An Examination of the Reasons for Emigration and the Process of Assimilation in the Nineteenth Century

Throughout the past century, many historians have examined immigration from a wide variety of perspectives. Two of the most common topics discussed by these historians are the reasons for leaving the country of origin and the process of assimilation or Americanization. The first of these topics tends to focus more on situations in Europe, whether they be political, economic, social, religious, or otherwise. On the other hand, the latter topic generally looks at immigrant life in America, often including other aspects of the immigrant experience such as nativism and ethnic communities. Examining the divergent views of prominent immigration historians on these two topics not only illustrates the many ways in which the evidence on immigration can be analyzed, but also allows for a more coherent picture of the many possibilities of the immigrant experience.

In his book, A History of American Immigration, 1820-1924, George M. Stephenson summarizes the "impulses for colonization" as "(1) pressure of population; (2) religious zeal and persecution; (3) economic motives; (4) love of adventure; (5) political ambition." (Stephenson, p. 10) Philip Taylor, in The Distant Magnet: European Emigration to the U.S.A., lists as key influences "population pressing upon resources, paucity of alternative local opportunities, the growth of the United States and the spread of knowledge about that country, improvements in European and Atlantic transport." (Taylor, p. 42) While most other authors focus on only one or two of these particular choices, each has been covered by at least one author as the impetus for migration.