The United States is the country that has the most immigrants compared to the other countries in the world, so basically this country is sometimes called "a heaven for immigrants". If we hear the word "immigrant" inside of the United States, we might think immediately about Chinese, Indian, or Mexicans. In the news today we sometimes hear pessimistic comments or racial slurs towards immigrants or we can hear immigrants being praised for their dedication to improve the United States.
Personally, I am a immigrant from Japan who moved to the United States when I was three years old. I believe that the United States is amazing since it has provided me the opportunity to be proficient in two languages Japanese and English.
Recently, as I have been trying to catch up on this blog post assignments for this class, I thought that it would be interesting to research the immigrants to the United States during the pre civil war period. I wanted to research this since it is personally an interesting topic for me.
So, I've been trying to research this topic about "immigrants before the civil war period". First, all I stumbled across was articles that talked briefly about the Potato Famine and the mistreatment of the Irish Immigrants when they moved to the United States. I didn't want this article to be redundant. So, I took more time to research about this topic.
The next interesting and educational article that I discovered described the German, Irish and Chinese immigrants, and it went into some detail about how the citizens of the United States reacted. However there were many facts that were a repeat of what we already went over in class!
As I kept on researching finally I found an article that went into tremendous detail about a certain topic, and this was particularly unique. This concept was the German immigrants who moved to the United States. The Germans are very special since most of them are not suffering from poverty, such as the Irish or the Chinese immigrants. Most of them were actually very wealthy when they stepping foot onto the United States soil, and thus a large portion of them could have the fortune to move out to the west.
Also, there was another reason that this concept caught my attention. There are still many German speaking cities and societies across the United States. And, I felt that it was impressive that the German immigrants were still able to maintain their culture, tradition and culture throughout the many years of being a resident in a highly English dominant country.
These reasons motivated me to read this article about the German immigrants and it had an abundance of information since it described the German immigrants from the colonial era all the way until the present day. As I started reading this article I concentrated mostly on the German immigrants of the Colonial Era, the Jacksonian Era, and the Pre Civil War. I took note of what sections of the article where this was discussed. As I did this two questions popped up into my mind. These two questions were these. What was the motivation for the German to move to the United States. The other question I had was, what religion, custom, or culture did these German immigrants have. In this article I will answer both of these questions while focusing on the three topics.
German Immigrants in the United States (Colonial Era to the Civil War)
Part 1: Colonial America and German Immigrants
First of all the most important thing to keep in mind is that the German immigrants who moved to the United States are mostly protestant since Martin Luther, the founder of the protestant sect, is from Germany. There are some exceptions to this. Some of the German immigrants are Jewish or Catholic. The German immigrants who were Catholic or Jewish will face discrimination from the Protestant Germans and this will continue up to the Civil War era. Because the German citizens wanted to avoid further political turmoil inside of their own country, their main motivation became to set sail for the United States (which was known as the "Thirteen Colonies" during the colonial era). At the same time this happened, Germany was divided into many different autonomous territories which only worsened the political tension. Also, the European monarch from other countries persistently tried to invade Germany. As this happened conservative protestant groups who were concerned with the war became the first ones to move to the United States.
The first group of Germans who came into the United States was a group called the Mennonites. Then followed the Amish, the Society of Friends, German Brethen, Quakers, and the Dunkards who just started to establish a life in the United States between 1650 and 1776. All of these groups might be unfamiliar, so to make you have a better understanding about them I will give you a big hint about these immigrants. They all lived in Pennsylvania. These german immigrants had little to no loyalty for the British Empire. Because of this they were able to establish relatively isolated communities from the rest of the colonies which was one of the ways these German immigrants were able to preserve their culture, language, and heritage.
Some of these groups of German immigrants were Anti Baptists which meant that some of these communities of people were completely opposed to baptizing children.
One of the most famous well known groups of these German immigrants that are still known of today are the Amish and the Quakers. So first, let's understand and learn more about the Quakers or the so called the "Society of Friends". This group was founded at the end of the Protestant Reformation which took place in Europe (especially in Germany) during the 16th and 17th century. One of the main reasons for them to immigrate to the United States was because they were confident that they could convert many people in the 13 colonies to become protestant. Even though this was originally their mission, these Quakers settled down in the Pennsylvania starting from the 1750's and they dominated the politics of this region. Some other protestants immigrated to the elsewhere (by that I mean other British Colonies), but the British in the other colonies suspected that the Germans were threatening the Authority of the Church of England. The church of England was Anglican, and they thought that protestants were a threat.
So let me get more into who the quakers were. So first let's start off with talking about the first Quaker mission who made it to the United States. The first Quaker mission led by Mary Fisher and Ann Austin landed in Boston in 1656. Even though these quakers just wanted to settle down peacefully and establish a suitable life, already the Puritans lived there. The puritans were not welcoming to the new German settlers, since they didn't want to share the rights to these new settlers. Since the Puritans who had already settled down in Boston were hostile, this lead to the German settlers to leave this colony. Many Puritans burned the books that the Quakers read, and they also tried to defend their shores from further settlers setting foot on the colony. The pilgrim farmers also decided that it would be the best to confiscate the items of the items of that the Quakers brought with them.
The second Quaker mission was sent out to the Massachusetts Bay Colony which was lead by George Fox. However it completely failed since the other religious white settlers who were already in the Massachusetts Bay Colony prosecuted and banished these Quakers. The Quakers then decided that it would be wise to set up their own colony next to Massachusetts (on Rhode Island) and establish their own community there so that they would be completely free from religious prosecution.
