After the Revolutionary War, many people were interested in living in this new country.  They thought their lives could be better over here; they could have a fresh start.  These immigrants  came mainly from Germany and Britain in the early 1800s.

The number changed in 1845 when a terrible disease hit the potato crops in Ireland.  This disease killed all the plants in the ground, and the people had little to eat and nothing to sell to get something to eat.  This caused a great famine there.  Ireland was then ruled by Great Britain, but even after being asked for help, Great Britain did nothing to help the starving Irish. Many  people then left that country for America.  Between 1846 and 1851, more than 500,000 Irish immigrants came to New York City, where many of them stayed!  Some moved to upstate locations where labor was needed to construct canals.

Between 1880 and 1925, almost 17 million immigrants entered our country through New York City.  Thousands of Jews came here, because they had no religious freedom in Eastern Europe.  A terrible flu epidemic in Turkey drove many people out.  They came for many different reasons, but most people left their homeland because they couldn't make a decent living there, and thought they could here in the United States.  Most immigrants came to New York City by boat.  

Immigrants on an Atlantic Liner

Some continued the journey to other states and upstate New York, but many stayed right in New York City.  Many neighborhoods of one nationality were formed within New York City.  You could hear many different languages on the streets of New York in the early 1900s.

But let's go back to the huge number of immigrants entering New York City.  There was a problem in taking care of this large number of people.  At first, it was a job given to New York City to "sort" through the immigrants.  That "sorting" was done at a place called Castle Garden at the tip of Manhattan Island. But then the numbers got too large,  and it was decided in 1882, to build a structure especially for checking immigrants and at the same time make it the federal government's job.  One place was needed to check in these new people in an organized way. That place was built on Ellis Island, a rocky island in New York City Harbor.

The Ellis Island station opened in 1892, and for the next 30 years, at least 12 million people passed through the inspection station at Ellis Island.

The inspection each passenger went through varied, but all went through at least a medical exam (to check for contagious diseases) and an interview about their family, their job status, the amount of money they brought with them.  Each person had to prove that they had at least $10 with them (later the amount was changed to $25).  The U.S. government didn't want anybody to immediately be a "public charge".

Most people went through all these interviews within six hours, but if you had to wait for a clean bill of health, or a person to "sponsor" you if you didn't have the money, you could be there for several days.

From 1892 until World War I, Ellis Island was the main port of entry to the U.S., but the immigration ships stopped coming during the World War.  When the War ended, the ships did come again, but only for a few years.  Congress then passed a law limiting the number of immigrants able to come to America, and Ellis Island was used for other things.

Our population was constantly changing in this state.  Not only were we gaining people from Europe and Eastern Europe, but we were losing our Native American Population.  With every new immigrant coming to live here,  it crowded the remaining Native Americans.  Manifest Destiny was very popular during the 19th century, and the Native Americans were "in the way".  In 1854, the U.S. government adopted a policy that said land was given to individual Native Americans, not the whole group.  Therefore, land not assigned to a person became the government's land to use in another way.  It was usually passed on to European Americans for railroads, homesteading, mining, or other purposes. The Native American population dropped significantly during this time period. The relocation of the Native Americans is discussed in the next lesson.

Go to the Native American relocation lesson!

DEFINITIONS:

immigrants: people who have moved to the United States from other countries

famine: a time when there is a shortage of food and many people go hungry

Eastern Europe:  countries such as Russia, Hungary, Armenia, Poland, Greece

contagious:   a disease spread from one person to another by touching or being close, such as typhoid, trachoma (eye disease)

public charge:  a person who had to have the government pay to house, clothe, or feed them 

Manifest Destiny:  the belief that the United States was chosen to occupy all the land between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.

Let's Practice!