German And Irish Immigration Comparison

While German and Irish immigration of the 1840?s and 1850?s was similar in many ways, some differences were also evident. German and Irish immigrants, native of Europe, fled across the Atlantic Ocean to the heartland of the United States for different reasons, causing numerous different effects on the people and the land they came to inhabit. The German and Irish immigration of this time period can be compared through their motives, distributions, and political effects.

German and Irish immigrants were motivated to move to American soil for similar reasons. However, both groups of poor, struggling immigrants first situated themselves in different areas of the United States. Both the Germans and Irish were displaced to lands in the United States because of crop failures. The rotting potato crops of Ireland brought tens of thousands of destitute Irish immigrants to America. In Germany, the collapse of many of the crops bringing money and food to the Germans brought them across the Atlantic Ocean to the heartland of the United States. However, another of the Germans? motives for their immigration was their desire to pursue democracy in America after the collapse of their own democratic revolutions in 1848. The unfortunate, famine-struck Irish immigrants of this time, too poor to move west and start a farm, initially lived along the eastern seaboard cities. For the Irish, New York quickly became the most popular state for the settlement of their people. On the other hand, the German immigrants of the 1840?s and 1850?s were slightly better off and moved to the lands of the Middle West. In these areas, the Germans established model farms to try and create lifestyles for themselves and their families. The Irish and German immigrants fled from their own countries to the United States to try and rid themselves of hardships and establish new lifestyles.

In a comparison of the political effects of German and Irish immigration, it is clear that the Germans and Americans were quickly attracted to the politics of the United States. The Irish quickly gained control of New York?s Tammany Hall and obtained the patronage rewards. Shortly thereafter, Irishmen dominated police departments in the big cities of the United States. The population of the Irish in the United States quickly increased. The Irish had a strong hatred for the British and therefore, American politicians relied on the Irish vote to balance out the British influence in American politics. Like the Irish, the Germans formed an influential body of voters in the United States in opposition to the wishes of the British. Therefore, the Americans supported them politically, even though they were not quite as politically potent as the Irish immigrants because of their wider dispersion across the country. The Irish and German immigrants were used politically to benefit the Americans in politics.

German and Irish immigration of the 1840?s and 1850?s increased the population of the United States and the political influence of the Americans in the United States over the British immigrants. The German and Irish immigrants brought new culture, customs, and contributions to the United States. The German and Irish influence in the United States at this time is still recognizable today in American traditions and lifestyles.