Question

True or False: If false, why? The tidal wave of immigrants between 1840 and 1860 provided essential wage laborers in an American society where large numbers of people still lived on their own land.

Answer 1

False. It took away jobs from the natives. During the second half of the 1800s the United States experienced a period of rapid economic growth. The growing economy needed more labor. Much of this work was done by immigrants. Immigrants settled in places where they could find jobs. Most found work in American factories. About half of the immigrants settled into four industrial states.

In the earliest days of American history there were no federal immigration laws. The regulation and inspection of immigrants was considered to be the responsibility of the individual seaports and states. But as the number of immigrants arriving in the United States increased regulation became necessary. As the number of immigrants increased in the 1840s, the people became worried about diseases that immigrants might carry into the United States.   Diseases such as cholera, smallpox and typhoid fever could devastate a population. At this time the U.S. government established laws and procedures that states had to follow before allowing immigrants to move in to the United States