The Role Of Immigration In The 19th Century

Throughout the 19th century, immigration was the main reason for naivism to come in three waves. The first wave was known as “Anti-Catholic” due to Catholic churches needing to take action as more immigrants were Catholic. The second wave was known as “Anti-Asian” strictly because Americans felt as though they needed to compete for a job with immigrants coming from China. The third wave was known as “Anti-All Immigrants” and became a great deal more common when national security felt threatened. Along with the fear of, again, employment competition and cultural assimilation. When the Irish and Germans immigrated to America, the size of the Catholic church increased significantly. As tension grew within the church, Irish, Germans, and other
Irish and Germans’ loyalty to the Pope left the church with questions. The Catholic Church decided to make changes to identify an immigrant's true religion as a way to feel protected. This directed the church to believe that immigrants were not fully Catholic, leading to a separate system for the following, “. benevolent societies, hospitals, orphanages, and sanitariums, as well as trade schools and houses of protection for single working women” (Digital History 2024). Although the Catholic Church does not use such terms as racism, it is believed that each person should have rights and be respected as a human. During the 1850s, Chinese immigrated to America to work. The majority of Chinese that came to America to work did it to support their families back in China by sending them the money made in America. At the same time, they owed money to individuals who got them to America. Due to the amount of money needed to pay loans and support their family, Chinese workers would work for any wage given. As more Chinese workers became successful, the rise of Anti-Chinese began. While Americans still needed to make money to support their families as well, this harmed the
As the unemployment rate was on the rise, a severe economic decline outbreaks, leading to the economic depression causing Americans to blame the immigrants for taking all the jobs in America. As the Library of Congress shares, “One 1891 cartoon claimed that “‘If immigration was properly restricted, you would never be troubled with anarchism, socialism, the Mafia and such kindred evils!”” (Library of Congress 2024). Anti-immigrants began to spread within the country and the Ku Klux Klan had more members than before. The effects of this outbreak began with Catholic churches being burned and Italians attacked. After that it got more violent with the chief of police in New Orleans being found dead on the streets with gunshot wounds. The mayor of New Orleans at the time took matters seriously and began to put a specific gangster group on trial, however no evidence was found. When restrictions began to be put into place for immigration, actions by anti-immigrants came to a halt. In conclusion, naivism played a huge role during the 19th century. The three waves of Nativism impacted the country as a whole and left immigrants feeling unwanted and disrespected, to say the