Why did the Jewish immigrants come to America?

Answer 1

Throughout the 1800s, most of the world's Jews lived in Eastern Europe. Although their rights were not the same as those in Western Europe there were signs of improvement in the middle of the century. This optimism halted abruptly in 1881 when violent pogroms erupted after the assassination of Tsar Alexander II of Russia. Early the next year Jews were again permitted to emigrate, which they did in large numbers. Between 1881 and 1914, over 2 million Eastern European Jews settled in the US and approx. 50,000 settled in Canada. For them and the other immigrants America and Canada were true havens, free of the persecution and most of the poverty they had known in Europe and offering great economic and educational opportunities.

A far larger wave of immigration to the US was also taking place at that time, as 26 million Eastern and southern European immigrants, including the 2 million Jews, flocked to American shores. In America it was an era of vast changes; and American life was altered by the new and varied immigrant population, the closing of the frontier, the growth of industry and cities, the rise of the labor movement and the spread of Socialism. The immigrants formed the backbone of American industry and made the US a richer, more diverse society than it had ever been. Social change, however, also created tensions, fear and opposition to immigration.

Jewish immigrants lived and worked in crowded city areas like New York City's Lower East Side. They played their part in the transformation of American society, and, in turn, were transformed by it. Still, America was not perfect. The Declaration of Independence's promise of the inalienable right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" was as yet incomplete. American Jews, drawing on both their ancient Prophetic heritage and their new, democratic one, would play a prominent role in the effort to realize the American ideals of freedom and justice.

EXTRA HISTORY ON JEWISH MIGRATION: In addition to the Jews who came to the US, some settled in Montreal and Toronto in Canada. British Columbia, Canada, was not a major lure for Jewish immigrants. The City of Vancouver was incorporated in 1886. Not surprisingly, those Jewish immigrants who did settle in British Columbia were attracted to this rapidly expanding port. Within 5 years (1891) the population of Vancouver exceeded that of Victoria, as did its Jewish population. Besides those who settled in B.C., the more adventurous chose small towns such as Nanaimo, Prince Rupert or Prince George; and Rossland, Trail and Nelson in the Kootenays.

Answer:For the same reasons why everyone else would migrate to the USA. In the Nazi period they were fleeing from persecution.

Answer 2

For exactly the same reasons that the Irish, the Germans, the Norwegians, the Polish, the Chinese, the Vietnamese, the Somalians, and the Latin Americans etc came.

There was poverty and social hierarchy making it difficult for poor people to improve their situation, and land was not enough for farmers in some places of Europe. Famine created strong waves of emigration in some countries.

Others experienced persecution, especially because of their faith.

US was supposed to be the place where it doesn't matter who

you are, where you come from, or what you believe in, you can get ahead if

you're willing to work hard. It says so in the Constitution, as the union founding fathers had experienced the same themselves, they put it into writing.

Jews had been persecuted in many countries in Europe since many centuries. Many had tried to assimilate, even getting European names and being batised in Church, but anti-semitism grew in many countries, resulting in pogroms and officially racist parties, e.g. in France, Germany and Hungary. Some loud Germans blamed the country's problems in the 1920s on Jews, and with the Nazi government, the Nürnberg laws made life difficult for Jews. Thus many Jews preferred to emigrate, and USA was an obvious alternative as Israel didn't exist as a free country. However, the resistance against racial heterogeneity increased and the Ku Klux Klan gathered more than 4 million members in the 1920s, and many Us citizens liked European racist policies

Modern Immigration is often by: educated people wanting to get a much better life legally in the US than in their country of origin, or uneducated people that have little to live for at home and want to take risks to enter the US illegally hoping for success.

Answer 3

A small number of Jewish immigrants in the 1700s and early 1800s came here for the opportunity to better themselves and live a life with more opportunity. Living in America, these immigrants were able to enter occupations that were previously forbidden to them (for example, some countries only allowed Christians to attend the university, limiting what professions Jews were able to train for; and in other countries, no matter what their education, Jews were restricted to such hated occupations as money-lending).

But by the late 1800s and early 1900s, the majority of Jewish immigrants (especially from countries like Russia) came here to escape persecution; conditions for Jews in Europe had worsened, and America was seen by Jewish immigrants as the "goldena medina"-- the golden land, where people had freedom of religion and anyone who worked hard had a chance to succeed.

Answer 4

In order to avoid religious persecutions, millions of Jewish immigrants arrived along with the third wave of immigrants (between 1881 and 1920). More Jewish immigrants arrived later.

Answer 5

Many Jews were in danger in other countries due to many forms of Anti-Semitism (pogroms, the Holocaust, and others). Due to this, they found ways to reach the USA.

Answer 6

The primary reason that Jews immigrated to the United States in the 1800s was for religious freedom and the secondary reason was for economic freedom.

Answer 7

To escape persecution