18 - -
THE GOLDEN DOOR
711 .. '",v'-;/i".e'?frh .. 5/ ,,/.... 4 Libe7ry.
Ona smallislan dinNewYor k harb o rstandsJg iJ Ilt
s ta t ueofa robedwoman .Shelooksom[0sea.h er
rightar mholding ator chhig h intheai r. She is the
Statueo f Liberty. oneofthe bes t- k no wnlandmarks
1Ilth eworld.The StatueofLibcr tywaspresented to
th e U nitedStatesin 1 HH6.ItwasglVt'llbyth epeop le
ofFrance to mar kt hehu nd r ed thann iv e rsa ryofth e
War of Independence.
Fo rm illions of immi gr an tstheStatu e of Libcrrvhas
been their firs tsightofAmerica.C ar vedo n irs base
arcwordsth atfo rmoreth ana hund redyearsno w
haveofferedth emh o pe:
G iveme you rtired.yourpoor,
Yo u rhuddledmassesycarrnngto b reath efree
T h e wretc he drefuseofyomteeming sho re
Sendth ese,th e hom elesstem p est-to ssedtome ,
I liftmylampbesideth e go ldendoor.
76The sto ryofth eAmericanpeople is asto ryo f
immigrants.M o r e th an 75 prrcemofall thepeo p le ill
histo rywhoh aveever left thei r homelands to live in
anothercoun tryhavemo ved to theUnitedStates.In
th ecourseo f its history it hasta kenIII1II0rt'people
fromotherlandsthan an y o ther cOllmr y illth e
world. Sinerth e found ingofjamestownin1(,(J7
morethanfift ym illio npeople fro motherlandshave
m adenewho m esthere.
Be t w ee n 1840 and1&.l(Jmoreimmigrantstha never
beforear rived.Mostcam efromE u ro pe.Poorcrops,
h u ngerandpolitical unres tcausedanestimatedfive
m illio n Eu ropeansa year toleaveth elandsoftheir
birt hat this time,M o reo f themwenttotheU n ited
Statesth antoany o thercountr y.
Amon gtheseimmig rant swerem any Iri shpeople.
TheIri shdepe nd edfo r fo od upontheircropsof
p cr arocs.Forfive years after 1845 th ese became
diseasedandrotted in the fields. About 750,000 Irish
peo ple sta rvedtod eath .M an y of the survivorsle ft
Irelan dandwentto rhcUnitedStares. In 1847alone
mo re thanllKOOOofthemimmigratedth e r e .By
1 &-,()onein eYeryfourofthepeople living intheciry
o fNewYorkh ad beenborninIreland.Todaymore
than th irt eenm illion AmericanshaveIrishancestors.
D ur in gtheCivilWarInth e 1&lOsthe federal
gove rn me ntenco u rag edmoreemigrationfrom
Europe.It did[his byofferingland toimnugrnnts
w how o uldserveassold iers in the U nionarm ies. 13 y
l R65aboutoneinfiveofthe so l d ie rs in the ar m iesof
the No rt h wasa w ar tim eimmig rant.Man yhad
come fro mG er m any,T od ayaboutoiicin threeofall
A merican shan' G erma nances to rs.
Irelan disInth e westofEurope.German yis ill the
no rth.Umilabout 1880 mostimmigran tstothe
UnitedStatescamefromtheseregions.Thena big
changeto o kplace .More crmg rantsfromlands1Il[he
southand castofEu ro pebegantoarrivc-clralians.
Pol es,G reek s.Russian s.H un g ar ian s, Czechs. B y
1896 mo rt' thanhalfofall rhc im migrantsentering
th e U nitedStatesw erefromeaste rno r southern
E ur o pe.