1. Chapter 9 – Religion and Reform 1815-1855
Section 4 –
Growing Divisions

2. Rising Immigration 1820s 1830s 1850s 143,000 600,000 2,600,000
Economic changes (industrialization, building of canals, building of railroads)  demand for cheap labor  immigrants (who arrive hungry, penniless and eager to work) applying for those jobs.
Almost all of the immigrants settled in the North and West. Why not the South?
Almost all of the immigrants from came from northern Europe and most of those were from Ireland and Germany.
1820s
1830s
1850s
Number of immigrants into US
143,000
600,000
2,600,000

3. Rising Immigration, continued
The Irish
Irish Potato Famine (?) lasted from and caused Irish immigration to the US to soar drastically. Most settled in northeastern cities, such as Boston or New York.
They became naturalized. (?)
Irish men worked in manual labor in factories or on canals or railroads. They sent for relatives to join them and the Irish American population grew.
They became a political force. Most were Jacksonian Democrats because the Democratic Party reached out to the immigrants when they first arrived. That was smart – Example: 1855, 34% of all NYC voters were 1st generation Irish immigrants.
The Germans
Many Germans came to America looking for political freedom (after many failed rebellions in Europe in the late 1840s)
Most were peasants who bought farmland in Wisconsin, Missouri and Texas.
German artisans and intellectuals settled in northern cities like NY, Chicago and Milwaukee.

4. Rising Immigration, continued
New Cultures
Most of the Irish and many of the Germans were Roman Catholic. They respected the Pope as the head of the church and looked for church laws for guidance (how does this compare to the Great Awakenings?)
Worked long hours in boring jobs. After work, they gathered in the taverns.
Boxing matches, horse races, and baseball grew in popularity as a diversion from their daily lives.
Immigrants face hostility
Irish and German immigrants often faced discrimination (the unequal treatment of a group of people because of their nationality, race, sex, sexual orientation or religion)
Economic tensions – Irish immigrants arrived just as the labor unions were trying to get higher wages and better working conditions. Because the Irish would work for lower wages, companies used them as strikebreakers.
Religious tensions – Many Protestants disapproved of Catholics. Catholics protested when their children were forced to read the Protestant version of the bible in school. Textbooks also taught Protestant values. Catholics were in favor of drinking, gambling and sports as long as done in moderation.
1840s – anti-immigrant citizens form the American Republican Party. Wanted a new naturalization law that would require immigrants to live in US for 21 years before applying for citizenship. In Philadelphia, Irish Catholics attacked American Republicans who were trying to vote in Irish districts  riots in which armed mobs burned down Irish homes and churches and 30 people were killed.

5. South holds on to traditions
North-South Tensions
Southerners resented the abolitionists and their charge that slaveholders were immoral.
Divided Churches
Southern revivalists claimed the bible supported slavery, and their audiences grew larger.
Catholic and Episcopal Churches in the South did not talk about slavery at all.
1842 – Methodist Church demanded that one of its southern bishops free his slaves. Methodist churches in the slaveholding states formed the Methodist Episcopal Church South, which supported slavery.
1845 – 300 Baptist churches formed the Southern Baptists.
South holds on to traditions
Southern men looked at the reformers who said there should be public schools and equal rights for women as saying they are not properly caring for their families.
Women mostly stayed at home taking care of the family.
Farms and plantations were so far apart that there was little gathering – women did not hear about the women’s rights movement.