In the 19th century many of the push factors changed from previous immigration factors. Many people from Ireland during the time of the 1840s and 1850s were heavily influenced by the potato famine or "great hunger". But a main factor that was still present before and after this famine, was the Catholic religion of the people.
The divisions among the Germans became more severe during this time as well. The text states that many of these divisions were caused by geography, ideology and religion. The Scandinavians were a much smaller group than the Germans and Irish. All of these groups have their similarities and differences as to their own reasons why they came to America. The answer will vary from person- to- person. Many of the pull factors are impacted by the social and political actions during the time period of their immigration as well.
In the beginning of the text it mentions the National Origin Act of 1924, which is a apart of the Immigration Act of 1924 as well as the Asian Exclusion Act. All of these acts are to minimize the number of immigrants into the United States since the population was increasing with number of different ethnicities. This reminded me of the Japanese Exclusion Act where the United States put Japanese-American's into internment camps. This stuck to me because it reminded me of my grandfather who was placed in a camp with his family. After hearing his story, I can only imagine that these other people felt the same discrimination as the Japanese did during this time. Even today, if people are excluded from a group of friends, they feel like they don't belong or being secluded out, which is what most of these exclusion and immigration acts did.
Below is a picture of the National Origin Act of 1924, which is usually referred to as the Immigration Acts.
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