According to the 1998 edition of The World Book Encyclopedia, immigration is the act of coming to a foreign country to live. There are many reasons for a person to do such a thing. Throughout history, immigrants have fled their homeland because of religious or political persecution, war, natural disaster, and the opportunity for a better life.
The United States had long been the world's chief receiving nation for immigrants and refugees. The country has had four major periods of immigration. The first wave began in what is now the United States, with the colonists of the 1600s and reached a peak just before the Revolutionary War broke out in 1775. The second major flow of immigrants started in the 1820s and lasted until a depression in the early 1870s. The greatest in pouring of people took place from the 1880s to the early 1920s. (The World Book Encyclopedia, 1998 edition, page 81, Volume 10, Letter I, First Paragraph, Immigration to the U.S.).
During my research I found that there were two types of immigrants: new and old. In notes, given by Mr. Buck, old immigrants were said to be immigrants who moved to America in mass numbers before the civil war. These "old- immigrants were mostly from Western Europe: Great Britain, Ireland, and Germany. Most were of Protestant faith and immigrated while America was in its early stages of growth. (Mr. Buck Class notes).
Famine in Ireland, along with civil unrest and limited economic opportunity in much of Europe helped fuel immigration in the mid 1800s. Steamship companies and railroads looking for workers recruited immigrants through correspondence back to the old country. By 1880, ¾ of all immigrants in the Unites States were "old- immigrants. (Rise of Industrial America, 1851-1900).
"New Immigrants- were immigrants who moved to America after the civil war. Unlike the "old-, nearly 80 % of these immigrants were from Eastern and Southern Europe. They were fleeing from Poland, Russia, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Greece, Italy, and the Ukraine.
