Why Did the Immigrants Come to America?

 

ECONOMIC:

     European farmers failed to reap adequate

           crops from small lands

     Agricultural Revolution drove small

           farmers off the land

     Unemployment and low wages in

           European industry

     America was the “land of opportunity” :

           land and wages

 

POLITICAL:

     Most European governments were

           controlled by upper class

     America offered common man a voice in                 government  

    

SOCIAL:

     rigid class distinctions limited social

           mobility

     few educational opportunities

     religious discrimination

     many nations required military service as

           WWI approached