German Emigrants
One reason that the Germans emigrated was because after the Napoleonic Wars ended in 1815 the German economy was suffering. Another reason that the Germans emigrated was because the inheritance tradition of dividing farms among families was making farms so small that they were unsuccessful. Also another reason that the Germans had emigrated was because the population of Germany grew very large and was dependent on the potato to sustain them. In 1840 Germany was then struck by potato blight which led to famine in Germany. Another push factor for the Germans to emigrate was social and economic discrimination in Germany led to the emigration of thousands of German Jews. Also another reason that the Germans emigrated was because young men wanted to escape from being conscripted in the German military service. Lastly a pull factor for the Germans to come to the United States was that the North-Central States (Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan) promoted their states for settlement among Germans with fundi g and support from their state legislatures.
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Germans SettlingWhen the Germans settled in America they settled mostly in the states of Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, Nebraska, and Iowa. Germans also had an important role in the cotton trade that was based in Louisiana so many arrived in New Orleans and later moved Northward. Other Germans who arrived in New York traveled the Erie Channel and the Great Lakes to the Midwest. When the Germans settled in the United States they got jobs doing baking, carpentry, brewing, laborers, farmers, musicians, and merchants.
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