Illustration from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale                                U.S. Flag in 1840

In this section your team will make decisions for their family to help them as they struggle to survive in this New World, to help them reach their dreams. As in section 2, you will have to put yourself in the shoes of these people. You must make decisions as they would, based upon their customs, standards and values. Can you think using their standards and values and not those of today's?

Please read the fictional Pat's Stort Part 2

What was the America in the first half of the nineteenth century like? What awaits your family? In using the following links, please remember to judge the information on the web sites based on:

• Who is the author?
• Is the author affiliated with any organization?
• What year was the work published?
• Is the page up to date?
• Is the date important?
• What is the purpose of the Web Page?
• Who is the audience the author wishes to address?
• What point of view or prejudices does the author seem to have?
• How complete and accurate is the information compare to other information you've seen?
• Does the author use examples to elaborate his/her points?

Emigration: Departure, Crossing and Arrival from the Nebraska Department of Education.

Living Conditions for Immigrants by Liz Szabo, University of Virginia

What were the rules like in factories and boarding hourses? see Factory Rules from the Handbook to Lowell, John Avery, Agent, 1848; also Massachusetts Investigation into Labor Conditions - Excerpted from Massachusetts House Document, no. 50, March of 1845; A Description of Factory Life, 1846; and Regulations For The Boarding-Houses of the Hamilton Manufacturing Company, John Avery, Agent, 1848. All of the documents are on a single link published by The Illinois Labor History Society.

Between a Rock and a Hard Place are images from an online history exhibit of sweatshops (mostly dealing with seamstresses) from 1820-1880 from the Smithsonian Institute

Letter by the Right Reverand F. P. McFarland, Bishop of Hartford, published in Irish Emigration to the United States : what it has been, and what it is p. 72 - 74 by Stephen Byrne published in 1873 (Note: please read through p.74 by clicking on the "Next Page" icon)

Treatment/Reception by other Americans Part of the American Immigration Home Page by Jonathan Lee and Robert Siemborski

Excerpts from Out of Ireland: The Story of Irish Emigration to America by Miller and Wagner (used with permission)

Nature's Aristocracy; or, Battles and wounds in time of peace. A plea for the oppressed Chapter V I "Shop Girls" pp. 66 - 88, by Jennie Collins, 1871 (Note: please read through p. 88 by clicking on the "Next Page" icon)

Nature's Aristocracy; or, Battles and wounds in time of peace. A plea for the oppressed Chapter V "Journeymen Tailors" pp. 89 - 99, by Jennie Collins, 1871 (Note: please read through p. 99 by clicking on the "Next Page" icon)

Women, Domesticity and the American Ideal by Liz Szabo, University of Virginia, Author (For those who would wish to may read the entire book Bessy Conway; Or, The Irish Girl in America (1861), and a summary of The Blakes and Flanagans: A Tale, Illustrative of Irish Life in the United States (1850) both by Mary Anne Sadlier. They are now on-line provided by Liz Szabo at The University of Virginia,a member of the American Studies Group,a loose affiliation of students, faculty and staff who share an interest in American Studies.)

Life and Liberty in America; or, Sketches of a Tour in the United States and Canada, in 1857-8  pp. 112 - 116 published in 1859 (Note: please read through p. 116 by clicking on the "Next Page" icon) by Charles Mackay

How The Other Half Lives Studies Among The Tenements of New York (The Hypertext Edition) Chapter 1 "Genesis of the Tenement",and Chapter 3 "The Mixed Crowd" by Jacob A. Riis, 1896

The Irish Domestic Servant by Liz Szabo, University of Virginia

The Irish in America Chapter XVIII, "The Character of Irish Women In America" pp. 333-337 by John Francis Maguire, 1868 (Note: please read through p. 337 by clicking on the "Next Page" icon)

The Irish in America Chapter XXIV, "The School Question, The Riots in Philadelphia and The Native American Party" pp. 433-442 by John Francis Maguire, 1868 (Note: please read through p. 442 by clicking on the "Next Page" icon)

Women in the Workplace: Education by Women's History Magazine, Spring-Summer 1996

Race and Class Overview: Parallels in Racism and Class Prejudice by Anthony S. Wohl, Professor of History, Vassar College

Opening paragraphs of James Carroll's review of The Boston Irish, by Thomas H. O'Connor.

