Essay on US Immigration German Immigrants - 2298 Words

To this day, Germans are the single largest group of immigrants to the United States, and over a quarter of Americans claim German ancestry. Over seven million German immigrants have been recorded since 1820, when official immigration records began to be kept. Germans immigrated to America primarily for economic reasons, but some Germans also left their homelands in search of religious or political freedom. They were also encouraged by their friends and family who had already found a new life in the United States. Immigrants faced a long and arduous journey before they finally reached American soil. Once they arrived in America, they typically settled in their own communities and entered the work force as skilled workers, bought†¦show more content†¦These economic reasons, along with religious and political motives, encouraged Germans to uproot their families and move to America. A small percentage of German immigrants to the United States in the nineteenth century deci ded to move due to religious reasons. In the colonial period, religious freedom had been a major factor for immigrants from all over Europe, but during the 1800s it was less significant (Daniels, Coming to America 147). Beginning in the 1830s through the 1880s, anti-Semitic laws were being passed in several of the German states (Hoobler and Hoobler 24). Jews escaped these areas in search of the opportunity to worship freely in America. In the late 1830s, a movement began in Prussia forcing the unification of the Lutheran and Reformed churches (Brownstone and Franck 139). â€Å"Old Lutherans,† who resisted this merger, escaped to the United States in protest (139). Religious radicals from Germany found homes in the ever-tolerant Pennsylvania (Daniels, Coming to America 147). These religious persecutions forced many Germans to make the difficult decision to leave their homeland for the promises of freedom and prosperity in America. A third cause that led to a small numbe r of the more educated and scholarly Germans to immigrate to the United States in the mid-nineteenth century was the political situation in the GermanShow MoreRelatedThe Immigration Of Asian American Immigrants Essay1505 Words   |  7 Pagescentury, myriads of immigrants flocked to the U.S. seeking better job opportunities,or searching for religious freedom. U.S. citizens were fearful, envious, and willing to exclude immigrants who came to the US as they were viewed as an economic threat to the society. They believed that these immigrants were racially, morally and intellectually inferior to them and as such did not see or treat as their equals. These dysfunctions lead to severe and harsh treatment of immigrants. 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