Title: Contributions Made by German Immigrants in the U.S. During the 1840s & 1850s | The Classroom
Headings: Contributions Made by German Immigrants in the U.S. During the 1840s & 1850s
Contributions Made by German Immigrants in the U.S. During the 1840s & 1850s
Farmers and Laborers
Politics
Education
Cultural Contributions and Inventions
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Content: Contributions Made by German Immigrants in the U.S. During the 1840s & 1850s | The Classroom
Contributions Made by German Immigrants in the U.S. During the 1840s & 1850s
German immigrants were an important subset of American culture from before the Revolution, but they made their greatest impact beginning in the 1840s and 1850s, when over a million migrated to the U.S., primarily to escape political upheaval. Once here, these immigrants made important contributions to American society. Farmers and Laborers
The majority of German immigrants settled in the rural Midwest, but they also established the town of New Braunfels, Texas, and its surrounding areas in 1845. They also built ethnic enclaves in the Midwest metropolises of Milwaukee and Chicago. Many Germans were farmers, bringing with them their Old World practices. Others were craftsmen such as furniture-makers, brewers, metalworkers and engineers. Many of these craftsmen joined the growing urban factories, to which they introduced their craft guild tradition. This tradition soon evolved into trade unions, and from there the labor union movement emerged, reaching its peak in the late 19th and early 20th century. Politics
Many Germans who immigrated in the 1850s did so as a result of the failed democratic revolutions of 1830 and 1848 in Vienna, Berlin and much of southwest Germany. They carried their political aspirations to America, where they formed a significant voting bloc, and introduced political ideologies such as anarchism and socialism to their new communities.