Preface
In the 19th century, the industrialization process in the United States began, and in 1807, Robert Fulton (Robert Fulton) used the steam engine in navigation, ushering in the great era of transportation machinery power.
The rapid development of inland waterway transport promoted commercial prosperity and stimulated enthusiasm for the construction of canals, and then the construction of railways was in full swing and the transportation network was gradually improved, which facilitated the large-scale movement of people.
At this time, with the acceleration of urbanization, the demand for labor in the United States economic development is increasing.
On the other hand, the turbulent political situation in Europe, the ups and downs of economic development, especially the "potato disaster" that swept Europe in the 40s of the 19th century.
It has had a huge impact on Ireland, and the European people, mainly Irish, have poured into the United States like a torrent, meeting the needs of urban development, promoting the change of economic and industrial structure at a macro level, and promoting people's social life to change with each passing day.
However, while industrialization and urbanization have driven rapid economic development, they have also brought a series of problems.
For example, due to the continuous influx of rural population and immigrants, the urban population is growing too fast, and the speed of urban construction cannot keep up with the rapid increase in population, and the existing facilities cannot meet the demand.
The number of homeless and displaced children has multiplied, and a honeycomb of slums has emerged: fierce competition for jobs at the bottom, labor disputes, poor urban conditions, and prominent inter-ethnic conflicts, resulting in a series of social security problems. However, the government's role in law and order needs to be improved urgently.
People's tension and anxiety are everywhere. Some Native Americans alleviated their anxiety by blaming immigrants for these social problems, which, combined with the rejection of Catholic historical and cultural traditions, the exploitation of politicians, etc., led to a wave of xenophobia in the United States in the mid-19th century.
The initiation of industrialization and its relationship to urbanization
Although cities such as Philadelphia, Boston, and New York had already sprung up during the American colonial period, it was only in the mid-19th century that the urban population exploded.
Industrialization and urbanization go hand in hand. The rapid development of urbanization is inseparable from the promotion of industrialization, and the transformation from handicraft to factory production has played an important role in urbanization.
The Industrial Revolution in the United States (and parts of Western Europe) in the late 18th and early 19th centuries prompted the transformation of manufacturing from craft workshops to factory production in some industrial sectors.
Advances in the transportation industry have accelerated the commercialization of inexpensive products produced by factories and the expansion of markets.
The industrialization has also provided a large number of employment opportunities. Roads, canals, river steamboats, and railways reduce the cost of transporting goods and the cost of moving people.
Factories were concentrated in cities to reduce costs, and as a result, cities quickly became centers of opportunity, attracting countless Americans and European immigrants to leave farming and move to cities. The proportion of the population living in urban areas in the United States is increasing.
At the same time, industrialization and urbanization have brought with them a series of problems. The growing urbanization and industrialization of the United States disrupted the social order of the United States at that time.
Advances in mechanized production and transportation have lowered the price of agricultural products, forcing large numbers of farmers with small amounts of land to go bankrupt in the face of fierce competition and have to go to the cities in search of new livelihoods.
Large-scale machine production and the rapid development of the transportation industry made the circulation of goods more and more extensive, which hit the artisans, causing the less productive craftsmen to lose the market and enter the cities in search of markets, or become factory workers.
To increase their income, some workers need to work long hours in unsafe conditions. In addition, inequality is everywhere, and the gap between rich and poor is widening every year.
There are great differences in urban development, and the places where the railway does not pass seem to have been abandoned by the times. Class, racial, and religious differences, ethnic strife, and political corruption exacerbate local inequalities. Congestion, pollution, crime and disease also flood the city.
The rise of European migration flows and ethnic conflicts
European immigration to the United States increased dramatically after the War of 1812 and continued to grow in the decades that followed, but from the mid-thirties of the nineteenth century onwards, the immigrant population increased rapidly.
Between 1835 and 1844, the number of immigrants in the U.S. population and their share of the total U.S. population were about 700,000 and 3.6 percent, respectively: by 1845 and 1854, these numbers had swelled to about 2.9 million and 11 percent, respectively, more than four times the number of immigrants in the previous decade. As many as half of these immigrants are from Ireland.
In 1854, the number of immigrants exceeded 400,000. According to the statistics of the countries of origin, since 1835, immigrants to the United States have mainly come from Ireland and Germany, but the status, reasons for immigration, and specific places of origin of immigrants in different periods are different.
