New Immigrants and Old

Americans at the turn of the century were alarmed about what they perceived as a change in the type of immigrants entering the United States. Some of the traits they saw as distinguishing the new immigrants from the old immigrants were real; some were imagined; some were half-true. The old immigration peaked in the 1880s. The new immigration peaked in 1907.

New immigrants and old--what people said
The old immigrants. . .	The new immigrants. . .
came from northern or western Europe	came from southern or eastern Europe
were Protestant	were not Protestant--were Catholic, Orthodox, Jewish
were literate and skilled	were illiterate and unskilled
came over as families	came over as birds of passage
were quick to assimilate	were clannish and reluctant to assimilate
were experienced in the ways of democracy	were radicals or autocrats
had some money in their pockets	arrived impoverished
were tall and fair	were short and dark

Examples of the old immigrants: English, German, Norwegian.

Examples of the new immigrants: Italians, Poles, eastern European Jews.