Samuel Ellis Island Research Paper

The novel Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick has a long list of things to teach us about the New World. The fact that it’s showed us that the very first pilgrims had no idea what they were in for was crucial. They were hit with the realization that the Natives would be wild and ferocious instead of calm and tame. They’d known they would be introduced to new ways of life, and disease, but they didn’t suspect that it’d be the most destructive part to the goodwill of the newly born colony.

Today, New York City is the most populated city in the United States. New York City, NYC, is made up of five boroughs including Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx, and Staten Island. Ellis Island, the first immigration station, and the statue of liberty are both located in New York. Immigrants went for more freedom in the 1800s and for economic and other opportunities back then and even now. Since NYC is such a large city, there are more job opportunities which draws people to the city. Also, there are an abundance of attractions and much more cultural diversity. All of these factors contribute to the reason the population is a whopping 8.538 million people!

From the start of the 20th century until today, immigrants haven’t been treated as equal as natives, however that didn’t stop immigrants from entering the US. America received a lot of immigrants up to 20 million, mainly coming from Europe. The immigrants went through a variety of check ups in Ellis Island, which determines their fate of entering America or not. The check up revolved around health. Ellis Island had a high acceptance rate, which was “Approximately 80 percent successfully passed through in a matter of hours, but others could be detained for days or weeks” (Ellis Island). As well as 80 percent sounds amazing, it isn’t the best because lots who made it had to leave family behind who got rejected. Also the article stated that

Many of our ancestors came to America from Ellis Island, almost too many came. Forty percent of Americans can trace them back through Ellis Island. The reason for ellis Island was to legally allow immigrants to come to America. There was four main countries these people came from. The countries were Germany, Ireland, Britain and Scandinavia. WIthout Ellis Island America’s population would be about as half as big as it is, since forty percent of americans can trace their ancestors from Ellis Island.

Because of New York city’s trade ties to the south, there were numerous southern sympathizers early in the American Civil War. They were very far away from any of the civil war battles but New York sent the most men and money in the battles. New York helped make the Industrial age and as a consequence had some of the first Labor Unions. New York started to become the main point of entry for European immigrants to the US, it started with a wave of Irish during the Great Famine, millions came through Castle Clinton and Battery Park before Ellis Island opened in 1892 to welcome millions more, increasingly from eastern and southern Europe. The Statue of Liberty opened in 1886 and became a symbol of hope. New York boomed during the roaring twenties before the crash of the and Skyscrapers showed the energy of New York, it was the site of the tallest buildings in the world from 1912 through 1974. The build up of Defense industries for WW2 turned around the economy for New York or really the Country from the Great Depression, while hundreds of thousands of people worked to defeat the Axis

Ellis Island was 'the door to America' which was opened on January 1st, 1892. Immigrants came here from their countries to stay in ours. It was a major immigration station for the United States from 1892 to 1943. It has been part of the Statue of Liberty since 1965. Between 1880 and 1900 9 million immigrants arrived in America, which was the largest number of arrivals in a 20 year period. The immigrants mostly stayed in the New England areas, such as New York and Massachusetts. This alarmed older Americans, because they feared that the country and system would fail because of the new 'impurities' in the land. In other words the shift in nationalities. The first immigrants to come to Ellis Island were from Ireland, Germany,

Ellis Island was an immigration station that was used during the years of 1892-1954 which is approximately 62 years. Throughout those 62 years more than 12 million immigrants entered through Ellis Island. Immigrants came from places like Central, Eastern, and Southern Europe In Europe there were… amount of people etc. Many immigrants from different countries went through Ellis Island to find a new life to live in the U.S. At Ellis Island there were a bunch of workers that all performed tasks to help the immigrants get into the country safely.

For instance, 20,000 Puritans from England immigrated between 1629 and 1640 in what is called the Great Migration and settled mostly in New England, but later moved to New York and the upper Midwest. New York and New Jersey were once called the New Netherlands because New York and New Jersey 8,000 Dutchmen settled there between 1609 and 1664. The last important colonial immigration was of 250,000 Scotch-Irish from Ulster between 1710 and 1775 who settled mostly in western Pennsylvania, Appalachia, and the western frontier. [3]