There was an overwhelming amounts of Puritans (Quakers) started to pour into Rhode Colony seeking their own freedom, so that they wouldn't be controlled by the Massachusetts government. The Quakers had another escape place from the Massachusetts Bay Colonies and Boston. This was Maryland. Maryland as the textbook mentioned was lead by Lord Baltimore who continuously accepted the refugees who were Quakers into his society and the quakers blended into society. All of these events of independence and taking away the land owned by the British became a problem. However this all settled down when William Penn came along and established a small society where all of the kids, woman and men who were protestant and were a part of the Quakers members. So the Germans felt that the only safe place for them to actually safe hevan for them such as Pennsylvania. When Pennsylvania was built, it was dominated by puritans and they controlled the laws. This is why most of the Quakers were able to opposed to other realizations since everybody who was a threat.
Quakers enjoyed the complementary reform of the bible. One of the most famous people is William Penn who was able to establish a Pennsylvanian government which spread freedom, justice, and equality to all of the protestant German followers. Surprisingly the Quakers did the same with the Native Americans who they made peace with. A majority of the quakers were ambitious to establish an isolated society with the rest of the world which they thought opposed their views. The Quakers were able to govern their own colony and society in Pennsylvania for thirty years, and they for that amount of time the Quakers were able to carry out their views. However after these peaceful 30 years, the British Empire kept on sending people and immigrants to the 13 American Colonies continuously which meant that the Quakers views and ideals were challenged. As more immigrants arrived in Pennsylvania the quaker government in the colony started to deteriorate.
Even though the Quaker government was deteriorated due to the changing society in the colonies, many groups of Quakers still existed. These Quakers will continuously endure more struggle in the upcoming century. As the Quakers were trying to isolate themselves during this new time period they experience two struggles. First is the [french and indian war] the thirteen colonies (United States) and England started getting into conflict with each other which eventually escalated to what we know as the Revolutionary War.
The first struggle that the Quakers faced was the French and Indian War (a conflict between the British Empire and the French Empire). The people who were Loyalists of the British Empire urged these quakers to serve the war, but most Quakers refused to do so. This plan worked successfully for the Quakers. Next the thirteen colonies (United States) and England started getting into conflict with each other which eventually escalated to what we know as the Revolutionary War. The Quakers who were pacifists initially thought that fighting this war wasn't such a great idea. However they felt that this was the opportunity to ban slavery. They Quakers eventually made their way into federal politics and they urged the United States Government to abolish slavery. Furthermore, the Quakers wished that the blacks could be allowed equal freedom such as the whites, and they strongly believed that the blacks should have equal citizenship to others in the country. Because of this action the Quakers are the first known people who have stood up to the injustices of slavery in United States history. They also urged the United States Government to give back the native Americans land that they lost and to treat them as foreign nations. They claimed that if the United states was to kick out the Native Americans then they would be doing something unconstitutional. However the Quakers didn't support woman's rights since they believed that a woman should have a traditional housing role.
The Amish were a little bit different but they were mostly the same people who tried to live traditional lives such as the Quakers. Like the Quakers they believed that Non Violence and Pacifism was essential to truly uphold the Protestant Religion. One of the most unique aspects about them is that they actually maintained their own culture and language. The Amish people invented something called “Pensylvanian Deutsch” or “Pensylvanian Dutch”. The Amish people don’t speak Dutch, the national language of the Netherlands, but the they speak German. The Amish people speak a dialect of German. This dialect of German that they have created has many english lonewords meaning that there are more English words that are integrated into this German dialect.
These Amish people still live today in isolated communities inside of the United States and they are mostly in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana. Unlike the Quakers they believe that a teenager or a adult should be baptized before they get married. These Amish people started immigrating into the United States since when they integrated with the Quakers. The Amish people were able to immigrate into the United States and they were able to establish a city called Germantown. Many more amish continuously moved to the United states even during the revolutionary war and they enlarged the Pensylvanian protestant population. During the napoleonic wars Germany was invaded by France and Napoleon’s army declared that all of the population serve in his army. The Amish wanted to avoid joining or participating in the French Military, so they decided that they will move in large numbers to pennsylvania. This eventually lead up to a massive immigration into the United States during the early 19th Century. During the mid 19th Century the Amish start establishing communities out in Ohio and Indiana. These conservative groups were faced with tremendous difficulties as the society inside of the United States continuously became liberalized due to the rapid advancement in technology and other innovations. However the Amish continue to exist today.
Part 3 Immigrants After the Colonial Era
In 1836 when the United States was becoming a protestant dominated country, the German immigrant who was catholic named John Nepomucene Neumann moved to the United States establishing a catholic majority inside of the United States. He was a priest and he was able to create a German speaking Catholic community within the United States. During 1848 just 12 years before the American Civil War the German monarch failed to unite and political turmoil began which prevented democracy from being spread to the Germans who were hopeful. These Germans immigrated to the United States, and they started to enlarge the German speaking communities across in the United States. Most of the Germans maintained their tradition, religion and culture. These German immigrants were more liberal and they were rich as they purchased territory and land out in the west away from the major cities. In the 1860’s the United States became populated with German speaking citizens, and 1.3 German Born immigrants came into the United States. AS this happened 200 newspapers, articles and magazines companies published everything in German. As this happened the German language became popular within the United States and the German Language became as dominant as the English Language.
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