Question

can you analyze the Background of emigration from Rheinhessen ( one paragraph)

Answer 1

Nieder-Saulheim was part of Rheinhessen, the smallest of the three provinces of the Grand Duchy of Hessen-Darmstadt Situated on the left side of the Rhine, Rheinhessen was under French rule from 1797 to 1814 and was ceded to Hessen-Darmstadt in 1816.9 With a mere 531 square miles, its area was less than half the size of Dane County, Wisconsin. Most of its soil was fertile, and the mild climate permitted grain and wine production. It had about 400 inhabitants per square mile in 1840 with a population of 213,000 which at that time made it one of Germany's most densely populated regions. As in most areas of Central Europe, population growth within the foreskin had been enormous

The number of Rheinhessians had risen by a quarter, raising serious problems for an agrarian region where it was common practice among peasants to divide their land into equal shares among their heirs (Realteilung). Many middle class families considered emigration the only remedy against impoverishment, particularly following a series of crop failures in the 1840s. The Kölner Zeitung stated in 1847 that among the many families that left Rheinhessen, "there was not even one that could be considered' bad.' According to the paper, most of them were worth between 4,000 and 5,000 Gulden.

A farmer who had auctioned his estate for 12,000 Gulden described his decision to emigrate with the following words: "You might call me a rich man, but I have nine children. All of them wouldn't even inherit 1,500 Gulden after my death and they would belong to the paupers in this country and couldn't hope to gain as much as they could to live without sorrow. Jakob Best, a farmer and vinegar-maker from Mettenheim also belonged to this group. Pabst Brewery's founder's father in Milwaukee, Best sold his property for 8,000 Gulden before moving to America.
In the mid-1800s, the major but not the only destination for emigrants from Rheinhessen was Wisconsin and other areas of the U.S. Brazil has been common among the poor classes for some time, since provincial or plantation owners who tried to stimulate immigration always paid the-otherwise inexpensive-overseas passage.