Immigration & the Market Revolution

The Irish were weighed down by many woes in the nineteenth century, prime among them British dominion and the famine wrought by the potato rot. The weight buried many at home and squeezed others out to find freedom and food abroad. These Irish immigrants, who by 1860 composed the largest foreign-born group in America, faced perhaps the greatest prejudice. John Francis Maguire, looking back on decades of Irish migration, tried to explain why to both Irish and American readers in his book, The Irish in America. The German immigrants were almost as numerous as the Irish. But, unlike the Irish newcomers, the German arrivals included a large number of skilled craftsmen and well-educated professionals. Your responses should be based off the excerpt from the film and the Foner textbook. Please do not consult any other sources. Your response should address 3 of the numbered questions above. Like your last assignment, you will respond to any of the 3 questions in at least 500 words or in a display in digital form. For this assignment, please watch the excerpt from the film, “New York, 1825-1865: Order and Disorder (Links to an external site.)” (you will need to sign into your Mt. SAC library account to access the video clip that is about 12 minutes long). Also, be sure to read the Market Society section of chapter 9 in order to answer the following questions: