Coming to America: Immigration in the 19th & 20th Century

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and early 20th century may not be considered a prosperous and happy time for many; however, it was necessary for the future of America and its people.
Immigrants came to the United States from all over the world, from countries big and small. Irish immigrants made up a significant number of the total immigrants coming in the late 19th century. By 1900 there were over ten million foreign born people in America, and over 15% came from Ireland. Others came from all across Europe, including Britain, Norway, Germany, Italy, Poland, and many others. Immigrants also came from the East as high numbers of Chinese and Japanese entered the country. They came for several different reasons, including religion, war, overpopulation, family, new opportunities, economic prosperity, and others. America was seen as a country of freedom, equal rights, and prosperity (Keene). Immigrants believed their life would be better in such a country. To come alone was not very common, and most often immigrants ...

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they travelled on majority of the time came through Ellis Island in New York Harbor. Ellis Island is where immigrants first entered the country. Here, they answered questions and filled out paperwork to make them citizens (Keene). Therefore, the easiest and most cost efficient place for the immigrants to go and find jobs was New York City. With the amount of people entering New York City, it soon became overcrowded, causing other cities such as Philadelphia and Chicago became popular. Chicago also became a well known place to travel for its stockyards, which provided thousands of jobs. As the case of Jurgis’ family showed, Chicago was an easily accessible city with a growing economy ...

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