Immigration

1
Immigration
2
Great Lull

• Seven Years War in Europe (1756)
• American Revolution
• French Revolution
• Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815)
• Great Britain prohibits slavery

3
American Population

• Started to grow rapidly
• Why?
• cheap land
• job opportunities
• others were forced
• From Where?
• Immigrants from Western Europe

4
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

5
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.

6
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

7
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

8
Declines in Immigration

• Reproduction within the United States
• Percent of immigrants decreases
• 6 out of 7 people
• Panic of 1837
• Andrew Jacksons attack on the 2nd National Bank
• Followed by a 5 year depression
• American Civil War
• 1861-1865