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History of Jewish
Immigration to America: Background History of Jews in
Europe
By the 10th century in the Middles Ages most of
Europe was under the rule of Christian monarchs who made
Christianity the religion of their lands. Jews were
tolerated to some extent due to their shared devotion to
the same God that the Christians worshiped. During this
time the Church forbade Christians from charging
interest to fellow Christians and the only source of
loans were from non-Christians such as Jews. The
Crusades, and the introduction of the banking services
of the Knights Templar, saw the rise of persecution and
the expulsion of Jews from European countries. Judaism
was practiced in private to avoid persecution. England
became totally intolerant towards Jews when, on July 18,
1290, King Edward I decreed the Edict of Expulsion,
driving out all Jews living in England. No Jews were
permanently allowed to live in England again until 1656.
Other European countries followed suit and Spain,
France, Germany, Austria and Italy also expelled Jews.
The refugees from Western Europe fled to mostly to
Poland and Lithuania, and from there moved across the
rest of Eastern Europe. Poland became home to the
largest and most significant Jewish community in the
world.
Jewish Immigration to
America: The First Settlers
The first explorers and settlers of the 'New
World' of America came from Spain and Portugal. A small
number of Jews took the opportunity to follow in their
wake when the Spanish Inquisition, that demanded
conversion to Catholicism, made living in those
countries an impossibility. However, the largest number
of the first Jewish migrants to America came from
Holland which was practically the only Jewish refuge in
Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries.
Jewish Immigration to
America: Jews in New Netherland
The tolerance of Holland towards Jews was
extended to her dominions in the New World. In 1614 the
first Dutch explorers claimed land which became known
as New Netherland (Nieuw-Nederlandt) that covered areas
of the Mid-Atlantic States which would become known as
New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Delaware, and
Connecticut. Amongst the influential stockholders of the
Dutch West India Company, founded in 1620, were a number
of Jews. In
1624, Dutch merchants, working with the Dutch West India
Company, traveled to America and established trading
posts and settlements on the west bank of the Hudson.
This first wave of Jewish immigration resulted in laying
the foundation of what developed into the great New York
Jewish community.
Jewish Immigration to
America: Jacob Barsimson
In 1653 the first municipal government for the
city of New Amsterdam was established in New Netherland, modeled
after the cities of Holland. The name of the first known
Jewish settler in New Amsterdam was Jacob Barsimson, who
arrived on July 8, 1654, in the ship called the "Pear
Tree". Jacob Barsimson was followed in September 1654 by
a party of 23 Jews who had taken passage in the ship
called the "Saint Catarina".
Jewish Immigration to
America: Asser Levy
Asser Levy was the name of the first Jew to own
land in what are now known as Albany and New York city.
Asser Levy became a prominent trader in Fort Orange,
present day Albany, and was also one of the first
licensed butchers in the colony. Levy became one of the
wealthiest inhabitants on Manhattan Island.
Jewish Immigration to
America: The 13 Colonies
The 'Great Migration' of English people to
America took place between 1620 and 1640 and led to the
establishment of the first 13 Colonies. The Dutch
surrendered New Netherlands to the English in 1664 and
it was renamed re-named as New York. The intolerance of
the Puritans made it impossible to establish any
other religious communities and Jews were among the
first settlers of Rhode Island, established in 1658 by
Roger Williams. In the 1700's Religious diversity
became a dominant part of religion, especially in the
Middle colonies of the Delaware Colony, the New Jersey
Colony and the Pennsylvania Colony. William Penn
established Pennsylvania in 1681 and a large number of
the early Pennsylvania colonists were German Jews. The
first known Jewish resident of Philadelphia was Jonas
Aaron, who was mentioned in an article entitled "A
Philadelphia Business Directory of 1703". By 1776 and
the American War of Independence, it is estimated that
2,000 Jews lived in America.
Jewish Immigration to
America: Polish Jews
It is estimated that about 75% of all Jews lived
in Poland by the middle of the 1700's. With the
weakening of the Commonwealth and growing religious
strife (due to the Protestant Reformation and Catholic
Counter-Reformation), Poland’s traditional tolerance
began to decline from the 17th century onward due to
Christian reformation movements following the partitions
of Poland in 1795 and the destruction of Poland as a
sovereign state. Polish Jews were subject to the laws of
the partitioning powers that included the anti-semitic
Russian Empire which led to a wave of Jewish Immigration
to America.
