During the colonial era most immigrants came from northern European countries. Their numbers declined with the onset of the Revolutionary War during the 1770's, but immigration picked up strongly again during the 1840s and 1850s. Between 1840 and 1860, the New York received its first great wave of immigrants. In Europe as a whole, famine, poor harvests, rising populations and political unrest caused an estimated five million people to leave their homelands each year. In Ireland, blight attacked the potato crop, and upwards of 750,000 people starved to death. Many of the survivors emigrated. The failure of the German Co

inhospitable. The Americans who saw their job security challenged by immigrants that were willing to work longer hours for lower wages did not welcome. The new comers did not have the same culture as the first immigrants that had come from Northern and Western Europe. Most lacked skills and very few spoke English, some could not read or write in any language. The Slavic and Polish (excluding Jewish) immigrants groups were viewed as unskilled, illiterate, and transient and were seen as a bigger threat to New York institutions than the other European ethnic groups. They were not ambitious people, tended to keep to themselves, and were opposed to American idea of materialism. Many of the Slavs and Poles distrusted New York public schools; they withdrew their children from school and encouraged them to seek training in a trade, thus allowing a high rate of dropouts. Likewise, Italians were discriminated against because they also provided cheap labor and, naturally of a clannish nature, tended to move and settle as a group in Italian communities where they only worked with fellow countrymen and did not learn the ways of urban life. Americans thought that Italians did not assimilate into the American culture well since they held on their old-country traditions and cultures so strongly. Assimilation was important to the Americans because they were fearful of the change that came with other cultures, not to mention their resentment towards the new languages already replacing English in several parts of the cities. The Italians also brought the Mafia, which although in Italy enforced justice, came under the control of criminals in New York, and became known for racketeering, blackmail, and extortion. The immigrants were blamed for creating disorder and violence in the cities, and in general, were thought to be "birds of passage" who would use the American economy to make their fortunes, then return to their native land taking American dollars.

no matter what their place of origin, to conform to Anglo-Saxon patterns of behavior and to cherish the institutions of America. These anti-immigrant, natives, sentiments, and the hatred and prejudice toward these immigrants led to the passing of immigration laws that greatly restricted the flow of immigration . The first restrictive law prevented immigration of lunatics, criminals, polygamists, people with diseases, and those likely to be public charges. In August of 1882, the first federal immigration la

Some common words found in the essay are:
Mafia Italy, Industrial Revolution, Orthodox Catholics, India Company, Revolutionary War, Eastern Europe, York City, Slavic Polish, Castle Garden, Likewise Italians, eastern europe, immigrants america, southern eastern, northern european countries, revolution faced opposition, total population, economics politics, york city, faced opposition, cheap labor, revolution faced, immigrants helped industrial, helped industrial revolution, helped industrial, faced opposition economics,
Approximate Word count = 1660
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)