Immigration to the USA: 1860-1890

Until the middle of the 19th century, immigrants had been arriving at a slowly increasing rate: 8,385 in 1820; 23,322 in 1830; and 84,066 in 1840. However, over the next sixty years immigration grew rapidly. The 2,081,61 that arrived in the 1860's had increased to 5,248,568 in the 1880's.

Developments in technology also increased the number of people from Europe going to the United States. Sailing ships took six weeks to cross the Atlantic. The use of steam powered boats reduced this to two weeks and by the 1870s the fastest ships could make the journey in eight days.

Most of the early immigrants came from from northern and western Europe. This included large numbers from Germany, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, England, Scotland and Wales. After 1880 they mainly came from countries in southern and eastern Europe such as Italy, Greece and Russia.

The main attraction of the United states for the early immigrants was the abundance of cheap or free land. Most of this had now gone and the main desire was for the high wages being paid in in the industrial cities. By the end of the Civil War half the residents of New York and Chicago were foreign born.