"Old Immigrants" in AP US History

Old Immigrants were the wave of newcomers from Northern and Western Europe, mainly Irish, German, and British, who arrived in the United States between the 1820s and 1880s, before the shift to Southern and Eastern European "New Immigrants" in the Gilded Age.

What is "Old Immigrants"?

"Old Immigrants" is the label historians use for the people who came to the United States from Northern and Western Europe in the early-to-mid 1800s, roughly the 1820s through the 1880s. The biggest groups were the Irish (fleeing famine in the 1840s), Germans (escaping political upheaval and seeking farmland), and British. Many spoke English or assimilated relatively quickly, and most were Protestant, though Irish and many German Catholics faced serious hostility for their religion.

Here's the thing to understand for APUSH. The term only really exists because of what came next. After about 1880, immigration shifted toward Southern and Eastern Europe and Asia, and nativists started calling the earlier arrivals "old" to mark the newer groups as different, foreign, and (in their eyes) less desirable. So "Old Immigrants" is half a description of real migration patterns and half a piece of nativist vocabulary. Knowing both halves is what makes the term useful on the exam.

Why "Old Immigrants" matters in APUSH

This term lives in Topic 6.8 (Immigration and Migration) in Unit 6, supporting learning objective APUSH 6.8.A, which asks you to explain how cultural and economic factors affected migration patterns over time. That "over time" is exactly where Old Immigrants earns its keep. The CED's essential knowledge (KC-6.2.I.A) emphasizes that Gilded Age cities attracted immigrants from Asia and Southern and Eastern Europe, which only makes sense as a change if you know who was coming before. Old Immigrants are your "before" picture. They also connect to the Migration and Settlement (MIG) theme and set up the nativism story that runs from the antebellum Know-Nothing era through the 1920s quota laws.

How "Old Immigrants" connects across the course

New Immigrants (Unit 6)

This is the pairing the exam actually tests. Old Immigrants (Northern/Western Europe, pre-1880s) versus New Immigrants (Southern/Eastern Europe and Asia, post-1880) is a classic change-over-time contrast, and nativists used the old group as the standard the new group supposedly failed to meet.

Nativism (Units 5-7)

Nativism is the through-line that makes this term work across periods. The Irish and German Catholics of the old wave faced the Know-Nothing Party in the 1850s, and the same anti-immigrant impulse later targeted New Immigrants with the Chinese Exclusion Act and eventually the 1920s quota acts. Same playbook, different targets.

Americanization (Units 6-7)

Reformers pushed New Immigrants to adopt the language, dress, and habits of the existing population, which largely meant the culture old-stock and Old Immigrant communities had already built. Old Immigrants essentially became the template that Americanization programs pressured later arrivals to copy.

African American migration (Unit 6)

KC-6.2.I.B groups them together for a reason. Just as Old and New Immigrants clustered in ethnic urban neighborhoods, African American migrants moving within and out of the South joined the same industrial workforce and faced parallel patterns of segregated city life.

Is "Old Immigrants" on the APUSH exam?

You'll most often see this term inside a comparison or change-over-time setup, not on its own. A typical multiple-choice stem gives you a nativist cartoon or an excerpt praising earlier immigrants while attacking newer ones, then asks what shift in immigration patterns it reflects. The answer hinges on knowing the old wave came from Northern and Western Europe and the new wave from Southern and Eastern Europe after 1880. No released FRQ has used "Old Immigrants" verbatim, but the concept is tailor-made for continuity-and-change essays on migration. A strong move in a Unit 6 LEQ or DBQ is to note that nativism stayed constant while its target shifted from Irish Catholics in the 1850s to Italians, Poles, and Jews in the 1890s. That's the kind of complexity point graders reward.

"Old Immigrants" vs New Immigrants

Old Immigrants came mostly from Northern and Western Europe (Ireland, Germany, Britain) between the 1820s and 1880s, often spoke English, and were largely Protestant. New Immigrants came after about 1880 from Southern and Eastern Europe (Italy, Poland, Russia) plus Asia, were often Catholic, Jewish, or Orthodox, and clustered in industrial city neighborhoods. The trap is thinking "old" means colonial-era settlers; it specifically means the 19th-century pre-1880 wave.

Key things to remember about "Old Immigrants"

• Old Immigrants were arrivals from Northern and Western Europe, mainly Irish, German, and British, who came between the 1820s and the 1880s.

• The term exists as a contrast to New Immigrants, the post-1880 wave from Southern and Eastern Europe and Asia that fueled Gilded Age industrial cities.

• Old Immigrants were not always welcomed; Irish and German Catholics faced intense nativism, including the Know-Nothing movement of the 1850s.

• Nativists later held up Old Immigrants as "assimilable" to argue that New Immigrants were not, which is how the old/new labels became loaded.

• For APUSH 6.8.A, use the old-to-new shift as evidence of how economic and cultural factors changed migration patterns over time.

Frequently asked questions about "Old Immigrants"

What were the Old Immigrants in APUSH?

Old Immigrants were the wave of newcomers from Northern and Western Europe, especially Ireland, Germany, and Britain, who arrived in the United States between roughly the 1820s and the 1880s, before immigration shifted toward Southern and Eastern Europe.

What's the difference between Old Immigrants and New Immigrants?

Old Immigrants came from Northern and Western Europe before about 1880 and were often English-speaking and largely Protestant. New Immigrants came after 1880 from Southern and Eastern Europe and Asia, were often Catholic, Jewish, or Orthodox, and concentrated in industrial cities.

Were Old Immigrants accepted when they arrived?

No, not at first. Irish Catholics fleeing the famine in the 1840s and German Catholic immigrants faced fierce nativist backlash, including the Know-Nothing Party of the 1850s. They were only recast as the "good" immigrants later, when nativists wanted to attack the newer post-1880 arrivals.

Does "Old Immigrants" mean the original colonial settlers?

No. The term refers specifically to the 19th-century wave from the 1820s to the 1880s, not to colonial-era English settlers. "Old" is relative to the "New" Immigrants who arrived after 1880.

Why did Old Immigrants come to the United States?

Push factors included the Irish potato famine of the 1840s and political unrest in the German states, while pull factors included jobs, cheap farmland, and greater opportunity for social mobility, the same cultural and economic forces APUSH 6.8.A asks you to explain.