Irish Workers Strike by Wyatt Harper

Women in the Workplace: Labor Unions by Women's History Magazine, Spring-Summer 1996

Know-Nothing Movement by Joel H. Silbey, Cornell University

Anti-Immigrant Sentiment in Nineteenth-Century America by Liz Szabo, University of Virginia

Wide-awake! Romanism: Its Aims and Tendencies. The Sentiments of a "Know-nothing" p.8, p. 9, p. 10, and p.13 by L.W. Granger, 1854

Americanism Contrasted (p. 126) and 127 from a 1856 book Americanism contrasted with foreignism, Romanism, and bogus democracy, in the light of reason, history, and Scripture; in which certain demagogues in Tennessee, and elsewhere, are shown up in their true colors by Rev. William Gannaway Brownlow (Note: please read through p. 127 by clicking on the "Next Page" icon)

Travels in the United States, etc., during 1849 and 1850, p.74 by Emmeline Stuart-Wortley, 1851

Irish Emigration to the United States by Stephen Byrne, 1873. This book was published by an Irishman as a guide to Irish who might think of emigrating to the U.S.   Use the Table of Contents to find a section that interests you.

The Teacher's Institute; or, Familiar Hints to Young Teachers p.224 by William Bentley Fowle, 1867

The Great Metropolis p.27 (tenement life) by Junius Henri Browne, 1869

The Great Metropolis p.406 - 407 (market) by Junius Henri Browne, 1869 (Note: please read through p. 407 by clicking on the "Next Page" icon)

The Great Metropolis p.680 - 683 (schools) by Junius Henri Browne, 1869 (Note: please read through p. 683 by clicking on the "Next Page" icon)

Irish Immigrant Workers in Antebellum New York: The Experience of Domestic Servants at Van Buren's Lindenwald from The Hudson Valley Regional Review: A Journal of Regional Studies, September 1992, Volume 9, Number 2 by Patricia West and the Martin Van Buren National Historic Site, an agency of the National Park Service, United States Government.

The Tenement As History And Housing by Ruth Limmer and Andrew S. Dolkart of The Lower Eastside Tenement Museum

The Common and Center Village shows life in a re-creation of a rural Massachusetts town  (Old Sturbridge Village) in the 1830's.

Where you lived in nineteenth century Boston has many similarities with our towns and our times: it depended on how much money you had and who you were comfortable living next to.

Please select several housing situations you think would be suitable for your adopted. Keep in mind that some family members might choose or be forced to live somewhere else. This will affect the number of room you may need. Use the Excel file immigrnt.xls and choose the sheet 1840 Housing. From these choose a place to live for your family.

Please find appropriate jobs for members of your adopted family who you think can and should work. Make decisions as to should they work at home or outside the home. Should some family members live and work elsewhere? Should the children work? At what age will they start? Will you try to send them to school? Until what age? Notice the differences in the jobs available to males as compared to females.

Use the Excel file immigrnt.xls and choose the sheet 1840 Jobs. Find jobs for the family members you decided should work.

Most young adults today appreciate not having readily available transportation. Transportation was a major headache in 1840 also. The cost of getting to work can affect areas where a person could work.

Use the Excel file immigrnt.xls and choose the sheet 1840 Transportation. Please calculate your family’s total commuting expenses. You can consult the map of Boston (see the Index) for more information about the locations of the housing and the jobs.

Prices were very different in 1840 from what they are now. To help your team generate some idea of the costs of things use the Excel file immigrnt.xls and choose the sheet 1840 Market. Your team can do its weekly shopping with this spreadsheet. You must decide how much your adopted family would use in a given week. In the red cells (boxes), enter the quantities of the item you want in the column "How Many?". When you have selected your items, look at the bottom of the spreadsheet. It has calculated your weekly food and clothing budgets.

Please print this page (one per group) and submit it to the teacher.

Now use Excel to calculate your income. Use the Excel file immigrnt.xls and choose the sheet 1840 Finances. Will your adopted family make it financially the next ten years?

Please print this page and submit it to the teacher.

In Section Two your team described what your adopted family had hoped to find in America, their "American dream" for each family member. After doing the parts above, and by using information from the links in this section, look at that dream again. Have your family’s dreams been fulfilled?

Please devise a product or products that describes their experiences in America. Describe what they found in America. How has the "American dream" for each family member changed?

Return to Index