Patricia Muench

Prof. Saddler

11/14/08

German Migration Discovery #3 for NCLC 130

            Whether it was Hamburg, Prussia, or the many other cities that migrants came from in Germany, the migrants all had one goal in common. The United States of America was the land of opportunity for the Germans, and any German would do anything to travel to this land. German migration to America began around the seventeenth century. Jamestown was the first main town for the Germans in America. Reasons for migration differentiated from the seventeenth to the twentieth century from religious persecution, to better job opportunities and war. Many Germans not only traveled to America, but they made up more than a quarter of all emigrants each decade for a straight of fifty years.

            There were three very important aspects of German migration which were communication, where in Germany the immigrants came from, and why the immigrants left Germany. At the start of German immigration in the seventeenth century, the only form of communication was letters and newspapers. In America, the Germans used mostly newspapers to communicate with one another.

    An example of this can be seen in Figure 1, which shows us a translated version into German of the Declaration of Independence. This was extremely important for the Germans because this helped many people understand why July 4^th, 1776 was so important. Copies of a translation, similar to the copy in Figure 1, would be sent out to as many German-speaking people in the United States of America as possible. Germans were the first thttp://chnm.gmu.edu/declaration/adams2.htmlo spread the news about the news about the signing of the Declaration of Independence (Immigration-Building a New Nation). To communicate with family and friends from back home, they would communicate by letters. Areas that the German immigrants were originally from were mostly the Northeast section and the Southwest section of Germany. These areas included cities like Pomerania, East Prussia, West Prussia, Hesse, Bavaria, and many more. “Chain migrations” were caused by these letters, which brought many people into America in the early nineteenth century peak of migration (Immigration-A New Surge for Growth). A main reason why Germans would come to America was for the many opportunities for work and better living. Germans would normally come to the United States of America to try living here first, and continue on by going back to Germany to pick up family (ProQuest). Also, the drastic increase in birth rates from 45 million in 1880 to 56 million in 1900 caused many people to want to leave Germany (JStor). Another reason was because there was just recently a failed German Revolution in 1848, and that caused many people to want to leave. Communication was the key for Germans to understand what was going on. The many reasons for German migration to America caused over five million people to migrate in the nineteenth century (Immigration-A New Surge for Growth).

            Another part of German migration was the experience the immigrants had once they came to America. During the nineteenth century, there were two major waves of German migration. Of those two waves, the peaks of German immigrants hit over 200,000 people. This would mean that my ancestors were a part of the second wave of the nineteenth century lasting until fifty-five years after the year 1860 (JSTOR 354).  Ref. Figure 2.

Another part of the immigration statistics was that for five decades straight (1840-1889), Germans made up more than a quarter of the total number of immigrants coming to America (New World 95). According to my family ancestry, ancestors came over in the late nineteenth century into the New York Port. At the middle of the century, the official port of New York was called Castle Garden. It was not going to be until 1892 that the infamous Ellis Island was to be opened. For many people, the journey was alright, but it was also a little cold during the trip too (Ellis Island).

As seen in Figure 3, people were wrapped in blankets from the weather being so cold. Although immigrants were fed, there were not enough resources to keep everyone warm. People just used each other’s body heat and blankets to keep warm. Typically, the immigrants from Germany would leave from the port in Hamburg, Germany. However, there was also a port in Bremen, Germany. Many of the people that came over were from Prussia (ISTG). Once they arrived in America, many would migrate to Pennsylvania and New York (Immigration-The Call of Tolerance). The last aspect of German migration was the variety of job opportunities America had to offer. Many of the workers had the skills to be a farmer or an industrial worker. Besides these two jobs, there were also jobs like bakers, cigarmakers, shoemakers, and carpenters. For the women and the children, their job was considered to be just that, women and children (ISTG-SS Rugia 1984). Overall, Germans in America were becoming very prosperous people.

            Germans had many reasons to migrate to America. The Germans eventually found the right jobs and the right towns, which is exactly what they came here for. As a result, they did eventually escape what they left behind in Germany, whether it was because of the failed German Revolution in 1848, or the major rising of births within the last twenty years of the nineteenth century. Overall, Germans became very successful people in America, which shows that they made the right choice to come here.

Bibliography

Adams, Willi Paul. Declaration. 8 January 2002. 15 November 2008             <http://chnm.gmu.edu/declaration/adams2.html>.

            This was a credible source because it was from a George Mason University website. This provided the newspaper article to show what a German newspaper looked like. It described a translated into German version of the Declaration of Independence.

Bade, Klaus J. "German Emigration to the United States and Continental Immigration to Germany in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries." JStor (Central European          History, Vol. 13, No. 4 (Dec., 1980), pp. 348-377 ): pp. 348-377

            This article talks about German migration. The article also gives you many statistics about German migration. It had a lot of visuals and facts that gave a well-rounded description fo German migration. It also came from a George Mason University Library database, which makes it a credible source.

Blazek, Lynn. Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild. 25 November 2004. 15 November 2008 <http://immigrantships.net/v7/1800v7/rugia18840515_01.html>.

            This source provides the names of each immigrant on each ship that left for America in the 19^th century. It provides each immigrants name, family members' names, occupations, hometown name, and number of luggage for each person. With the information it provided, it proved that there was a large percentage of German immigration. It is a credible source because it looks like a professional site, and it provided all of the copyright information in very fine detail. 

"Editorial Article 1 -- No Title. " The Washington Post (1877-1954)  [Washington, D.C.] 26              Mar. 1882,2. ProQuest Historical Newspapers The Washington Post (1877 -           1992). ProQuest.  George Mason University Library, Fairfax, VA 14 Nov.       2008 http://www.proquest.com/

            The article is from a George Mason University Library database, which shows that it is a credible source. It is a newspaper article from 1882, which also makes it a primary source. It mentions a couple of points about German immigration, and why the immigrants came over to America.

 "Ellis Island Photo Album." 2000. The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Inc. . 15           November 2008 <http://www.ellisisland.org/photoalbums/ellis_island_album107.asp>.

            This photo provided a very descriptive visual of what immigrants went through when on the ship to America. It not only showed facial expressions, but physical descriptions as well. It is from the official Ellis Island website, which makes it a credible source.

Immigration. 28 March 2002. 15 November 2008             <http://lcweb2.loc.gov/learn/features/immig/alt/resources2.html>.

            This source is a governmental website that provides a large amount of information about immigration. It gives the history of German migration from the start of German migration. To help the reader fully understand immigration, it gives information about life in Germany before the immigrants migrated, and after they moved to America. As previously said, it is a governmental website, which makes it a credible source.

Luebke, Frederick C. Germans in the New World. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illiniois,     1990.

            This book was from the Fenwick Library at George Mason University. It provided many facts about migration from Germany and Brazil. It was very helpful because the book provided a few graphs with detailed information.

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