UNIT 2: FACTORS THAT LED TO EXPANSION

1. UNIT 2: FACTORS THAT LED TO EXPANSION LESSON 2.6: GROUP CONTRIBUTIONS TO EXPANSION

2. review • HOW DID THE ENLIGHTENMENT, TREATY OF PARIS, AND THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE IMPACT AMERICAN EXPANSION?

3. WARM UP • Why has there often been a backlash against immigrants throughout American History?

4. INTRODUCTION • The purpose of this lesson is to highlight some of the contributions and consequences for various ethnic and racial groups in regard to American Expansion.

5. Push vs Pull

6. GERMANS • Not until the 1670s did the first significant groups of German immigrants arrive in the British colonies, settling primarily in New York and Pennsylvania. Immigration continued in very large numbers during the 19th century, with some eight million arrivals from Germany. They were pulled by the attractions of land and religious freedom, and pushed out of Europe by shortages of land and religious or political oppression. Many arrived seeking religious or political freedom, others for economic opportunities greater than those in Europe, and others simply for the chance to start fresh in the New World. The arrivals before 1850 were mostly farmers who sought out the most productive land, where their intensive farming techniques would pay off. • German Americans established the first kindergartens in the United States,introduced the Christmas tree tradition,and originated popular American foods such as hot dogs and hamburgers.

7. IRISH • Approximately "50,000 to 100,000 Irishmen, over 75 percent of them Catholic, came to America in the 1600s, while 100,000 more Irish Catholics arrived in the 1700s." Indentured servitude was an especially common way of affording migration, and in the 1740s the Irish made up nine out of ten indentured servants in some colonial regions. • The Scotch-Irish (NON CATHOLIC IRISH) settled mainly in the colonial "back country" of the Appalachian Mountain region, and became the prominent ethnic strain in the culture that developed there. The descendants of Scotch-Irish settlers had a great influence on the later culture of the United States through such contributions as American folk music, Country and Western music, and stock car racing, which became popular throughout the country in the late 20th century. • Irish immigrants of this period participated in significant numbers in the American Revolution, leading one British major general to testify at the House of Commons that "half the rebel Continental Army were from Ireland." Irish Americans signed the foundational documents of the United States—the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution—and, beginning with Andrew Jackson, served as President. • many Irish migrated individually to the interior for work on large-scale infrastructure projects such as canals and, later in the century, railroads.

8. AFRICANS • The first recorded Africans in British North America (including most of the future United States) were "20 and odd negroes" who came to Jamestown, Virginia, in 1619 as indentured servants. As English settlers died from harsh conditions, more and more Africans were brought to work as laborers. • The popular conception of a race-based slave system did not fully develop until the 18th century. The Dutch West India Company introduced slavery in 1625 with the importation of eleven black slaves into New Amsterdam (present-day New York City). • The first black congregations and churches were organized before 1800 in both northern and southern cities following the Great Awakening. By 1775, Africans made up 20% of the population in the American colonies, which made them the second largest ethnic group after the English.During the 1770s, Africans, both enslaved and free, helped rebellious English colonists secure American Independence by defeating the British in the American Revolution. Africans and Englishmen fought side by side and were fully integrated.James Armistead, an African American, played a large part in making possible the 1781 Yorktown victory, which established the United States as an independent nation. • By 1860, there were 3.5 million enslaved African Americans in the United States due to the Atlantic slave trade.

9. NATIVE AMERICANS • Since the end of the 15th century, the migration of Europeans to the Americas, has led to centuries of conflict between Old and New World societies. Many Native Americans lived as hunter-gatherer societies and told their histories by oral traditions. In many groups, women carried out sophisticated cultivation of numerous varieties of staple crops: maize, beans and squash. The indigenous cultures were quite different from the mostly Christian immigrants from Europe. Many Native cultures were matrilineal; the people occupied lands for use of the entire community, for hunting or agriculture. Europeans at that time had patriarchal cultures and had developed concepts of individual property rights with respect to land that were extremely different. • The Native Americans suffered high fatalities from the contact with infectious European diseases, to which they had no acquired immunity. Epidemics after European contact caused the greatest loss of life for indigenous populations. • After the colonies revolted against Great Britain and established the United States of America, President George Washington conceived the idea of "civilizing" Native Americans in preparation for assimilation as U.S. citizens. Assimilation became a consistent policy through American administrations. During the 19th century, the ideology of manifest destiny became integral to the American nationalist movement. Expansion of European-American populations to the west after the American Revolution resulted in increasing pressure on Native American lands, warfare between the groups, and rising tensions. In 1830, the U.S. Congress passed the Indian Removal Act, authorizing the government to relocate Native Americans from their homelands within established states to lands west of the Mississippi River, accommodating European-American expansion.

10. CHINESE • The Chinese came to California in large numbers during the California Gold Rush, with 40,400 being recorded as arriving from 1851–1860, and again in the 1860s when the Central Pacific Railroad recruited large labor gangs, many on five year contracts, to build its portion of the Transcontinental Railroad. The Chinese laborers worked out well and thousands more were recruited until the railroad's completion in 1869. Chinese labor provided the massive labor needed to build the majority of the Central Pacific's difficult railroad tracks through the Sierra Nevada mountains and across Nevada.

11. QUAKERS • The Religious Society of Friends, also known as The Quakers, is a movement that began in England in the 17th century. The word "Quaker" means to tremble in the way of the Lord. In its early days it faced opposition and persecution; however, it continued to expand, extending into many parts of the world, especially the Americas. • The Society of Friends has been influential in the history of the world. The state of Pennsylvania was founded by William Penn, as a safe place for Quakers to live and practice their faith. Quakers have been a significant part of the movements to abolish slavery, promote equal rights for women, and end warfare. They have also promoted education and the humane treatment of prisoners and the mentally ill, through the founding or reforming of various institutions.

12. activity • The Oregon Trail • http://www.america101.us/trail/Oregontrail.html

13. REFLECTION • In your journal, summarize what you have learned about the contributions and consequences of American expansion on the ethnic and racial groups that we have discussed today. • Do you feel that America is a Melting Pot or a Salad Bowl?