1460 Feb 8

Ideas of nativism: Save Americans instead of other immigrants
First anti-immigration sentiment was in response to mass immigration of Irish / Irish catholics
- Irish were refugees from potato famine
- Irish were more focused about
- Stereotypes about Irish immigrants
  - Take jobs
    - After war of 1812 ends (1815)
    - Embargoes of 1807 & 1813 limited cloth from England
    - Loll’s First successful factory of textile mill; industrial revolution ensues
      - Wanted to have better wages than what England’s factories offered
    - Other factory competitors go for cheaper labor; Irish immigrants are cheaper; eventually cheap labor succeeds; wages drop
    - Factory jobs make artisan jobs obsolete
Irish are socially excluded
- Irish are trapped in this social dynamic
- Form Irish ghettos
1836 - Free land given 160 acres for 5 years, allowed to keep land if they improve upon it (housing, etc.)
1830’s
- America starts building railroads
  - Hard job that pays well
  - Irish decide to take these jobs
  - Irish big labor force of eastern half of continental railroad
Irish try getting public service type jobs; becomes tradition for Irish family
- Police officers
- Firefighting
Hostility of Irish
- WW2
- Many Americans were anti-semetic pre WW2
- After holocaust; many felt bad for Jews / didn’t want to be aligned with hitler’s views
- American public felt like they must open up the ability to tolerate other religions; other than protestant
- Birth of Judeo-Christian worldview
- JFK Irish-catholic President
  - Op-ed in newspaper saying “catholics are almost white”
- Let’s forget about Irish being a problem, there are other problems
Texas-Mexican war
- Happens when slave owners join Mexico in Texas and clashed over slavery
- Texans declare independence and apply for statehood in the United States
  - Transition of Presidencies Andrew Jackson to Van Buren to Polk
  - Polk wanted to expand U.S.
    - Wanted ports of San Diego, San Francisco, Puget Sound Seattle
    - Puget Sound secured through deal with England
    - Polk accepted Texan application for statehood in order to help expand Westward
      - North and South notice Texas is a territory that practices slavery
      - Disputed Texas territory
      - Said nuezes river ended border, not boundary from river
    - Polk wanted to buy rest of disputed territory along with California
    - Mexico initially said no
    - Polk crosses boundary with troops to try to cause war; Mexico declares war
Mexican American war 1847-48
- America loses about 13,000 troops
  - 11,000 died of dysentery, not even war related
- Mexico loses many
- Americans move into Mexico city, forces deal of expansion of U.S territory
- Gain control of Upper California, Arizona, Parts of Utah / Colorado, disputed Texas, New Mexico
- Polk gains most of continental United States
- Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended war
  - U.S had to allow anyone staying behind in Mexico to gain citizenship
  - U.S need to protect property rights (partially would accept this)
  - IF they are well enough defined
  - Rancheros of California
    - Half million acres to 2 million acre rancheros
  - U.S disputes the land, shrink large rancho boundaries to 10,000
  - Small rancho boundaries were mostly recognized
  - Would only recognize ranchos that applied within two years of treaty
    - Treaty info misleading
    - Only in english,
    - Some mexicans got application through lawyers
  - Americans viewed Mexicans as Irish that don’t even speak english
1848 California Gold Rush
- Americans that settled in area
- Sutter’s Fort
  - Needed saw mill due to foreseeing mass immigration that would ensue in California
  - Sutter’s Mill
    - American River (Coloma California)
    - Installation of water wheel / mill raise leads to discovery of Gold
    - This berths the Gold rush
- Northern Californians got into Gold Rush first
  - Native Americans, Californios (that fully assimilated to Spanish life, native American spanish speaking Catholics)
  - Mexican
  - Spanish
- Second group of Gold Rushers
  - Southern California / Mexicans
  - Oregon
  - Hawaii
    - Asians, first time many saw Asians
      - Short asians,
      - Long hairstyle
      - Observed their lifestyle,
      - Their food
    - Chinese Whispers (telephone game)
      - Talked of mountain of Gold in California
      - Starts Chinese immigration
      - 1850 1,000 Chinese immigrants
      - 1852 25,000 Chinese immigrate
- Typically North Easterners are the ones migrating to California
  - Tensions between North and South have been rising
  - California will be ¾ of people that come from North East
  - North Easterners did not like seeing Indians digging for Gold
  - Viewed anyone that spoke spanish as Hispanic (could be Indians, Spaniards, Mexicans)
    - Indians and Spanish left, did not like the treatment
    - Mexicans tolerated some of the treatment until unfair taxes placed on them
  - Chinese were different, they typically were indentured servants
    - Could not pay for passage back to China
    - Hostility drives them into Ghettos
      - Chinatown San Francisco
- 1854 California Supreme Court Ruling
  - Scientists believes that America was populated through Ice bridge from China / Asia
  - Chinese are Native Americans
  - Native Americans cannot testify in court, therefore Chinese cannot testify
  - This allows for open abuse for Chinese people
  - At this time there was need for railroad workers in freezing conditions
    - Chinese
  - After transcontinental railroad is linked, many Chinese workers stay
- African Americans in Gold rush
  - Many have come to California for gold rush
  - By 1850 roughly 2,000 mining for gold
    - Most free,
  - Tensions between Northerners and South rising
    - Many people didn’t want to be viewed as a “Southerner” by abusing black people
  - Black miners do typically well
  - Typically did not receive as bad a treatment
- Chinese
  - 1870’s economic depression
  - California putting pressure on U.S gov to stop Chinese immigration
  - Naturalization Act 1870
    - If you are of Chinese ancestry, you cannot become citizen of U.S (up until WW2)
  - Chinese Exclusion Act 1882
    - Limited amount of immigrants that could come from China
  - Gender difference
    - By WW2 there are only about 60,000 Chinese from 100,000s
Questions
- Hostility of Irish seems to have quickly died over the last 100 years