What factors contributed to the United States having a larger proportion of Jews than other British colonies?
score:12
The answer is simple - the US population is not primarily British in descent. The states have had large numbers of immigrants from all over Europe. Canada, New Zealand, and Australia have a much higher proportion of the population directly descended from British settlers, there was very little Eastern European movement to British colonies as they were just that, British. Britain itself never housed a significant population of Jews. However, the Eastern European countries had a much higher populations of Jews, and many of them immigrated to the United States throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The US was seen as a safe place for Jews away from persecution, they were able to set up Jewish communities with little to no anti semitism, unlike what they faced in Europe. That is the reason why the US has the second largest population of Jews in the world.
To add further to this, 90% of American Jews are Ashkenazi Jews, which is a Jewish group that settled in the areas of the holy roman empire. This further proves that most of the Jews came to America through the eastern emigration, from Germany, Poland, and so on. These Jews did not settle much in France, Spain, or England.
Upvote:2
Much of America was founded on the principle of religious freedom. That is, Puritans in New England, Dutch Reformers in New York, Quakers in Pennsylvania, Catholics in Maryland, etc.(among others in the original "13 Colonies.") This ethos carried over into "America" after independence.
Jews found the principle of religious freedom more attractive than many other groups, and the resulting "America" more accommodative of such than England itself, Canada, Australia, or New Zealand.
Upvote:5
Geography has a large part to do with it. America has a large population of Dutch, German, and Polish descent - areas with significant Jewish communities (at least before the Holocaust). Many would have boarded ships in Baltic/North Atlantic ports. From there, America is a closer destination by sea than say, Australia.
In contrast, Italian, Greek and Lebanese immigrants would have boarded in Mediterranean ports allowing a considerably shorter journey to Australia through the Suez canal, hence Australia's high number of Mediterranean immigrants of mostly Orthodox and Catholic Christian faith and relatively small communities from Northern Europe.
England received less immigrants in general mainly because of size. There was nowhere near the opportunity in the UK as there was in large, comparatively young countries like the US and Australia and the refugee intake was much smaller.
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