apr 7, 1845 - Potato Famine

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These two groups forever changed the ethnic make up of the U.,S. population between 1840 and 1870. 1.7 million Irish entered the U.S., between 1840 and 1860, many of them fleeing a potato famine that tortured Ireland in the late 1840s. Another 1.75 million Germans entered the U.S. between 1850 and 1870. Consider that in the 1860's, 11% of U.S. population was first generation Irish or German.

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