In class we’ll examine the rise of immigration, especially German and Irish, in the early to mid 19th century, as well as the rise of the labor union movement and some aspects of urban life in growing American cities.

For today’s blog comment:

Examine documents linked below. Comment on what you think were the main arguments of nativist doctrine (the idea that immigrants were inferior to native-born Americans) in the first two documents below and the ways in which nativists depicted Irish immigrants in the three cartoons that follow.

Know-Nothing Platform 1856: http://www.yale.edu/glc/archive/974.htm
Nativist Reaction: http://www.hsp.org/files/anticatholicpress.pdf
“The Day We Celebrate” Cartoon: http://www.haverford.edu/engl/faculty/Sherman/Irish/stpat’s.jpg
Harper’s “Black and White” Cartoon: http://chnm.gmu.edu/courses/omalley/120/alien/harpers.jpg
“Uncle Sam’s Lodging-House” Cartoon: http://www.hsp.org/files/unclesamslodginghousecover2.jpg