Chapter 13

1840 was a decade that the United States grew by several million immigrants. Not only did the US increase in population but geographically. For example, the US expanded into California, México, Texas and Oregon. The reasons in coming to the US were to improve economic conditions and for some they came for political and or religious reasons. What surprised me is the amount of Irish immigrants coming to the US. The increase of Irish immigrants happened after the great potato famine. They provided a source of labor (which was useful and helpful) for building canals and railroads. (Which at the time connected the nation cities) however they had to basically compete with the blacks for labor jobs. Both the poor freed blacks and Irish immigrants were at the bottom of society. Another popular issue was Nativism which states a policy of favoring native inhabitants as opposed to immigrants.

Both the Irish and German identified with the Democratic Party because it introduced them to national issues and basically convinced immigrants that national expansion was good and in their interest. The Irish were on the bottom of the pyramid and so they would not go against higher authority. (or a superior group) A big name in this era was David Wilmot. He aimed to ban slavery in any territory gained by Mexico. This surprised me because for the pass chapters we only were reading about the increase of slavery, the mistreatment of blacks or minority people. So reading about Wilmot was a positive light to this dark side era. Of course many people argued against him because they wanted to bring their slaves into México. They believed since slaves (were their property) they could be carried into whatever territory they please to take them.  Although many northerners believed the issue of slavery couldnt be resolved because some opposed slavery on moral grounds. ( about time I read about people listening to their morals and knowing bad from good) Also the Gold Rush was very important in this era. The Gold Rush basically brought diversity into California because people from all over traveled to California for the gold. Hence rational and ethnic backgrounds increased because people experienced different cultures and backgrounds. And it is safe to say this is when the "melting pot" started to cook!