8.6.3

List the reasons for the wave of immigration from Northern Europe to the United States and describe the growth in the number, size, and spatial arrangements of cities (e.g., Irish immigrants and the Great Irish Famine).
             Emigration, when people leave one country or region to settle in another, is what many Northern Europeans did because of dreams, opportunity, or dark events. There were several groups of people that left Europe for several reasons. People from Britain departed for America because in 1798, a man by the name of Thomas Malthus published a book about how Britain’s population was growing faster than the amount of food that was being produced. This book struck fear into the hearts of many English people and the government decided that it was best to count the population. The census revealed that the population was around 10,501,000 people. Because of these results, the government began an agricultural boom and succeeded in greatly increasing food production, but also created a large amount of unneeded farmers afterward. These were the people that moved to other countries looking for work including America. These people usually remained in the farming business. Other Englishman came to the United States because of opportunity. Samuel Slater memorized the designs of cotton-treading machines invented in Britain by Richard Arkwright and duplicated them in the US, opening a successful factory in Pawtucket, Rhode Island and starting the Industrial Revolution in America.
             Irish immigrants came to the United States mainly because of the Irish Famine. About two-thirds of the entire country relied and the potato crop and in 1845, a blight destroyed nearly three-fourths of the entire crop. The crop failure and famine continued through the years 1846, 1847, and 1848 killing an estimated one million people. It was this event that drove a fourth of the entire population (about 2 million people) to the United States in a mere ten years. Because many of the Irish Immigrants were poor from the famine, most had no money for transportation, or for buying land out west, so many stayed close to the port cities in which they landed upon US shores. The failed German revolution in 1848 persuaded over a million Germans to come to America for various reasons like lost faith in the German government or fear of the instability of the country. Also because of a failed revolution, French immigrants came to the United States, settling in the major cities or in the Middle West.


More Information:

   1.    http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USA1800.htm
          Supplies you with a brief history of the different reasons why Northern Europeans emigrated to the US.

   2.    http://www.geocities.com/Capitonl%20Hill/Congress/2807/irishfamine.html
          Provides in-depth information about the devastating Irish Famine that occurred in 1845.


Recommended Books:

   1.    O Little Town: The Germans
          by T. Reiff

   2.    Hungry No More: The Irish
          by T. Reiff

   3.    Poverty and Progress: Social Mobility in Nineteenth Century City
          by S. Thernstrom