Immigration In The Late 1800s

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Understanding the past is what helps us determine the future. If we know where we came from, what we’ve done and how we have passed through events that are similar to those that we currently face, we can wade through those dark waters much easier than if it’s something that we’ve never encountered before. Immigration still is an issue that the western world deals with, from Europe with people from the Middle East fleeing the conflicts there, to Africans fleeing the hostilities in their countries, to here in the United States with South and Central Americans fleeing those countries looking for a better life. Immigration has always been a contentious issue, whether it’s unchecked or checked, there will always be people who believe immigration is a good thing, and those who stand by saying immigration is a terrible idea. Immigration to the United States has been a time of strife and change for the country and the land that we inhabit. With every immigration wave we’ve had so far, the face of our country has changed. The first wave immigration started with the colonists into what they called the new world. During this time, we had an influx of what would be our ancestors settling the land that would become the United States of America. People fled religious …show more content…
Between the 1820’s to the 1860’s, America saw another wave of immigration, mostly those from Ireland and Germany, there were others, but those were the two most prominent during this time period. With the Irish, they were dealing with the 1845 Potato Blight that ravished the land and left people going hungry, so those that could leave, left. When they got here, most Americans despised them because they were Catholic, and many of the Americans were Protestant. Thus, the Irish ended up with poor, menial jobs. They ended up doing what they were able to, but it didn’t amount to much.