Jewish Immigration to
America: Jews in the Russian Empire, the violence of the
'Pogroms' and the Cholera Epidemic
Anti-Semitic riots broke out
in the Russian Empire and Jews were attacked and their property
destroyed. Many Jews died in 'pogroms', which were
violent riots aimed at the persecution and massacre
of Jews. During the 1800's and the early 1900's the Russian
Empire suffered from terrible cholera epidemics before
modern water and sewage treatment systems eliminated its
spread by contaminated water. The devastating famine in
1891-92 also hit the Russian Empire. Jewish Immigration
to America increased
with these events and also coincided with the
industrialization of America. From Russia alone Jewish
emigration rose from an annual average of 4,100 in the
decade 1871-80 to an annual average of 20,700 in the
decade 1881-90.
Jewish Immigration to
America in the 1800's:
US Immigration Laws
Jewish Immigration to America
was restricted by the 1882 Immigration Act
which made several categories of immigrants
ineligible for entry and imposed a
'head tax' of 50 cents on all immigrants landing
at American ports. The 1891 Immigration
Act regulated immigration further introducing the
inspection and deportation of immigrants and on January 1, 1892 Ellis
Island immigration center was opened.
By 1850 the United States had approximately 50,000
Jewish citizens. Between 1900 and 1924 more than 1.7
million Jewish immigrants arrived in the United States.
Jewish Immigration to
America in the 1800's and 1900's:
The
Panic of 1893
led to a four year economic depression in America with 20%
unemployment.
Strikes, demonstration and protests
flared and there was a massive
backlash against immigration and the US government
was forced to take additional action by passing
more
laws to restrict immigration. The
1907 Immigration Act, led to
the establishment of the
Dillingham
Commission whose highly discriminating report led to further stringent
immigration restrictions. Between 1901 and
1910 a total of 8,795,386 immigrants
arrived in the United States. By 1910, Eastern and
Southern Europeans including many Jewish migrants, made
up 70% of the immigrants entering the United States and
led to debates on "Old Immigrants" vs "New Immigrants".
Jewish Immigration to
America: The Dillingham Commission Report - "Old
Immigrants" vs "New Immigrants"
The 1911 Dillingham
Commission Report highlighted the differences between
"Old Immigrants" and "New Immigrants"
to America and their effect
of immigration on the cultural, social, economic, and moral welfare of
America. The Dillingham report had a damning effect on
Jewish Immigration to America as it favored the "old immigrants" who had come
from North Western areas of Europe and strongly opposed to the
"new immigrants" who came from South Eastern areas of
Europe, including the Russian Empire. The report on immigration stated
that the "New Immigrants" were inferior,
unskilled and uneducated workers who failed to integrate
with Americans. The report concluded that
immigration from countries in eastern
Europe posed a serious threat to American society and
should therefore be significantly reduced. Jewish Immigration to America
was further restricted by the Emergency Quota Act of
1921 and the Immigration Act of 1924. Jewish
Immigration to America was blighted by discrimination and prejudice.
Jewish Immigration to
America in the 1900's: World War 1 and the Russian
Revolution
Jewish Immigration to America
slowed during WW1. Russia was embroiled in the World War
and the situation was made worse by the Russian
Revolution during which skilled Jews, intellectuals and
business owners escaped the Bolsheviks and the
Communists and fled to safety of America.
Jewish Immigration to
America in the 1900's: The Holocaust
The Great Depression (1929 - 1939) hit America
and was followed by the outbreak of WW2
(1939 - 1945). Despite worsening conditions
for Jews in Europe, with the rise of Nazi Germany and
the Holocaust, the immigration quotas remained in place
until the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. The
Holocaust destroyed most of the European Jewish
community by 1945. The focal point of American Jewish
life is the State of Israel, which was established in
1948. By 2005 there were 5.3 million Americans
Jews.
Jewish Immigration to America
for kids
This article contains a
brief overview of Jewish Immigration to America from the first
Immigrants through the 1600's, 1700's, 1800's and 1900's. Important historical events have been
highlighted which had a significant impact on Jewish
Immigration to America. A helpful educational resource for kids on the
subject of Jewish Immigration to America.
Jewish Immigration to America for Kids, Schools and Homework
*** Interesting, brief, short, fun facts about Jewish Immigration to America for kids, teachers and schools
*** Brief Facts about Jewish Immigration to America - dates, numbers, law, history, reasons, impact and effect
*** Interesting facts about the history of Jewish Immigration to America and brief reasons for the changes in migration patterns
*** Jewish Immigration to America - important events in the history of America that impacted migrants from Russia
*** Fast, fun facts about Jewish Immigration to America and the first migrants in the 1800's and 1900's
*** Interesting, brief US Immigration History for kids and children, schools, homework projects on Jewish Immigration to America
*** Brief overview of Jewish Immigration to America for Kids, Teachers Schools and Homework - free, educational resource
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