The United States became the land of opportunity where immigrants thought they could settle on wide expanses of unsettled land and farm successfully. As the populations in Europe grew, land became scarce and farming became more difficult.
Seller also attributes part of the large emigration from Europe to America to the land issue.
Farmers tried to provide for larger numbers of children by dividing their land among several sons instead of passing in intact to the eldest. For the German and Irish, the potato crop famine killed over a million of their population and many of those that survived, emmigrated to either England or the United States. Another reason for emigration was so people could escape a social structure that seemed oppressive. The letter in the study guide illustrates what was being said about America. It is also important to examine the demographics of the immigrants since their age, physical condition, gender and religion were important factors that helped change the face of the United States during the heavy immigration years.