’m very happy to tell you that I have finally made it to the great country America!! I’m very thankful that you and Uncle Shamus let me live with you until we could make the money to send me here. I have always been so curious to come over here and see what all of the talk was about and I finally have!! But don’t worry I haven’t only been wondering around and exploring, I got a job to help Ma and Pa out, and to pay you back. That’s why I will be writing every week and I will provide some money to send too. The ship from Ireland to here was very long, boring and uneventful. Also the food was horrible, but the excitement of seeing Ma and Pa again, and seeing this new world made it all worth it. Ma and Pa were waiting to get me off the ship and they brought me to New York City, which is where I’ll be living now. As you know already, Ma and Pa have been working hard to make a living here so I could come over. But they still need more money to support me too, so I got a job to help them out and pay you back for everything you’ve done. There are many economic opportunities here in the United States so it wasn’t hard to find a job. At first I was scared it would be too hard of work since are so many open jobs, or that no one would hire me because I’m not experienced, but it wasn’t like that at all. Ma brought me to the garment factory with her, asked her boss if I could begin work immediately and he said yes!! But the work isn’t easy; I really do earn the money I make and so does Ma. At the garment shop I work with the machines and it can get dangerous sometimes people get hurt. But I have been careful so don’t worry. The pay for my weekly working is 2 dollars a week which Ma says is good for my starting pay. I think life here in America is a lot better than in Ireland. Here in America there is lots of people, food, jobs, and new inventions!! Back in Ireland everything is older, there’s nothing new and there isn’t much food since the famine. The food here is so good!! One time after working late my boss brought me and some of the other girls with me a piece of apple pie, it was delicious. The day I got here Pa told me that they had been saving up for me to get me some new clothes and a jacket because the winter gets cold here. The clothes shops we went into were so big, I’d never seen anything like it back home!! Also the new inventions over here are amazing!! One I wish I could have is a thing they call crayons, which you use to make color on paper! You can draw whatever you want and make it look more realistic with these! I wish I could show you all that this new world has to offer. Even though this new world is very great and different from home, there are still many down sides and difficulties for everyone here. One problem is the neighborhood is very crowded and so is our apartment. We live with two other families, the Mclanahan’s come from Ireland too and they have two young kids, and the Archibald’s come from Germany with 3 kids. They are both very nice families, and the Archibald’s son Hans is very handsome. Even with all of our money put together we have a hard time paying the rent sometimes. Sometimes we have to skip meals to save for the months pay. And though the food is very good here, usually I don’t get to eat it because it is so expensive. Ma says that soon we can start eating the good food when Pa gets a promotion but who knows when that will happen. Ma and I work 60 hours a week usually and get 5 dollars, Pa works at the glass factory for 6 dollars a week. Overall America is a great place for people who are willing to work hard to live here. Every day I am grateful that my parents came over here because it has changed my life forever. If you can get the money I think that it would be a great idea for you to come over here. There are many jobs you and uncle shamus could get since you are so smart. Also there are so many new things I want you to see and new foods I wish you could try. And though there are a lot of hard ships they don’t compare to the great things that are here too. So I hope that you can come over with us and get to experience this whole new world. Love Colleen The Garment Shop The Glass Factory Our neighborhood