Old Immigrants
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The term Old Immigrant came from someone who came to the United States from Northern or Western Europe (i.e. Britain, France, Germany, Ireland or Scandinavia) during the first wave of immigration in the history of the independent US (1776-1890). Many Irish left Ireland due to the Irish Potato Famine, whereas Germans fled from their small, oppressive feudal monarchies after the revolutions of 1848 failed. Many of the Old Immigrants were attracted to America because of the availability of free land, and the promise of personal or religious freedom. As most governments of Europe were dominated by the upper class nobility, the common man felt that he had little or even no say in the government of his native soil. As a result many of them came seeking a political voice or freedom from an oppressive government.
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