Newcomers and Two Labour Systems
Migration and its reception
- Substantial numbers of international migrants continued to arrive in the United States from Europe and Asia, mainly from Ireland and Germany, often settling in ethnic communities where they could preserve elements of their languages and customs.
- A strongly anti-Catholic nativist movement arose that was aimed at limiting new immigrants' political power and cultural influence.
- Two named targets of the movement — political power and cultural influence — so it was a campaign about both votes and identity.
Select both targets of the nativist movement.
A campaign about both votes and identity.
Two labour systems, one country
- The North's expanding manufacturing economy relied on free labour in contrast to the Southern economy's dependence on enslaved labour.
- Some Northerners did not object to slavery on principle but claimed that slavery would undermine the free labour market.
- As a result, a free-soil movement arose that portrayed the expansion of slavery as incompatible with free labour.
The free-soil movement portrayed the expansion of slavery as...
Some Northerners objected on labour-market grounds, not principle.
Abolitionists were a visible minority
- African American and white abolitionists, although a minority in the North, mounted a highly visible campaign against slavery, presenting moral arguments against the institution, assisting escapes, and sometimes expressing a willingness to use violence to achieve their goals.
- Although a minority and highly visible are both stated — influence is not the same as numbers.
- Three methods are named: moral argument, assisting escapes, and sometimes a willingness to use violence.
Select all three abolitionist methods the CED names.
A minority, but highly visible.
Free-soil and abolition are different positions. The CED says some Northerners did not object to slavery on principle but claimed that slavery would undermine the free labour market — the free-soil movement opposed slavery's expansion on economic grounds, which is not the abolitionists' moral case.
Immigration, free soil, abolition, or the defence of slavery?
Sort each element of the 1850s.
Select all three grounds defenders of slavery used.
The third is why law could not settle the argument.
Three defences of slavery
- Defenders of slavery based their arguments on racial doctrines, the view that slavery was a positive social good, and the belief that slavery and states' rights were protected by the Constitution.
- Three grounds: racial, social, and constitutional — and the third is why the argument could not be settled by law.
- The CED reports these as arguments made, which is the correct historical register for recording them.
Free soil and abolition are different positions.
Identical votes, entirely different reasons.
Two objectives, kept distinct
- 5.5 asks about the effects of immigration on American culture and how regional differences related to slavery caused tension.
- They connect through 5.6: nativism and slavery together broke the Second Party System.
- But answer them separately first — one is about newcomers and reception, the other about labour and its defenders.
Two people vote the same way on a territorial bill: one because a system is wrong, the other because it competes with his wages. Their votes are identical and their reasons commit them to entirely different futures.
Substantial numbers of international migrants continued to arrive... mainly from Ireland and Germany, often settling in ethnic communities, while a strongly anti-Catholic nativist movement arose... aimed at limiting new immigrants' political power and cultural influence. The North's expanding manufacturing economy relied on free labour in contrast to the Southern economy's dependence on enslaved labour, producing a free-soil movement; abolitionists, although a minority... mounted a highly visible campaign; and defenders of slavery based their arguments on racial doctrines, the view that slavery was a positive social good, and the belief that slavery and states' rights were protected by the Constitution.