In the 20 years following the War of 1812, the Irish who immigrated to the United States tended to be small farmers and middle-class city dwellers, and were considered the "most enterprising, industrious, and kind-hearted people" among Irish Catholics, who usually mastered commercial or manual skills.
Many of these farmers bought farms when they arrived in the United States, and some worked in eastern coastal cities until they had enough money to buy farmland in the west.
Unlike Irish immigrants, Germans did not gather in port cities on the east coast of the United States.
On the whole, German immigrants were not as destitute as the Irish, and they had enough money to reach cities in the western United States such as Cincinnati and Milwaukee, or in the agricultural areas of the west, where most German immigrants worked in agriculture.
Although in the first half of the 19th century, the overall level of economic development in the United States was not as high as in Europe. However, in order to attract immigrants, state and local governments in the United States have not only formulated policies to encourage immigrants, but also vigorously publicized and advertised them in European countries.
Although the majority of Irish immigrants were Catholic, the official hostility towards Catholicism in the United States began to ease in the 19th century (some states removed exclusionary measures against Catholic immigrants, abolished Orthodox Christianity established during the colonial era, etc.).
In addition, due to the development of industrialization and the progress of maritime transportation, the decline in the cost of transportation required to immigrate to the United States also contributed to the emergence of large-scale immigration.
Faced with thousands of strange immigrants who have been brought to large by Europe's economic and political turmoil, "the contradictions and conflicts between Native Americans and Irish immigrants have also been exacerbated by factors such as environment, cultural customs, and labor opportunities." ”
All of this has prompted xenophobic Americans to oppose immigrants by thinking that immigration is harmful to traditional American culture and mainstream values.
In 19th-century America, many believed that Protestantism was the key to the development of the United States and the freedom of its people. And Roman Catholicism seems hostile to everything that native Americans hold dear.
The American people's loyalty to "liberal democracy" fueled their anti-Catholic fervor, as they believed that the complete control of the Catholic ruling class over its adherents deprived Catholics of the independence necessary for political participation.
As a result, some Protestant groups opposed Catholic immigrants, namely the Irish and Germans. This led to ethnic discord, which was exacerbated by the flood of immigrants that began in 1845.
Inter-ethnic relations are not only religious, but also political, economic.
And the roles of these aspects are linked. The more excluded they are, the more acutely migrants will realize that they can only protect themselves if they are united with the same group. So immigrants began voting for the Democrats, and the Democrats benefited.
As a result, they are more pro-immigration, and the political influence of immigrants grows day by day. This has heightened Native-born American concerns about the threat immigrants could pose to U.S. political security.
From the standpoint of a Native American, such fears are not unfounded.
Because Irish immigrants are warm, protect each other, and participate in radical politics, they tend to vote in a centralized manner, and they have an advantage in political elections, and their political influence cannot be ignored. "
Economically, newcomers to Ireland are willing to accept lower wages in order to survive. Many Native-born Americans, especially unskilled workers, lost their jobs as a result, and one writer at the time commented that "cheap and ignorant laborers will drive smart and honest competitors out of the market by accepting low wages."
So they ostracize new immigrants. It has also been suggested that these immigrants have contributed to rising crime and poverty rates in northern cities. All of this has stimulated the spread of xenophobia.
Party political development
American politics in the 1840s was shaped by the "second party system."
The second party system in the United States, consisting of the Whig Party and the Democratic Party, was formed in the 20s of the 19th century and ended in the 50s of the 19th century.
The political parties under the second political party system have the main characteristics of political parties in the modern sense, with strict party discipline, a clear political party program, and a complete organizational and mobilization mechanism, and ordinary members of political parties have also begun to play an important role.
In this party system, the Democrats and Whigs each represent different alliances and competing economic interests. The ideal of the Democratic Party is to establish a system of direct democracy composed of yeoman farmers.
They followed the advice of Jefferson and Jackson, and in the small towns, especially in the South, they grew stronger. In Massachusetts, their stronghold is located in the western agricultural region.
In his book: The Ignorant Party in Massachusetts: The Rise and Fall of the People's Movement, John Mulkern argues that the Democrats, while presenting themselves as champions of the common people, embraced businessmen as much as the Whigs.
In contrast, the Whigs were strongest in the eastern industrial cities, especially Boston. They have a firm grip on the legislature. Their leaders were factory owners, wealthy merchants.
They envisioned the common progress of all classes and the rapid development of society, and the Whigs believed that the rise of industry promoted progress and promoted social development. Both parties believe in laissez-faire policies.