Immigration to the United States
1820 to 1860

Although Ireland and the German states supplied most of America's
immigrants during the first half of the nineteenth century, the immigrants'
backgrounds and the reasons for their emigration varied over time. Irish
immigrants to the United States in the two decades after the War of 1812
tended to be Presbyterians or (to a lesser extent) Anglicans from the northern
section of the island. The Catholics who emigrated were "the most enterpris-
ing, industrious, and virtuous part" of the Irish Catholic population: well-to-
do farmers and middle-class city dwellers. Furthermore, the immigrants arriv-
ing in these years usually brought business or artisanal skills with them. Those
without such skills had often been successful farmers, and a "substantial mi-
nority" of immigrants either bought farms when they arrived or worked in
eastern seaboard cities until they saved enough money to buy farm land
further west. "In general it is not the poorest who emigrate," noted one
visiting Frenchman, but "chiefly . . . the middle classes . . ., comfortable
tradesman, or small farmers, who, though already possessing some comforts,
are anxious to better their conditions." Few ventured to the United States

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