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.S.economy began to grow morerapidly in the early 1830s.All of these factors combined to changewhat had been a consistent, although small, annual immigrationinto the beginnings of mass migration.4.Although the annual volume of immigration rose substantially fromthe early 1830s through 1854, it did not increase in a consistentfashion.The antebellum downturns in volume are only partiallyexplained by downturns in the U.S.business cycle, with otherevents, such as changes in the European economies, being impor-tant in some years.In particular, during two years 1843 and1855 immigration underwent substantial declines with no cor-responding downturn in the U.S.economy.No complete explana-tion exists for the decline in the former year.The latter decline wasrelated to the widespread outbreak of nativism in the United Statesduring the early 1850s in conjunction with the worst effects of thepotato famine having passed.5.The transatlantic passenger trade followed the established routesfor the freight trade.Thus, the percentages of ships arriving in eachmajor U.S.port New York, New Orleans, Boston, Philadelphia,and Baltimore from each major European port Liverpool, LeHavre, Bremen, Hamburg, and London differed significantly.Over the antebellum period, New York City grew in importanceas the major arrival port for the Europeans.This trend reflectedthe geographical advantages of New York City as a port, the city scapture of a larger share of the freight trade, the opening of theErie Canal, and the existence of immigrant assistance after theestablishment of the Commissioners of Emigration of the State ofNew York.6.The European immigrants who arrived before the secular increasein the late 1820s and early 1830s were highly skilled for the times, 228 Mass Migration Under Sailalmost certainly more skilled than either their country s labor forceor the existing U.S.labor force.With the various changes makingthe opportunity cost of immigrating smaller, the immigrant streamfrom each of the major source countries became much less skilledafter the early 1830s.On a comparative basis, immigrants fromGermany were more skilled than those from Great Britain, whoin turn were more skilled than those from Ireland.This orderingreflected differences in travel time to the embarkation ports, inincome levels and the availability of remittances, and in language.7.Of those immigrants traveling directly to the United States, about1.5 percent of the immigrants leaving Europe died on the voyage orsoon after arrival.This death rate was about five times higher thanamong nonmigrants of the same age.On most voyages, the deathrates were not very large.On some voyages, however, an outbreakof an infectious disease, usually cholera or typhus, led to a muchhigher death rate.Beginning in 1847, immigrants arriving in NewYork City were met by agents of the Commissioners of Emigrationof the State of New York.This agency worked in a variety of waysto assist the immigrants, and eventually established the first landingdepot in the United States at Castle Garden.8.Only a small percentage of the immigrants arriving in the UnitedStates settled in their port of arrival.In general, by 1850 immigrantswere found disproportionately in the bigger cities, almost certainlydue to greater job opportunities.German immigrants were founddisproportionately in the Midwest, the Irish more in the Northeast,and the British were the most scattered.The geographic patternreflected differences among the immigrant groups in their skill levelsand preferences for working in agriculture, in factories, and asservants.The differential financial resources of the immigrants fromthe different source countries also affected the geographic pattern.Over time, newer arrivals moved close to their countrymen andreinforced the antebellum settlement pattern.9.Overall, the immigrants experienced success in the U.S.labor mar-ket.The occupational skill level of the immigrants as recorded in theU.S
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