At the beginning of the nineteenth century most American families had come from Britain, Germany and Scandinavia, and they were farmers or businesspeople. But soon that began to change.
Factories were built and cities grew; poor people arrived from other countries, hoping to find work. Between 1840 and the end of the century, about five million people came from Ireland alone. Another five million immigrants came from Italy, and millions more from Russia, Poland and other countries of Eastern Europe, hoping to find jobs and freedom. America kept an 'open door' until 1924 and about 27 million people arrived between 1880 and 1930. They were often poor, had different religions, and had not been to school for very long; there was a lot of prejudice against them.