Amundsen completed the northwest passage and has been at both poles of the earth. the only man in history who has attained such a goal. But the President is a practical man.. so he informed himself as to what the Norwegians had contributed toward building up the United States. Their main immigration started a hundred years ago. butconsiderable numbers had come even before the Revolutionary War. and some as far back as the earliest colonial years. There were Norwegians in both Army and Navy during the Revolution and the War of 1812. It is said that Norwegians and their descendants in this country are now just about as numerous as the population of Norway Itself. Norway is credited with furnishing a larger number of settlers to the United States in proportion to Its population than any other European country except one. Speaking of the immigration up toward the time of the Civil War the President points out the factor this immigration was in winning that war: In the period we have been discussing nearly all the Immigration to the United States was from northern and western Europe. Through its reactions upon Europe it gave constant encouragement there to liberal thought and action. In this country. by gradually giving the North a great preponderance in numbers. it hastened the downfall of slavery and helped rid our institutions of that great and threatening anomaly.
Keywords matched
Immigration immigration