PEOPLE ON THE MOVE - Department of Geography

settlers were the most prominent immigrant group— they comprised 60 percent
of U.S. citizenry in 1790, the year of the first U.S. population census. In addition
to the English, there were Scots, Scots Irish, Germans, Dutch, French, and
Spanish. These immigrant groups came for a variety of religious, political, and
economic reasons. German sectarians sought religious freedom in Pennsylvania;
Spaniards looked for Christian converts in Florida and the southwest; and the
Puritans in Massachusetts sought to establish a community restricted to members
of their faith. The early immigrants took big risks. Starvation, disease, and
shipwreck killed at least 1 in 10 of those who set sail for America before they
reached her shores. The cost of travel was equivalent to about six months' wages
in England. A substantial share of white immigrants (one-third of those arriving in
1776) indentured themselves to secure passage. These indentured workers were
legally bound to work for as long as five years for the employer who paid their
passage.
The Second Wave: 1820-1860. The second wave of immigrants fit well with
American eagerness to push back the frontier. In Europe, peasants displaced from
agriculture and artisans made jobless by the industrial revolution were eager for
new opportunities. New arrivals sent what came to be called "American Letters"
back to Europe, encouraging friends and relatives to join them. Steamship and
railroad companies recruited immigrants as customers. Between 1820 and 1840,
over 750,000 German, British, and Irish immigrants arrived in the United States.
During the following 20 years, 4.3 million more came from those countries.
About 40 percent of these second-wave immigrants were from Ireland, where
poverty and famine encouraged emigration. One-third came from the German
lands, escaping economic problems and seeking political freedom after 1848.
Roman Catholics predominated in the second wave. Although most Americans
were Protestants of various denominations, the Roman Catholic church was the
largest single religious body in the United States by 1850.
The Third Wave: 1880-1914. The third wave began in 1880, with almost
460,000 arrivals, and ended in 1914 when 1.2 million immigrants entered the
United States. These immigrants came from different regions than had the
immigrants in previous waves: over 20 million came from southern and eastern
Europe, mostly flowing into the eastern and midwestem states. Several hundred
thousand immigrants from China, Japan, and other Asian countries migrated to
the western states.
The shift in national origins can be seen by comparing the homelands of the
immigrants who came in 1882 with those who came in 1907, two peak years of
immigration. Of those arriving in 1882, 87 percent came from northern and
western Europe, and 13 percent from the countries of southern and eastern
Europe. In 1907, the proportions were reversed: 19 percent and 81 percent,
respectively. Among this third wave were the first large numbers of people of
Jewish and Eastern Orthodox religion. From the turn of the century onward, most
newcomers found industrial employment in the great cities. In 1910, immigrants
comprised over half of all operatives in mining, steel, and meat-packing, and
foreign bom men made up more than one half of the work force in dties such as
New York, Chicago, and Detroit.