How is the immigrants of 1845 different from the ones in 1940?

Answer 1

This depends on the country we are talking about, as there was Immigration to more countries than just the USA in 1845 and in 1940. Part of the answer is, the different times in each case reflects the difference in the group of people we are focusing on. Generally speaking, the average immigrant in 1845 was less educated than was the case in 1940. This is because the educational systems of many countries were less developed during the earlier period. As far as the US is concerned, in 1845 many immigrants came from Ireland, escaping famine and searching for employment. Many other Europeans were fleeing to America at this time, such as French, Italian, German, Polis and Russian immigrants. Many were uneducated peasants being pushed out of Europe because of the industrial revolution. In 1940 and during the next years of WWII many Jewish people immigrated to the US to escape persecution and the horrors of the war. At this time, many Chinese people were struggling with citizenship issues in the US, and in addition to this they were mistakenly thought or suspected to be Japanese and therefore enemies of the US at the time. During the war, so many American workers had been drafted into the military that employers were desperate for getting cheap labor. Therefore, it was often easier for immigrants to get work right away than it had been a hundred years earlier. Finally, many Mexicans began moving into Texas during the 1940s.