AMERICAN WEST
Why did the West get rapidly settled by newcomers during the half of the nineteenth century? In the eyes of the early American colonists and the founders of the Constitution, the United States was to represent the ideals of acceptance and tolerance to those of all walks of life. When the immigration rush began in the mid-1800's, America proved to be everything but that. The millions of settlers would soon realize the meaning of hardship and rejection as newcomers, as they attempted to assimilate into American culture. For countless settlers, the struggle to arrive in America was rivaled only by the struggle to gain acceptance among the existing American population. First of all, between 1880 and 1920 almost twenty-four million settlers came to the United States. Between better salaries, religious freedom, and a chance to get ahead in life, were more than enough reasons for leaving their homelands for America. Because of poverty, no future and various discrimination in their homelands, the incentive to leave was increasing. During the mid-1800's and early 1900's, the labor and farm hands in Eastern Europe were only earning very little money. Those lower wage earners in their homeland were stuck in lowest paid jobs and had
Fueled by the news of the California Gold Rush, they arrived in America looking to strike it rich with hopes of being able to send money back to their poor rural homes, or of returning to their country in a few years with newly acquired wealth. After that, a series of oppressive exclusion laws were made against the Chinese who became scapegoats for the high unemployment rate during the post-Civil War recession American businesses, farmers, railroad and mining companies had depended on cheap Chinese labor for the majority of their profits and were still unwilling to pay higher wages to white American workers. For the most part, these immigrants were young male peasants who came in search of economic success. Many disputes occurred between the Indians and settlers. There was an increasing belief that immigrants were occupying too many jobs within the city. Unfortunately, this wealth was never realized for most of the newcomers in this stage of Chinese immigration. These became targets for anti-immigration protests and riots that often resulted in violence. As a result, peasant farmers were heavily taxed. The job recruiters form America hung posters and told stories about free land, a lot of opportunity to work for good money, and above all, the freedom to do as they wish. In 1842 the British Empire defeated China in the first Opium War. In addition, at one time, the settlers relied on the Indians and had good terms with each other. Americans accused the Chinese of almost everything possible such as their language, bringing diseases, enhance the cost of government, and increase the burdens of taxation, etc. Even as they continued to contribute to the country's progress, American attitude towards the Chinese began to grow more strained.
Common topics in this essay:
Mountain California,
Exclusion Act,
Constitution United,
Eastern Europe,
California Chinese,
Gold Rush,
War China,
Westerners Western,
Southern China,
,
settlers relied,
relied indians,
peasant farmers,
settlers relied indians,
post-civil war,
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Acceptance Essays
