Chapter Six Reading Questions (Parts I & II)

For Monday's class, please read Chapter Six just up to page 145 and prepare answers to the following questions:

• Why is Daniels ignoring the old notion of "old" and "new" immigrants, and what the heck is a shibboleth?
• What does he say is the most fundamental difference between immigrants in the colonial period and those after 1820, and what accounts for the change?
• Can you make sense of the tables 6.2, 6.3, and 6.4? What do they tell us about immigration from 1820-1924? (define "decennial")
• Why did the Irish leave Ireland? How many left?
• Why did so many go to New England and particularly Boston? How were they received there?
• What kinds of work did they find? Who did they compete with for the work?
• Why was their status higher in San Francisco?
• How did they transform the Catholic Church in America?
• What is singular about Irish immigrant demographics in the years following the famine?
• How did the Irish Americans adapt to and change American politics?
• What's with this cartoon?

For Wednesday's class, please read the rest of Chapter Six and prepare written answers to the following questions:

• How did the number of German immigrants compare to the number of Irish immigrants?
• What were the push and pull factors for German immigrants?
• What can you say about German American involvement in American politics?
• Contrast German settlement patterns and occupations to those of the Irish.
• Who was more likely to learn English and adopt American ways, German men or women? Why?
• What caused friction between German Americans and their neighbors? (list three things)
• What caused divisions among German Americans?
• How did German Jews impact the American Jewish community and what you wear?
• Did German Jews enter different occupations than other German immigrants?
• How did German Americans try to maintain their German culture in America? How did it work out?
• Why did Scandinavians immigrate to America?
• Why do we have so much data about Swedes and what does that data tell us about the intelligence of immigrants?
• Are ethnic enclaves a good or bad thing?
• What can you say about Danish migration and the Mormon Church?
• Why does Daniels say that the notion of an "Old Immigration" is bunk?

Chapter Five Reading Questions

Reminder: Your Document Analysis Paper is Due on Friday, 1/26

For Wednesday's class, please read chapter 5, and prepare written answers to the following questions:

• How do colonizing people come to see themselves?
• Describe the dominance of English culture and institutions.
• How did Christian missionaries deal with Indians?
• Define Anglo-conformity.
• Where was Indian slavery practiced?
• In what northern city was slavery well established, and what happened there in 1741?
• What colonial laws regulated black behavior?
• What produced an extreme cultural arrogance among English-descended colonists?
• Where and why do we find "the first major ethnic crisis in American history"?
• Why were the Quakers and Scotch-Irish in conflict?
• The Constitution shows that the founding fathers expect what of immigrants?
• What is the residence requirement for immigrants who want to naturalize? (Define "naturalize.") Why has it varied?
• What was the spirit of early American nationalism?

Check out this legal immigration flow chart.

Chapter Four Reading Questions & First Paper

For Monday, please read chapter 4, and prepare written answers to the following questions:

• What are some of the distinct settlement patterns of different ethnic groups in colonial America?
• Why did Germans leave Germany from the late 1600s to the late 1700s?
• Define "redemptioner," and describe the system and what brought it to an end.
• Why were German immigrants more successful farmers than the Scotch Irish and others?
• Who were the Scotch Irish and why and from where did they emigrate?
• What are myths of the Scotch Irish? (Can you give examples from popular culture?)
• What is notable about the Dutch and their North American colony?
• Who were the Acadians and the Huguenots, and how do their polar experiences illustrate acculturation and assimilation?
• Compare the histories of Spanish Mexicans in Texas, California, and New Mexico.
• Where did the first Jews in North America come from?

First Document Analysis Paper (due Friday, 1/26):
Read Benjamin Franklin's 1751 essay, "Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind," and write a three-page (approximately 1,000 word) reaction paper, being careful to cite supporting evidence from the essay and your readings.

All written assignments must be submitted via TurnItIn.com. If you have not used TurnItIn before, you will need to create an account before you can enroll in our class site.

Class ID #: 17110213
Class Enrollment Password: AEH18

Chapter Three Reading Questions

For Friday's class please read Chapter Three and prepare answers to the following questions:

• For every European who came to the New World, how many Africans came?
• How did the slave trade contribute to the development of capitalism?
• If slavery existed primarily in the southern colonies and states, how did the northern colonies and states profit from it?
• At the end of the colonial period, how many Americans were immigrants from Africa or their descendants? How many Americans today are their descendants?
• What are the limits on our understanding of the African immigrant experience in America?
• What is the Myth of the Negro Past? What is the reality?
• What evidence is there for African cultural transfers in the New World? What's Gullah?
• How many slaves were brought to the New World, and what percentage came to what is now the United States?
• Why were there differences in the treatment of slaves throughout the Americas?
• How is that 50,000 slaves were the first illegal immigrants?

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Chapter Two Reading Questions

For Wednesday's class, please read Chapter Two and prepare answers to the following questions:

• In the colonial period (1607-1787), how many came to America and how many of those were free?
• What does the first census of 1790 tell us about colonial immigrants?
• Who went to Virginia and why? How did they do there?
• What role did indentured service play? What are two reasons it was replaced by African slavery?
• Who established the Maryland colony?
• How and why was the immigration and settlement pattern of New England so different from that of Virginia and Maryland?
• Who were Miles Standish and John Winthrop?
• What was the role of Puritans in the "Great Migration" of the 1630s?
• What documents and arrangements were required to immigrate to America from England, and what was the cost and duration of the journey?
• How did English colonial migration set the character of what would become the United States?