The only thing worst than being a new arriving immigrant in the first half of the 1800s in the United-States was being a slave or servant. No matter which part of the country you found yourself in whether it be the North, South or West, as an immigrant you would be subjected to job discrimination, residential segregation, limitations on civil and legal rights... However, if a choice had to be made, I would have probably chosen the North because the thought of living in a state that hadn't abolished slavery like in the Southern states wouldn't be conceivable to me. Moreover, I wouldn't have lived in the West since the states that were being created there would have been too recently become parts of the Union and I would have most likely considered them too unstable to move there. The progressive creation of ethnic neighborhoods in the North, a regroupment of members of the same communities with familiar ways and family ties would have provided a form of support that I do not think existed for new immigrants in the South and West.
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It would have been reassuring to see the church I was a member of, a school system I was used to or even clubs that I could be a member of with people of the same origin as me to avoid the hatred of native-born Americans. Furthermore, thanks to the market revolution, most of the largest cities were in the North and were growing at a high speed ; there, work would always be found for a new arriving immigrant even though the wage was ridiculously low. Nonetheless, at least I would have been free to contest the injustice of this situation, which wouldn't have been possible in the West and South. Indeed, if I had lived in the North I could have protested, participated in strikes, joined different parties to improve my working conditions (supposing I had found a job despite being a woman). As a female immigrant, the North is also favorable since was were the real social reform movements that finally had an impact occurred. Despite the fact that the reform movements of the evangelical church promoted nativism, which is not the best option for any form of minority, as a woman I would have preferred to live in a society where temperance was promoted, prostitution was being reduced, charity work was available for the care of the poor and orphans and the mentally disabled were treated as such and not as criminals. Seeing social progress focused on people in need in the cities would have motivated me to move there since it provides a form of security. Additionally, the North was the place where women finally assembled together in groups to discuss and make a change about the inequalities they were facing in the United States. They finally had a more primary role, where they were the majority of members and not there for good figure disregarded by men who deemed them to emotional and fragile to participate in anything. The social movements of the 1800s in the North were allowed thanks to the motivation of women who challenged the overwhelming opinion of separate spheres of men and women. I would have willingly wanted to be a part of all of that rather than being in the West or South where the stereotypical role of the woman remained. Finally, the importance of the abolition and anti-slavery movement in the North would
It would have been reassuring to see the church I was a member of, a school system I was used to or even clubs that I could be a member of with people of the same origin as me to avoid the hatred of native-born Americans. Furthermore, thanks to the market revolution, most of the largest cities were in the North and were growing at a high speed ; there, work would always be found for a new arriving immigrant even though the wage was ridiculously low. Nonetheless, at least I would have been free to contest the injustice of this situation, which wouldn't have been possible in the West and South. Indeed, if I had lived in the North I could have protested, participated in strikes, joined different parties to improve my working conditions (supposing I had found a job despite being a woman). As a female immigrant, the North is also favorable since was were the real social reform movements that finally had an impact occurred. Despite the fact that the reform movements of the evangelical church promoted nativism, which is not the best option for any form of minority, as a woman I would have preferred to live in a society where temperance was promoted, prostitution was being reduced, charity work was available for the care of the poor and orphans and the mentally disabled were treated as such and not as criminals. Seeing social progress focused on people in need in the cities would have motivated me to move there since it provides a form of security. Additionally, the North was the place where women finally assembled together in groups to discuss and make a change about the inequalities they were facing in the United States. They finally had a more primary role, where they were the majority of members and not there for good figure disregarded by men who deemed them to emotional and fragile to participate in anything. The social movements of the 1800s in the North were allowed thanks to the motivation of women who challenged the overwhelming opinion of separate spheres of men and women. I would have willingly wanted to be a part of all of that rather than being in the West or South where the stereotypical role of the woman remained. Finally, the importance of the abolition and anti-slavery movement in the North would