Mohamed El Houboub

Irish & Germans

By the mid 19th century the Irish and Germans were the two largest groups who immigrated to

America. The forces that pushed them to leave the old continent and attracted them to these shores were

different, however. Moreover, their conditions upon arrival were very distinct. Let us try to depict their

immigration history, starting with the reasons why they left Europe, then the motives of choosing this place as

a destination, and finally their situation once arrived.

The push factors:

The Irish:

In the 19th century, life conditions in Europe were improving with the advancement in medicine and

sanitation. The development of large-scale scientific farming and introduction of potato contributed to this

improvement by increasing the food supply. However, these exact factors and others will push to one of the

largest outflows of people from Ireland. The improvement in life conditions caused the population of Europe

to double. However, the advance in farming and manufacturing left many artisans and farmers with no jobs.

What triggered the period’s massive movement was the great famine of the late 1840’s caused by the potato

blight that ravaged potato corps throughout Europe, but particularly in Ireland where one third of the

population relied solely on potato for food.

The Germans:

Each group of Germans which settled in America has a different reason to leave the homeland. The

first Germans who settled in North America were a group of pietist and sectarians who were seeking refuge

from persecution, followed by hundreds of Dunkers, Schwenckfelders, and other German sectarians who had

desire to withdraw from the old world calamity and live peaceably according to their respective beliefs. The

majority of Germans however, were either Lutheran or members of the German reformed church; they came

to America essentially because of the economic pressure.

Religious and political oppression, and economic pressure were the main reasons that forced Irish and

Germans to immigrate, but we cannot ignore the appealing picture of America drawn by ship captains,

colonists, and relatives who came earlier.

The pull factors:

Both the Irish and German were attracted by similar factors. Both groups came looking for an

economic prosperity, religious, and political freedom.

In the 18th century the factor that brought Irish and Germans was the hope of receiving a free land. The

hope nourished by the Headright system implemented by the colonial authorities, which consisted of offering

free land to everyone willing to cross the Atlantic and help populate the vacant land. Another factor that lured

immigrants were the promotions of shipmasters to America, seeking profits derived from the emigrant trade.

Ship captains sent agents to markets and fairs in Europe to promote America. Moreover, the sympathy with

the French Revolution motivated the British radicals and the repressed in the united Irishmen movement to

leave the old continent. America was transformed to an asylum to the oppressed of Europe and the world. As
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George Washington stated: “the bosom of America is open to receive not only the opulent and respectable

stranger, but also the oppressed and persecuted of all nations and religions; whom we shall welcome to a

participation of all rights and privileges if, by decency and propriety of conduct, they appear to merit the

enjoyment.” (Jones page 67)

By the turn of the 19 th century, different factors evolved. The big growth of ocean transportation due

to the rise of transatlantic commerce and competition between the big ports was an important ingredient that

promoted the movements of the period. The increase of the popular knowledge of the United States,

especially through the letters written by immigrants to their relatives in Europe, called the American letters

was a very important factor that pulled more immigrants. Some settlers even purchased prepaid tickets to

bring relatives and friends.

The conditions upon arrival:

Although the Irish and Germans were attracted by quite similar factors, their conditions upon arrival

were completely different. Colonial immigration restrictions did not take nationality into consideration but

focused more on the religious affiliation, economic status, and “moral standing”.

