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Illinois Immigrants'
Jennifer Mason Immigrants have been coming to America for many years. This "land of liberty" offered hope for a new beginning to Irish peasants after the potato famine, to Germans after the political revolutions of the 1840s, and to others waiting to begin a better life in a new country. Not only was the whole United States affected, but the states themselves also changed over the course of time. Before the Civil War, immigrants in Illinois greatly affected politics and the Union. Illinois' population was made up of differing nationalities. Cities were favored by the Irish, even
though some were employed in the construction of railroads, and many Germans and Englishmen became successful farmers. In the 1850s the northern half of the state was home to many Europeans, while the southern half had few foreigners. At the beginning of the same decade, 38,000 foreign-born Germans lived in Illinois. At the same time there were 28,000 Irish, 18,600 English and 46,000 Scottish settlers mainly in the northwestern part of the state. Germans totaling 130,804 had settled in the state of Illinois by 1860, while 87,573 Irish also settled in Illinois. Chicago, Belleville, Galena, Quincy, Alton, Peoria, and Peru were home to most of the 130,804 Germans that decided to settle in Illinois in 1860. In the same year, the Swedish population in Illinois was about 6,470 people, but rose again in 1861 to about 7,000 people, 1,300 of which were volunteers in the Civil War for the Union. The northern half of Illinois had more immigrants than the southern half, because new settlers entered Chicago first, usually by railroad or via the Erie Canal. By 1860 the state's Scandinavian population was well over 10,000, and Norwegians mostly located around Chicago. Almost 6,000 Norwegians lived in Illinois around 1860, mostly in the northern half of the state. The rapidly growing city of Chicago showed much more prosperity and vigor in industry during the 1850s, possibly because of the larger number of immigrants in the northern half of the state as the industries were flourishing in northern Illinois. Even though Chicago was founded by the Yankees, Irish, British, and Scandinavians, immigrants came in droves between 1840 and 1890. Many Germans immigrated to Chicago because of the suppression of the democratic revolutions of the 1840s, although the Irish became the first large group of people to immigrate into Chicago after the failure of the potato crops and the problem of absentee landlords. Betweeen 1847 and 1849 the Dutch settled in the southernmost part of Chicago. Furthermore, many Scandinavians went to Chicago, along with fewer English, Welsh, and Scottish after the Irish and the Germans, raising their population in Chicago at the beginning of the Civil War to 112,172, with half of that number being foreign-born. Central and southern Illinois was settled mostly by Germans, English, Swiss, and Portuguese. In Monroe, St. Clair, Madison, and Clinton counties there were many large colonies of Germans and English. Near the Madison County community of Highland a colony was established in 1831, and in 1844 more than one hundred colonists were added, making that settlement the most important Swiss center in the state. In St. Clair County in 1815, a Swiss colony from Neufchatel was established at Dutch Hill. Thirty-four years later, two hundred Protestant Portuguese exiles from Madeira, an island off the coast of Morocco, began two settlements, one on the north side of Springfield and one in Jacksonville. People came to Illinois for several reasons. The introduction of the railroads throughout Illinois encouraged immigrants to leave the big cities and farm the prairie land. Illinois was also made more accessible to settlers by the completion of the Erie Canal. Capital and labor also played a part in immigration because of the growing factories and rapidly increasing land value. In England and Ireland, agents may have attributed to the growth in population, because they distributed literature explaining the opportunities awaiting them in the frontier states. The four main reasons for the large numbers of German and Irish settlers were the political revolutions in Europe, economic distress in Ireland, the discovery of gold in California, and the activity of emigrant agents. Politics in Illinois was influenced by immigrants. Although most German-Americans quickly joined the Democratic Party, they soon switched to the new Republican Party because of Lincoln's personality. Droves of Germans and Irish congested the cities, crowded industries, and supported political bosses. Abraham Lincoln would not have been elected to the presidency if not for Chicago and its immigrants, and Illinois would not have gone Republican in 1856 if not for the fourteen northernmost counties and their foreign settlers. An important issue was the Jonathan and Sam question, the Jonathans being antislavery, but not against foreigners, while the Sams were antiforeigner and antiCatholic. Members of a new political movement established in 1854, the Know-Nothings, pledged themselves to support a longer term of residence before foreigners could become naturalized citizens and the opposition of Roman Catholics in public office. Immigrants have been important in Illinois, especially in the period before the Civil War. They helped elect Lincoln to the presidency and in the war fought for the Union.—[From A. B. Benson, Americans from Sweden; L. N. Bergmann, Americans from Norway; H. S. Commager and S. E. Morison, The Growth of the American Republic; C. D. Linton. The Bicentennial Almanac; H. S. Lucas, Netherlanders in America; R. E. Nelson, ed., Illinois; T. C. Pease, The Frontier State; W. V. Pooley, The Settlement of Illinois from 1830 to 1850; J. Senning, The Know Nothing Movement in Illinois; Robert P. Sutton. The Prairie State.]
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