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i versity in the Workplace How Different Cultures Helped Shape Our Nation Diversity in the Workplace How Different Cultures Helped Shape Our Nation Today the United States of America is regarded as a global economic leader. The standard of living in the U. S. is higher than that of most other nations. Our nation is considered an economic super-power.
Economic needs have often caused Americans to seek immigrants as workers, and economic opportunities have attracted foreigners. The United States is a nation of immigrants. Our nation has been shaped by successive waves of immigrants who have played major roles in our changing economy. The overwhelming majority of immigrants who enter the United States come in search of jobs and a chance at a better life for themselves and their families. Economic immigrants come primarily from Europe, Asia and, most recently, Latin America.
Many immigrants work in menial, low-paying jobs that most other Americans do not want to do. In the early 17 th century, a group of Pilgrims sailed to our shores in search of religious freedom. In the years to follow, many more immigrants came to colonial America. These settlers from England colonized the northeast, settling in rich, fertile areas and along the rivers and coastal plains to the south.
They soon developed an economy based on the cultivation of tobacco and other crops for export back to Europe. Their dedication and hard work paved the way for our nation to be born. During the 1600 s and early 1700 s, many African American slaves were forced out of their native lands and brought to the United States in order to work in the plantations. They became essential to the economic growth of the country.
During the same time period, settlers from other European countries also established themselves in North America. Dutch and Swedish immigrants established colonies in present-day New York and Delaware. The Spanish and French also established colonies in present-day Florida, Canada and Louisiana. Many of these immigrants settled in English colonies and our economy continued to boom.
In the late 1700 s, the American Revolution was fought in order to establish political and economic freedom from England. The spirit and determination of the American people once again paved the way for growth and posterity. Our young nation began to take its first steps toward establishing itself as a world power. In 1787, the Constitutional Convention was held. Among the topics discussed by our forefathers, sectional economic interests held a forefront in the discussions between the northern and southern states.
The southern states, which were not as populous as the northern states, feared that giving congress the power to regulate trade might adversely affect their economy, based mainly on the export of tobacco, rice, and on indigo and slave trading. They demanded that legislation affecting commerce be enacted only by two-thirds majority votes, but they consented to eliminate this requirement when the northern states agreed to constitutional clauses prohibiting the federal government from levying export taxes and from interfering with the slave trade before 1808. After the Constitution was passed, immigrants from all over the world continued to enter the United States. Although most of the immigrants entered through Ellis Island in New York, many of them knew where they wanted to go.
Those interested in heavy industrial work such as the steel industry went to inland cities such as Buffalo, Pittsburgh or Detroit. German immigrants generally settled in Agricultural or skilled jobs in Texas and the Midwest. Immigrants from Italy worked in unskilled jobs all over the country. Later on, many Polish immigrants also took jobs in heavy industrial cities.
The nation kept growing, and more states were added to the union. The expansion would not come without growing pains, however. Most people who were established held supervisory or white-collar positions. The majority of newcomers worked in low-ranking jobs, earning wages that were insufficient to provide a decent living for their families. They often lived in shacks or overcrowded city dwellings, such as tenements. One-room cabins abounded in the mining areas or in the western plains.
Oftentimes, immigrants encountered prejudice when seeking jobs. Freed slaves wrote songs and poems of longing for their days at the plantation, where they at least felt at home. All of these ingredients contributed to much instability. Different political and economic views would disrupt the country. In the mid- 1800 s, our nation was divided by a civil war. The country was divided between the Union, or the northern states and the Confederacy, or the southern states.
While the northern states were prosperous, this division took its toll on the southern states. Although the political organization of the Confederacy was almost identical with that of the Union, the outbreak of the war served to accentuate the marked difference between the two sections. The population of the Confederacy at the start of the war was nearly 9 million including more than 3. 8 million slaves. The population of the territory loyal to the Union was about 22 million, including about 500, 000 slaves. The value of the improved lands of the seceding states was estimated at less than $ 2 billion; the value of those in the Union states was nearly $ 5 billion. The South had 150 textile factories, with a product valued at $ 8 million; the North had 900 such factories, with a product valued at $ 115 million.
In the South 2000 persons were employed in the manufacture of clothing; in the North 100, 000 were so engaged. During 1860 the imports of the South were valued at $ 331 million; those of the North at $ 31 million. It was thus obvious that the South was dependent on Europe and on the North for material goods. The lack of resources forced the Confederacy to levy war taxes and borrow heavily on future cotton crops.
An inflationary period in 1863 and later government actions almost destroyed the Confederate credit. Although the South made desperate attempts to maintain itself in a battle against overwhelming odds, the struggles left it financially and industrially ruined at the close of the Civil War. The end of the 19 th century was known as the Gilded Age. It was the age of the industrial capitalists. The majority of these empires were built in the northeast. By the turn of the century, agriculture had taken a back seat and the American E...
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Research essay sample on Political And Economic Helped Shape
