United States History Student Edition

H

Complete Your Inquiry EVALUATE SOURCES AND USE EVIDENCE Refer back to the Compelling Question and the Supporting Questions you developed at the beginning of the lesson. 1. Comparing Identify two sources that expressed concern about the working conditions that workers experienced in textile mills and other factories. What reasons did each source provide for this point of view? 2. Analyzing Points of View Which sources offer a positive view of immigration in the mid-1800s? Which sources offer a negative view? Compare and contrast the views presented in the excerpts. 3. Gathering Sources Which sources helped you answer the Supporting Questions and the Compelling Question? Which sources, if any, challenged what you thought you knew when you first created your Supporting Questions? What information do you still need in order to answer your questions? What other viewpoints would you like to investigate? Where would you find that information? 4. Evaluating Sources Identify the sources that helped answer your Supporting Questions. How reliable is each source? How would you verify the reliability of each source? COMMUNICATE CONCLUSIONS 5. Collaborating Work with a partner to determine how these sources represent the issues and concerns of the country related to immigration, work, and the American experience during the mid-1800s. Use the graphic organizer that you created at the beginning of the lesson to help you. TAKE INFORMED ACTION Creating a Presentation on Working Conditions Today Work in small groups to create a presentation that describes a positive or negative element of working in the United States today. You should focus on a single issue or element related to this topic, such as workplace safety or fair wages. You may also choose to survey family members or other adults about what makes an attractive work environment. Share your presentation with the class or with working adults within the community.

A Nativist Constitution The nativist organization that came to be called the Know-Nothing Party was made up of citizens who were born and raised in the United States and who opposed the wave of immigration during the 1800s. The following excerpt is taken from a constitution adopted by a convention of nativists in 1837. PRIMARY SOURCE: CONSTITUTION “ [F]or Europe is industriously ridding herself of an excess of population. . . . And whom does she send? Her paupers , her convicts, the outpourings of her almshouses and jails. . . . We beseech you, by the shades of the heroes of the Revolution, to blot out this foul stain from our ‘scutcheon [land], and leave the field as pure and bright as ever. The emigrants from Europe are . . . filled with all the requisite materials to spread among our citizens anarchy , radicalism, and rebellion. . . . [T]hey come to the land consecrated by the blood of our ancestors, ignorant of our customs, caring nothing for our laws, and strangers to all those essential qualities so necessary in self- government, and so indispensable to our existence as a free and happy people. ” — Preamble and Constitution , Nativist Convention, Germantown, Pennsylvania, 1837 pauper a poor person almshouse a house run by a charity where poor people live requisite required anarchy a state of disorder consecrated having been made holy EXAMINE THE SOURCE 1. Identifying Bias How does the excerpt describe immigrants to the United States? What does the writer fear about the immigrants? 2. Making Connections Based on this excerpt, what immigration policy would members of the American Party most likely have preferred?

Lee, John Hancock. The Origin and Progress of the American Party in Politics. Philadelphia: Elliott & Gihon, 1855.

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