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This Image depicts Irish people as ape-like savages.  They are shown beating police and civilians.  The cartoon was drawn about the celebration of St. Patrick's Day by Irish-Americans.

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As economic troubles increased abroad in Europe, the United States started to seem like an increasingly attractive option. Immigrants flooded in, providing labor for growing industrialization. Many citizens, particularly in New York, disliked and feared the predominantly Irish and German immigrants, and started a nativist movement. This brought about the Know Nothing party who took advantage of the riots and anti-immigration sentiment to easily sweep several local elections. It also resulted in the formation of several NYC Gangs such as the Bowery Boys and Five Points.

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Native New Yorkers were threatened by the diverse immigrants that were altering American culture, leading the rise of the nativist movement. For instance, New Yorkers formed anti-immigration gangs such as the Bowery Boys that were anti-Catholic and anti- Irish. They initiated street fights with other Irish American Gangs or Germans such as the Five Points and Dead Rabbits.

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Around the same time (mid-19th century), Americans felt an increased sense of nationalism and began to view immigrants as “aliens” who stole American jobs and degraded their traditions. From about the 1830s, nativists started politically and culturally attacking foreign residents, mainly Irish and Germans.

The Irish were treated as "undesirables" , receiving the lowest paying jobs and being forced into poor Irish neighborhoods. Germans were attacked for their love of beer, which was seen as immoral.

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Population of immigrants rose in the Northeast, especially NYC

about 200,000 Irish in New York City, and approximately 110,000 Germans

Foreign foods and customs became integrated into city culture through assimilation:

The American Catholic Church became Irish-dominated due to high Irish immigrant participation

German foods such as sausages and burgers became popular.

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The Know-Nothing Party formed as a result of the nativist movement and revolved around anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic sentiment, gaining the most power around the mid-1850s. At one point, they had a majority of seats in the Massachusetts legislature. However, after 1856 election, the party collapsed due to a sectionalism/slavery issue between the North and South.

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This nativism movement is indicative of a sentiment among Americans that is appearing more in modern times. The anti-immigration rhetoric is one that features heavily in the 21st century, and it’s important to see what happened with the Know Nothing Party and New York riots the first time, and to learn from the past.

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Germans faced major economic hardships around the times of the Revolutions of 1848, halting industrial expansion and causing unemployment rates to rise. Famine also caused hunger riots and violence.

The Irish faced the potato famine between 1845 and 1852, a period of mass starvation and disease. Policies from Britain restricted Irish from having real jobs or buying their own land- they had to rent from British landlords.

The United States was attractive due to jobs such as construction, in textile mills, or more from the industrial revolution. The US was also one of the only countries which accepted German immigrants.