Questions for 11/6

1. German Jews began to come to the US in large numbers from the 1830s onwards, resulting in an immigration of about 200,000. Why did they leave Germany and how did they make a living once they arrived in America?

While some Jews came in search of economic opportunity, many came came to the US because of antisemitic restrictions on their lives such as limitations on Jewish marriages, laws against opening businesses, and the prevention of allowing Jews into various professions. Once in America, many Jews made a living by being peddlers but soon turned their businesses into large department stores, finance companies, and other large corporations we still see today.

Questions:

Why did the German Jews believe that life would be better in America than it was in Germany?

Why did European Jews settle in Midwestern and western towns, rather than living on the East coast, where they would have entered the country from?