Immigrants had always come to America for economic opportunity and religious freedom. In the 1840's and 1850's Irish and German Catholics immigrated to America. Because Americans had prejudices against Catholics, The Irish spoke English so that they would be relieved of the prejudices and the German Catholics benefited from the good reputation of their protestant countryman. Most of these immigrants came alone planning to save some money in the US and return home to be with their families. Russian an Eastern European Jews also fled their countries due to religious persecution and came to the United States to achieve a better life. It was hard for immigrants to fit in to America, because most of they had to learn how to settle and how to find work and most had to learn a new language and new customs. This made it difficult for the immigrants to stay in America and for these reason it made the decision on rather to move to America or not a lot harder to make for foreigners. Immigrants worked with an agent who spoke their language for help finding work and housing, but many agents took advantage of the newcomers to make money. Most immigrants settled in cities close to industrial jobs in factories. They often lived in ethnic neighborhoods. About 40% of the population of San Francisco and Chicago was made up of the immigrants.
