Naida Kukuruzovi English 122C May 11, 2011 Assignment 1 The graph shows levels of immigration in the United

States between 1821 and 1900. It is clear from the bar chart that the rate of immigration fluctuated during this period. Immigrants arrived from Europe because of a lack of funds and in the Unites States they were involved in agricultural development. Between 1821 and 1820 the number of immigrants was 0.1 millions. It can be seen that the number of immigrants between 1831 and 1840 was just over a half of a million. During the period from 1841 to 1850 the number of immigrants kept rising and it approximately tripled. Significant growth is noticed in the period from 1851 to 1860. Nearly three million immigrants were residents of the United States. Period from 1861 to 1870 was noticeable because the number of immigrants is slightly decreasing due to the American Civil War which caused a lot of damage to American economy. The composition of immigrants changed after the American Civil War. Before the war, most immigrants were coming from Western Europe and the British Isles. During this period immigrants from southern and eastern Europe started immigrating. In the next period, between 1871 and 1880, the number of immigrants slightly rose because the economy was recovering and the number of immigrants was around 2.5 million. In the nineteen year period, from 1881 to 1890, dramatic increase was noticed due to demographic transition and the rate of immigration reached a peak. Many people from eastern and southern Europe came and the number of immigrants was just over 5 million. The last decade was noticeable because of the sudden fall, the number of immigrants reduced by
1|Page

almost a third and there were around 3.5 million of immigrants. This change occurred due to the Chinese Exclusion Act which excluded Chinese workers from entering the Unites States for a decade. Map following the chart shows the percentage of foreign-born people in the American population. It can be seen that the lowest percentage is in the south-eastern United States. When the American Civil War ended, the majority of immigrants settled in northern and western parts of the
country. Western and northern states were the leading industrial states and more liberal than the southern states. These are one of the reasons for immigrants to settle in this part of the country. Migration in the 19th century is very important part of American history. There were many reasons for migrating to the United States but one was the same for every person, following the American Dream.

2|Page