The document summarizes the tensions between immigrant and native groups in the United States during the 1840s-1850s. Nativist groups feared losing jobs and influence to the large numbers of Catholic immigrants arriving from Ireland and Germany. This led to the formation of the anti-immigrant Know-Nothing Party which aimed to restrict immigration and deport immigrants. Violence increased as nativist mobs attacked Catholic churches while immigrants fought back. Ultimately, immigration made American culture more diverse and helped fuel economic growth during the Industrial Revolution.

1. Immigration and Nativism By Skyler Klopfenstein APUSH Hour: 5

2. The Sides Nativists “ Native” to America (They were whites, not Native Americans) Feared loosing their jobs to the immigrants; didn’t like Catholicism Immigrants Mostly Irish or German Many were Catholic Were looking for job and property opportunities in America

3. A Developing Problem for the “Natives” In the 1840s and 1850s, the American “nativists” began to fear that the foreigners would outbreed, outvote, and overwhelm them. The “natives” feared the notion of immigrants taking their jobs and also feared them for their Catholic beliefs.

4. The Know-Nothing Party In 1849 the Know-Nothing party (formerly the Order of the Star-Spangled Banner) was founded by the more radical nativists. Its goal was placing more rigid restrictions on immigration and naturalization and adding laws that allowed for deportation.

5. Attacks on the Immigrants “Awful Disclosures” by Maria Monk was one of many fictitious books charging immigrants and aliens with heinous crimes. Violence was evident; in 1834 near Boston, mobs attacked Catholic facilities, and in 1844 in Philadelphia, fierce fighting occurred in both directions.

7. In Conclusion… In the long run, the immigrants were making America more pluralistic; the culture classes were rather small in comparison to what could have happened. The American economy is credited by the book to have attracted the immigrants in the first place and then ensuring that they could claim their share of it without jeopardizing others. Immigrants also fueled economic growth and ensured that America would keep up with the Industrial Revolution.