23.4

M: Between 1820 and 1840,many Germans came to the U.S. because of political unrest and economic problems in Germany. Between 1840 and 1860,many Irish people came because of famine. The potato crop ,which they depended on, had failed. Between 1850 and 1882 ,many Chinese people came to America because of famine. The early group of immigrants came from northern Western Europe. In 1881, a large group started arriving from eastern and southern Europe. Jews from Eastern Europe came to escape religious persecution. Italians came for work. Most came to find freedom and better life. The number of immigrants grew. Between 1881 and 1920 more than 23.4 million immigrants came. In 1910,15 percent of the population was foreign born. In 1924, Congress passed a law restricting the number of immigrants and immigration slowed. In 1965, Congress opened the doors again, and immigration started to rise. In the 1960s and 1970 Cubans and the Vietnamese people came to escape political persecution. In the 1980s,Jews from the former Soviet Union crone because of anti-Semitism. And in the 1990s, Bosnians came because of war. Many people came so that they could be reunited with their families who had come before.