Daily Life in Immigrant America, 1820–1870

James M. Bergquist is professor emeritus of history at Villanova University and has written widely on American immigration. He is also editor of the Immigration and Ethnic Society newsletter. He lives in Philadelphia.

Daily Life in Immigrant America, 1820–1870 examines the crucial period in which mass immigration to the United States began of large numbers of persons almost exclusively from Western Europe into America. Mr. Bergquist, by explaining when so many were willing to leave home for a new land, describes in detail the gradually improving conditions of travel as an age of sail became an age of steam. In a clear exposition he shows how the immigrants, largely German and Irish, settled on Midwestern farms and eastern and Midwestern cities, from Boston and New York to St. Louis and Chicago, as well as the beginnings of organized anti-immigrant movements and the contributions of immigrants in the Civil War era. . . . It contains many features helpful to the student, including a chronology, a glossary, detailed, topically organized bibliography, and listings of videos and useful internet sites.

• Chapter 1: Overview: Immigration by the Numbers, 1820–1870Chapter 2: Leaving Home, 1820–1845Chapter 3: Across the Atlantic and into America, 1820–1845Chapter 4: Immigration at High Tide, 1845–1854Chapter 5: Developing Immigrant Communities, 1820–1855Chapter 6: Changing Immigrant Cultures, 1820–1855Chapter 7: Political Turmoil and War, 1850–1865Chapter 8: Into a New Era, 1865–1870GlossaryFor Further Reading