Immigration to the United
States
California Content Standard 8.6.3
By the end of the lesson, I will be able to…
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)
As evidenced by…
Taking notes and a quiz.
Essential Question
• What were the reasons for the wave of immigration from
Northern Europe to the United States in the mid-1800s?
Wave of Immigration
• Between 1840 and 1860, more than four million immigrants
came to the United States from Europe.
• More than three million of these immigrants came from
Ireland and Germany.
Irish Immigrants and the Great Irish
Famine
• More than a million Irish people fled to the United States
when a potato blight caused a famine in Ireland in the mid1840s.
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Most Irish immigrants were very poor.
Many settled in cities and towns in the Northeast.
Many worked at unskilled jobs in the cities
Many worked building canals and railroads.
Women often took jobs working as servants for wealthy families.
German Immigrants
• Most Germans came for economic reasons as well.
• The United States seemed to offer greater economic
opportunity and more freedom from government control.
• Many German immigrants went to Midwestern states.
• Land was more available than in the Northeast, and they became
farmers.
• Other German immigrants worked as tailors, bricklayers,
servants, clerks, cabinetmakers, bakers, and food merchants in
urban centers.
Transportation Revolution
• As the Transportation Revolution connected cities, people
moved about in large numbers.
• They were drawn by the many new jobs created by the Industrial
Revolution
• Transportation Revolution – the rapid growth in the speed and
convenience of transportation.
• Industrial Revolution – a period of rapid growth in the use of
machines in manufacturing and production that began in the
mid-1700s.
Manufacturing Jobs
• Three-quarters of the country’s manufacturing jobs were in
Northeastern and mid-Atlantic regions.
• Populations in cities in these areas grew the most.