Migration and Immigration – United States History

AP U.S. History Timeline/Study Guide (Created 7/2006 – Mr. Broach)

 

Colonial Period:

 

  • Jamestown Settlement (1600s) – business investors from the Virginia company (Anglicans)
  • Plymouth colony (1620) – Separatist Puritans (leader: William Bradford)
  • Great Migration of the 1630s – Massachusetts Bay Colony – 1,000 Non-Separatist Puritans (leader: John Winthrop)
  • ALSO STUDY: Spanish settlement in today’s Southwestern region (Pueblo revolt of 1680, et al.)
  • Middle Colonies Settlement:
    • Quakers, Mennonites (Germans), and other minority Protestant groups settle in William Penn’s Pennsylvania colony
    • Catholics gain refuge in Lord Baltimore’s Maryland colony (southern colony)
    • Dutch settle New Netherlands (religious diversity)
    • Scots-Irish move to the Middle colonies, move farther west than most groups and settle as far south as South Carolina, though mostly in the mountains
  • Development of African Slavery:
    • 1619 – 20 African slaves first introduced to Jamestown (although most likely served as indentured servants)
    • 1663 – Carolina Colony chartered (will be settled by planters from the sugar-rich Barbados colony who bring African slaves to do manual labor)
    • 1670s/1680s – less indentured servants came to America, and with Bacon’s Rebellion, African slaves became a better labor source for southern planters.  Also, the price of slaves dropped.
    • See Revolts/Rebellion timeline for African Slave Resistance
    • For a more detailed timeline on the “Introduction and Spread of Slavery, 1441-1807,” see pages 63-64 of The New York Public Library American History Desk Reference (I have a copy in the classroom).
  • French settlement: New France, movement into the interior (Ohio & Mississippi River valleys), New Orleans-1718
  • ALSO STUDY: Migration and displacement of Native Americans as a result of European settlement
  • To study immigration in the pre-Revolutionary period, ask which European groups wished to go to America?
  • Many German “Hessians” who fight against the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War settle in the new United States at the conclusion of the war.

 

United States History 1789 - Present               

 

For this information, the best timeline that I have comes from a fact sheet created for grading essay # 4 on the 2005 AP Exam.  I will make this document available to you soon.

 

Tips for Studying Immigration and Migration:

 

  • Native Americans – study their migration and displacement, and keep them in the overall context of immigration and migration
  • Immigrants don’t just come from Europe!  Look at Asian immigration, as evidenced by key events that we have studied (Chinese Exclusion Act, Gentlemen’s Agreement, etc.).  Also, review immigration from other parts of the world: Africa, the Middle East, etc.
  • Mexican/Latino Immigration: when did they begin to come in great numbers? Why? Political effects?  This should be evident given current events.
  • Reactions of Americans: don’t just assume that nativist groups were the only Americans reacting to immigration.  Also study the effects of immigration on big business, urban reformers, etc.
  • Do not isolate one group of immigrants or one American reaction to a specific time period.  All of these events are related, look for “change over time.”
  • Internal migration: which groups of Americans migrated to certain places (i.e. Mormons to Utah, Scots-Irish to the Appalachians, etc.)