why did the number of immigrants grow during the years 1800-1860?

Answer 1

There were a number of factors,
In England, Malthus calculated that population growth was oust-stripping food production and that starvation was to be inevitable.
In Ireland, the potato famine drove many people to emigrate.
In France, the ultimate failure of the revolution caused people to move and the Franco-Prussian wars also displaced large numbers of Europeans.

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Answer 2

Number one it was not just the Irish immigrants, Italian, German, British, Welsh, Scotish, Scandavians, Greek, Russian, Prussian, Austrian, Hungarian, Chinese, etc., There were many different peoples that came from afar to reach the new promised land where they were told they had a future and could own their own land. There they could grow their food, and raise sheep, cattle, pigs, chickens, etc., The wide open spaces here gave them the thought of such beauty and desire for freedom that they risked the journey and abandoned their homelands for the most part. Some sent for their relatives when they established themselves, others did not but sent money home. Like the railroad workers, who had a hard job but had very little to spare they still would send home something. Little by little they got their families here. They were brave spirits. Happy New Year

Answer 3

Because around the 1800s the US had just won the revolutionary war and was expanding westward which meant freedom for those in other countries who had no civil freedoms, they looked to america as a new start and chance. And around the 1830's and 1840's you had the potato famine in Ireland. You also had the huge expansion out west stemming from the Louis and Clark expedition.

Answer 4

According to Oscar Handlin, author of "The Uprooted"; there were as many reasons for immigration as there were immigrants.

Most immigrants were refugees forced to leave their country because of war, famine, religious persecution and freedom from serfdom.

America was a far-off place filled with mythic wonder and opportunity.

Unlike long-settled Europe, America was said to be a land rich with Timber, Gold, and other raw materials. Even the most wretched of the poor could work hard and become as rich as any nobleman of Europe.

In America, it was believed, a man could be free of the wealthy landowners and choose his own life.

Land, freedom and riches were all available in the mythic land of America.

While other countries had strict limits on immigration, the American West needed to be settled and defended. So American immigration policy encouraged settlement.

But the trip would be costly and many immigrants found life in urban ghettos to be filled with danger, poverty and oppression.

In many cases it would be the second or third generation of immigrant who found the means to leave the ghetto and seek his American dream.

Answer 5

The short answer is 'things in Europe mostly sucked then'

Napoleon's wars on the Continent created chaos and wreaked havoc on the economies of most European countries. People who could, escaped Europe and came to the US where there was more land and economic opportunity - and fewer wars.

Then in 1845 there was the Irish potato famine and people left Ireland in droves to escape starving to death.