Immigration

Great Lull

• Seven Years’ War in Europe (1756)

• American Revolution

• French Revolution

• Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815)

• Great Britain prohibits slavery

American Population

• Started to grow rapidly– Why?

• cheap land• job opportunities• others were forced

– From Where?• Immigrants from Western Europe

The Irish

• The potato was the staple food source for the Irish

• A fungus destroyed the potato crop and caused the Potato Famine

• As new immigrants, they took some of the lowliest jobs available (construction or laying rail road tracks)

• Irish women usually worked as household workers

The Germans

• Harsh rulers and dictators on Germany– Large groups of people had

taken part in revolutions which failed

– Forced to flee to the United States

• Many German immigrants moved west upon arrival to the United States

• Some 60,000 fled to America after the failed Revolutions of 1848.

The American People

• Nativist:– Felt that the land of

the United States was set aside for white, American born Protestants

– Irish immigrants were mainly Catholics which did not sit well with the native

Know Nothings

• An organized group of nativists from the New York area

• When questions about the organization, they would only answer “I know nothing”

• Had someone run for president in 1856

Declines in Immigration

• Reproduction within the United States– Percent of immigrants decreases– 6 out of 7 people

• Panic of 1837– Andrew Jackson’s attack on the 2nd National

Bank– Followed by a 5 year depression

• American Civil War– 1861-1865