Thirty APUSH SAQs relating to Immigration

1865–1930

When students in APUSH learn about the history of immigration, they first learn to distinguish between external migration (migration to the U.S) and internal migration (within the US).

Below are several important examples of external migration between 1607–1930)

• The Old Immigrants (the migration of northern and northwestern Europeans, aka the Irish and the Germans, to America before the Civil War
• The New Immigrants (the migration of southern and southeast Europeans, aka Italians, Russians, and Jews, to America after the Civil War.
• Chinese immigration before and after the Civil War

And now, several important examples of internal migration between 1607–1930)

• The Great Mormon Migration
• The Exodusters
• The migration from the farms to the cities
• The migration into the Northwest Territory
• The migrations over the Appalachian Mountains into the Ohio Valley
• The migration into the Louisiana Territory
• The migration into the territory that was acquired as a result of the Mexican American War and the related Mexican Cession.
• The First Great Migration

APUSH students also learn that whether talking about internal or external migration, they should, whenever possible, include mention of the words:

• Push Factors
• Pull factors
• Nativism
• Assimilation
• Americanization

Below are thirty (30) APUSH style SAQs relating to immigration (1607–1930)

1. What was ONE factor that pushed the Irish out of Ireland and to the United States before the Civil War?
2. What was ONE factor that pulled the Irish out of Ireland and to the United States before the Civil War?
3. Briefly describe ONE specific difference between the immigrants who came to America before the Civil War and those that came after the Civil?
4. Briefly describe a SECOND specific difference between the immigrants who came to America before the Civil War and those that came after the Civil?
5. Briefly describe ONE perspective held by Americans and directed at immigrants after the Civil War?
6. Briefly describe a SECOND perspective held by Americans and directed at immigrants after the Civil War?
7. Briefly describe a THIRD perspective held by Americans and directed at immigrants after the Civil War?
8. Briefly explain ONE specific outcome of internal migration after the Civil War?
9. Briefly explain ONE factor that pushed the Chinese out of China and to the United States before the Civil War?
10. Briefly explain ONE factor that pulled the Chinese out of China and to the United States before the Civil War?
11. Briefly explain ONE factor that pushed the Chinese out of China and to the United States before the Civil War?
12. Briefly explain ONE specific historical outcome of Chinese migration to America both before and after the Civil War.
13. Briefly explain ONE reason for the anti-Chinese sentiment that resulted from Chinese migration to America both before and after the Civil War.
14. Briefly explain ONE reason for the anti-Irish sentiment that resulted from Irish migration to America both before and after the Civil War.
15. Briefly explain ONE reason for the anti-German sentiment that resulted from German migration to America both before and after the Civil War.
16. Briefly explain ONE major difference between the Irish and the Germans who migrated to America.
17. Briefly explain a SECOND major difference between the Irish and the Germans who migrated to America.
18. Briefly explain a THIRD major difference between the Irish and the Germans who migrated to America.
19. Briefly explain ONE factor that pushed the Exodusters out of the South
20. Briefly explain a SECOND factor that pushed the Exodusters out of the South
21. Briefly explain a THIRD factor that pushed the Exodusters out of the South.
22. Briefly explain ONE specific outcome of the migration to the Northwest Territory following the Revolutionary War
23. Briefly explain ONE reason why migration into the Louisiana Territory following the Louisiana Purchase should not be described as a “most splendid’ event”
24. Briefly explain a SECOND reason why migration into the Louisiana Territory following the Louisiana Purchase should not be described as a “most splendid’ event.”
25. Briefly explain ONE specific outcome of the First Great Migration
26. Briefly explain a SECOND specific outcome of the First Great Migration.
27. Briefly explain ONE specific historical event that resulted from the First Great Migration.
28. Briefly explain ONE factor that pushed African Americans to join the First Great Migration.
29. Briefly explain a SECOND factor that pushed African Americans to join the First Great Migration.
30. Briefly explain a THIRD factor that pushed African Americans to join the First Great Migration.

If you’re an APUSH student who tried to answer these SAQ questions, did you mention any of the following:

• The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire
• The case of Sacco and Vanzetti
• The Potato Famine
• Loyalty to the Pope
• German Schools
• German ethnic enclaves
• Immigration quotas
• Northwest Ordinance
• Urban
• Rural
• Foreign Miners Tax
• Homestead Act
• Harlem Renaissance
• Chinese Exclusion Act
• Political machines
• Sharecropping
• Tenant farming
• KKK and racial violence
• Plessy v. Ferguson
• Jim Crow Laws
• Ellis Island
• Angel Island
• The Immigration Act of 1924
• The Settlement Movement
• Tenements