The Irish:

Most of the Irish came as indentured servants. Because most of them could not pay for the ocean

passage, they were forced to work for a specific period of time for whoever can pay their fare. The period of

servitude varied between three and six years. As Gottlieb Mittelberger described: “they can negotiate with

them as to the length of the period for which they will go into service in order to pay off their passage, the
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whole amount of which they generally still owe…adult persons by written contract bind themselves serve for

three, four, five or six years, according to their health and age.” (Gjerde 36)

The Irish suffered the utmost discrimination because they were Catholics. As a preventive step, colonial

authorities imposed a discriminatory head taxes upon ships landing Roman Catholics. One of the best pictures

which describe the hatred toward Roman Catholics was the description by Thomas Whitney:”Romanism is the

open foe for progress. It stifles the energies of its subjects stultifies the intellect, and wraps the soul in a

mantle of superstitions, prostrating all self-respect in the individual…it is selfish, dishonest, double-dealing,

and cowardly.” Thomas Whitney accused Romans to be papists which opposes to Republicanism: “the child

born of papal parents is a papal subject at its birth, in whichever clime or country it is born…the pope is prince

of all nations…which stands, in its very nature, opposed to republicanism.” (Gjerde 144-146)

The Germans:

In contrast to the Irish, most of the Germans came to America as redemptioners. Unlike indenturers

Germans were bound by agreements to pay fixed sums on arrival in the colonies. The ones who could not pay

were obliged to become servants. The difference of language and customs from the English and Irish rose

suspicions that German settling together might result to a creation of a separate colony. In 1727, the colonial

authorities required from incoming Germans to take an oath of allegiance to the king and to fidelity to the

proprietors and provincials constitutions. The Germans also suffered from discrimination, as stated in Jones:

“But it was the Scottish-Irish and the Germans who in the eighteenth century succeeded the Huguenots as the

principal objects of nativist dislike.” (Jones 37) Also, in Jones: “the Assembly expressed concern lest

newcomers from Germany should settle “promiscuously among the Indians,” and a little later James Logan

complained that the Germans were as bas the Scottish-Irish for squatting upon proprietary lands.” (Jones 39)
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Even if both Irish and Germans survived different difficulties, both groups created and lived in big

communities especially in Pennsylvania. They were both poor, and by their comparatively late arrival were

forced to move west in the quest for land.

If we compare the Irish and Germans to other groups, we notice that their assimilation process was

comparatively slow. The French Protestants, called Huguenots, who first came in the last fifteen years of the

seventeenth century, were so well assimilated by the time of the revolution. Many of them had even their last

names Americanized. In contrast, Irish and Germans assimilation took longer because both came in large

number of families. They both settled in large numbers, usually, isolated from other ethnicities. So except for

the ones who lived in big cities where they were quickly assimilated, Irish and Germans conserved their

religion, customs, and agriculture methods for a long time.

African-Americans

The African-Americans history of immigration was unique. For this group, there were no push nor pull factors

and once brought here they had no control over their conditions.

The first black people, about 20, were brought by a Dutch man-of-war to Jamestown Virginia 1619. A

century later Olaudah Equiano, an African-American, described the conditions in which he was brought to

North America: “two men and a woman got over our walls, and seized us both, and they stopped our mouths,

and run off with us into the nearest wood…when I arrived on the coast was the sea, and a slave ship…waiting

for its cargo…Many merchants and planters now came on board…they put us in separate parcels, and

examined us attentively…We were all pent up together like so many sheep in a fold.” (Gjerde 31) The African
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slavery trade was a very fertile commerce and which nourished the colonies need for slaves between the 17 th

and the 19th century.

At the beginning, blacks did not differ from the white servants’. Only after 1660 did the black people

become chattel slaves, by Virginia slave legal code. By the turn of the 18 th century, we start to see a

concentration of blacks in the southern colonies, as nine out of ten black people lived in the South. Blacks

appeared to offer many advantages over white labor. They were committed to work for life, and their children

were slaves by nature. In the large southern plantation, they were more able to endure the harsh climatic

conditions than whites, and they were efficient when used in large groups. Therefore, black slaves were

considered a great asset of the southern prospering colonies.

The groups that came - or were brought - to these shores were far from been a homogeneous blend.

Each group lived in a different milieu before coming to North America. Many factors forced them to leave their

native territories and many more factors decided of their conditions once arrived. Moreover, every newcomer

had to deal with the discontent, tension, and abuse of the ones who came earlier.