Title: Immigration | Boundless US History
Headings: Immigration
Immigration
Immigration to the United States
Key Points
Key Terms
Immigration in the Nineteenth Century
Immigration from Europe
The California Gold Rush
Immigration and Worker Exploitation
Irish Immigration
Key Points
Key Terms
Early Irish Immigrants
The Potato Famine
Discrimination and Assimilation
Effects on American Culture
German Immigration
Key Points
Key Terms
Immigration from Germany
Location of German Communities
German population in America, 1872
Politics and Role in Society
Nativism
Key Points
Key Terms
Anti-Immigration Sentiments
The Know-Nothings
The American Party
Immigrant Labor
Key Points
Key Terms
Immigrant Labor
The California Gold Rush
Exploitation and Discrimination

Content: As a result, many wage workers in the North were largely hostile to immigration. In Lowell, Massachusetts, for example, the daughters of New England farmers encountered competition from the daughters of Irish farmers suffering the effects of the potato famine; these immigrant women were more likely to be exploited by employers, working for far less money and enduring worse conditions than native-born women. Male German and Irish immigrants also competed with native-born men. Germans, many of whom were skilled workers, took jobs in furniture making. The Irish provided a ready source of unskilled labor needed to lay railroad tracks and dig canals. American men with families to support grudgingly accepted low wages in order to keep their jobs. As work became increasingly deskilled, no worker was irreplaceable, and no one’s job was safe. Irish Immigration
A second wave of Irish Catholic immigration began in the 1840s following the potato famine in Ireland. Learning Objectives
Discuss the waves of Irish immigration into the United States
Key Takeaways
Key Points
The first wave of Irish immigration, which occurred before the American Revolution, consisted mostly of Protestants from Ulster who settled in the American interior.