The 1890s to the 1920s was the first time that the federal government was taking a real stand and control over immigration policies. It also saw the two greatest waves of immigration in the country’s history. War, poverty, political turmoil, social upheaval, food shortages, lack of available jobs and more prompted people from foreign countries to move to the United States because it was the land of dreams and prosperity. After the depression of the 1890s immigration jumped from 3.5 million to 9 million in a ten year period. By 1900, New York City had as many Irish residents as Dublin and more Italians than any city outside Rome and more Poles than any city except Warsaw. It had more Jews than any other city in the world, as well as large amount of Slavs, Lithuanians, Chinese, and Scandinavians (Collier). The government began to limit these new immigrants. From 1882 until 1943 most Chinese immigrants were barred from entering the United States under the Chinese Exclusion Act, the nation’s first law to ban immigration by race or nationality. In 1892, Ellis Island was opened in New York evaluate immigrants before allowing them to enter the United States. On the West Coast, Angel Island, a similar immigrant station opened near San Francisco. World economies slowed and other problems occurred that caused people to become desperate for work and a fresh start.

In the late 1800s , America became the land of new opportunities and new beginnings and New York City became the first landmark for immigrants. New York City was home to Ellis Island, the area in which migrants were to be handed for freedom to enter the nation. Living in New York City gave work and availability to ports. In time the city gave the chance to outsider's to construct groups with individuals from their nation , they were classified as new and old settlers. Old outsiders included Germans, Irish and, English. The new outsiders incorporated those from Italy, Russia, Poland and Austria-Hungary. In 1875, the New York City populace was a little 1 million individuals contrasted with the 3,5 million it held when the new century

Prior to 1882, there were not any formal acts that controlled immigration. The Act of 1875 merely prohibited the importation of women for purposes of prostitution and the immigration of aliens "who are undergoing conviction in their own country for felonious crimes, other than political..." The Act of 1882 levied a head tax of fifty cents "for every passenger not a citizen of the United States," and forbade the landing of convicts, lunatics, idiots, or of "any person unable to take care of himself or herself without becoming a public charge."

After World War One, Europe and Asia were in chaos. Many European people were without a home, a job and way of life. Desperate, hundreds of thousands immigrated to more stable and industrialized nations such as the United States of America. From 1915 to 1919, an average of over two-hundred thirty-four thousand immigrants per year came to the United States of America (Cohn 2). A large number of these immigrants came from Europe and were processed at Ellis Island in New York City. Forty percent of all Americans can trace their heritage to Ellis Island (United States Department of the Interior). Ellis Island was so overcrowded with people, the government hurriedly built dormitories, kitchens, and hospitals (United States Department of the Interior). When these people came, they arrived in over-crowded boats from unclean places. Due to widespread disease in the boats, there were many burials at sea. One of these burials quite ironically, was my great-uncle who was four-years-old. Upon arrival, from Italy, my great-aunt was buried. When the immigrants arrived, government

In 1800 Thomas Jefferson was elected president. With the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, Jefferson had the vision of the United States growing from sea to sea. However, it was unknown what was out there. Jefferson planned an exploratory expedition and called upon Meriwether Lewis to lead it. Jefferson was very interested in what was in the west lands. Much was involved in the carrying out of this expedition; the preparations for this trip, what happened during their long journey west, and the return home. This expedition was very important in the development of the United States.

New York City is the largest and one of the oldest cities in the United States, having been 'rediscovered' by Henry Hudson in 1609 while working for the Dutch East Indies Company. New Amsterdam, as it was then known, was settled in 1614 by Dutch fur traders and became the most important port in America. (Reed, 2011) The two rivers flowing on each side of Manhattan grant easy access to the ocean, and Henry Hudson remarked that the harbor was the best natural harbor he had ever seen in the world. For hundreds of years the city has been at the epicenter of world trade, and immigration to the new world. Millions of immigrants have filled the streets of New York, from Europe, Africa, South America, Asia, and elsewhere.

Have you ever wondered how immigration was in the late days? Will I am gonna tell you a little bit about it. In the period of 1882 immigration into the United States was not a big deal. Millions of immigrants fled to the United States hoping for a new life and to try to get away from plagues. There was never a fault with immigration in America or any other country. The general Immigration Act of 1882 taxed a total of 50 cents on each immigrants and people with problems or criminals likely to become independent. America was ok with Immigration till the 1870s when everything started to change also called the Colonial era. During the Colonial era Lots of Europeans and Africans fled to the world. They paid to be taken on ships with their families. Some people didn't make it they would get lost from falling overboard and drowning or die from diseases on the boats. They ran out of food to eat on the long way to America. When they got . there