Essay On Ellis Island Immigration

The mid-19th century saw an unprecedented wave of immigrants coming into the country. At its peak, Ellis Island, the main processing station for immigrants, handled an astounding 5,000 people every day. Because of the language and culture barriers faced by each group of people, they often settled amongst themselves. Very quickly, country-specific neighborhoods began popping up throughout New York and the surrounding area. This helped to alleviate the stresses with moving to a new country; however, most immigrants came to the United States penniless and lived in low-income housing as their jobs rarely supported themselves let alone their families.

Collection 1 Performance Task: Argumentative Essay Like specks of sand on a beach, people are constantly migrating to various areas. Immigration has impacted America in a predominantly negative way. As demonstrated in Of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford, Mother Tongue by Amy Tan, and The General History of Virginia by John Smith, immigration has induced numerous conflicts, forced people to face adversity from those they met, and caused several people to undergo a number of hardships. There were a variety of hardships being faced, most notably the physical ones.

As stated in history.com, “The Great Depression lasted from 1929 to 1939, and was the worst economic downturn in the history of the industrialized world.” (history.com) America had just overcome the World War, and now the country was broken down economically and physically. As a result migrants coming to America had a hard time finding jobs and getting pay. Second the dust bowl was a major event in the migrants lives. For example, "Houses were shut tight, and cloth wedged around doors and windows, but the dust came in so thinly that it could not be seen in the air, and it settled like pollen on the chairs and tables, on the dishes."

The homestead act helped make this happen, it seemed good at first but after a while the immigrants realized the negatives of the land that they gained outweighed the benefits. The homestead act was passed by congress on May 20,1862. This act was supposed to get people to move to the Great Plains. This act stated that “any citizen of the U.S could claim 160 acres of government land”, however they had to pay a small fee. After paying the homesteaders had to improve their land by living on the land, building a home, and planting crops.

In conclusion, the immigration to America in the latter- half of the nineteenth century were sort of advantages and lots of consequences in American policy and America as a

Ellis Island served port of entry (1892- 1954); Boston (customs passenger lists through 1899); Boston (customs passenger lists through 1899); Philadelphia (customs passenger lists through 1899); Baltimore (customs passenger lists through 1891); and New Orleans through 1902) Approximately, 40 percent of all current U.S. citizens can trace at least one of their ancestors to Ellis Island. There were also several minor ports, e.g. Mobile, Al. , Bath, Me., and Galveston, TX. Shortly after the U.S. Civil War, some states started to pass their own immigration laws, which prompted the U.S. Supreme Court to rule in 1875 that immigration was a federal responsibility.

The 19th century was the era of the Gilded Age, where the economy was booming, bringing great changes that affected the lives of workers and entrepreneurs. During this period, there was a large influx of immigrants that were coming to America to look for job opportunities. The migration of immigrants proved useful as a source for cheap labor, allowing an even higher rise in the U.S. economy. While American industrialization may have benefited the upper class of the American society, the effects were opposite to the workers of the lower classes. This problem was especially worse for immigrant workers as their belief in the so-called American dream has been worn down due to the misery they had to endure.

Ellis Island, opening in 1892, was a federal immigration station that helped restrict immigration. It ran for more than sixty years and granted legal immigrant status for millions of Americans. Ellis Island came out of the demand from the American people to prevent Southern and Eastern Europeans from inhabiting the United States and all of the negative consequences of their residency. The influx of immigrants caused agitation among the American native-born. Between 1880 and 1920, America had more than twenty million immigrants, and many of them seized the jobs of native born Americans since they were willing to work for less.

Effects of Immigration Immigration has been occurring since the dawn of time, People moving from one place to another for better living conditions. Immigration is both good and bad for the country that is involved. People bringing in great new ideas to help grow the country but it can also created over population and less job opportunity for the citizens of the country. These are all mentioned in Plymouth Plantation, Mother Tongue, Balboa, and Blaxicans. Immigrants’ impact on America is both negative and positive depending on the viewpoint of the original culture.

This made population rise significantly due to the overwhelming number of immigrants. These immigrants also tried to enter the workforce. This made many citizens of the country mad. This is what started immigrant restriction. Citizens started forming restriction groups as well as placing restrictions on who could be in their union.

Immigration to America had its benefits and downside. America was the place to go in the 19th century people all around the world immigrated to the US. The US needed rules and regulations on entering the country due to types of things that were happening in Document 2. The positives of immigrating to the US was too good to pass up.

Immigration bring great benefits. Without immigration, the population would stop growing, The goal is to keep it stable, not to get rid of all of it completely. Immigration keeps the population and also the economy growing. But when massive amounts of people are immigrating to America, it becomes overwhelming to some people. The government must slow down the process of immigration soon.

Numerous stories are heart retching and devastating. Trying to imagine being in the shoes of those immigrants is almost impossible, as I have been blessed with a wonderful problem-free life. Unfortunately, I am unable to even relate to any of the several issues immigrants encountered daily, as I have never experienced anything they have suffered through. Although, I personally cannot attest to such horrible experiences, I can promote acceptance and equality among immigrants in America. Similarly, a quote by Carlos Ramirez suggests the same.

The immigration affected the economy in two positive ways. The first way was that the government won more money in taxes sience there were more people in the

Opening in 1892, Ellis Island quickly became the most active immigration station (and largest in America) for Immigrants entering the U.S.; mainly from Europe. For these Immigrants, Ellis Island was the entrance point to "the land of opportunity" and they had worked hard and spent a lot of hard earned money to get there. The immigrants that came to the America were coming partially because of the prospect and promises of prosperity and happiness and that America was “the land of opportunity”, but mainly because of drought, famine, war, and religious persecution in their home countries. From 1892 to 1954, Ellis Island processed over 12 million immigrants. For most people, Ellis Island was a wonderful place that would be the entry point beginning of their new life, but for some others it was a miserable experience.