The Context of Immigration in the 19th Century

Short Essay: The Context of Immigration in the 19th Century
Introduction
Immigration is a phenomenon which is thoroughly shaped and triggered by several factors that
should be classified under two broad headings, viz. the push factors and the pull factors. Migration of
people from homeland to the foreign land depends largely on several push factors. Push factors constitute
factors like conflict, natural calamities like drought, famine, and/or extreme religious fanaticism that
eventually get transformed into oppressive measures. It must also be noted that poor economic conditions
including stunted economic growth can also act as a push factor instigating immigration. Moreover, there
are some indigenous factors that eventually force a particular population to immigrate from the
motherland/homeland to the foreign land. Such factors often include factors like racial discrimination,
cultural discrimination, political oppressions and intolerance, religious intolerance and persecution of
people who oppose the status quo in a particular country. Then there are the pull factors that originate in
the destination country attracting the individual or group to eventually leave the homeland. The pull
factors constitute the phenomenon called place utility that denotes the desirability of a certain place or
region that specifically attract the migrants. Factors like better economic scopes and opportunities,
prevalent of a strong employment-oriented economy, better job market, and the opportunity to have a
quality life – all are factors that can be considered as the pull factors. Geographical conditions also
sometime act as pull factors for the migrants. Moreover, certain specific ideologies also guide individuals
to bend their minds towards embracing the decision of relocating to foreign lands in search of a better
future – both social and professional. It should be noted that while studying and assessing the motivations
of the migrants of the 19th century Charlotte Erickson did note that published migrant letters should not be
considered as the solely reliable firsthand documentation for understanding the reasons of immigration. In
this regard Erickson did suggest that it is essential to study other documents to reach the conclusion in
this regard. Considering the suggestion of Erickson and taking into consideration the need of analysing
different primary and secondary sources in order to learn the real reasons of immigration in the 19th
century, this paper is going to concentrate on such specific analysis.
Body
While analysing some specific secondary sources of knowledge about the reasons of immigration
in the 19th century importance should be given on Erickson’s (1994) and Baines’ (1991) works. In the
work “Leaving England: Essays on British Emigration in the Nineteenth Century,” Erickson (1994) has
indicated towards the validity of the push and pull theory in terms of explaining and interpreting the
motives and reasons behind immigration in the 19th century.1 In her work Erickson has thrown light to the
socio-political changes that occurred in England triggering emigration from the country to the United
States and to North American countries. In doing so, Erickson did rely on the analysis and interpretation
of different primary sources including letters and other forms of primary documents. It should be noted
that while interpreting and analysing the passenger lists of ships that arrived in the U.S. ports, Erickson
did succeed to eventually reconstruct the changing social and demographic profile of those English
immigrants and she also rendered efforts to compare them with individuals and groups that emigrated
from other parts of the British isles and from different parts of Europe.2 Quite interestingly in the
testimony of Francis Spaight that has been used by Erickson in her research work some basic socio-
economic reasons supporting the push factor have been conveyed. How the potato famine in Ireland
eventually exposed the country’s economic weaknesses and how it weakened the social structure of the
country compelling many Irish people to emigrate to the United States and to certain countries of North
1 Charlotte Erickson, 'Introduction' in Charlotte Erickson, Leaving England: Essays on British Emigration in the
Nineteenth Century, (Ithaca, Cornell University Press, 1994).
2 Ibid