To date, Germans make up the largest immigrant group in the United States, and more than a quarter of Americans claim German ancestry. More than seven million German immigrants have been registered since 1820, when official immigration records began to be kept. Germans immigrated to America primarily for economic reasons, but some Germans also left their country in search of religious or political freedom. They were also encouraged by their friends and family who had already found a new life in the United States. The immigrants faced a long and arduous journey before finally reaching American soil. Once they arrived in America, they typically settled in their own communities and entered the workforce as skilled workers, purchased small farms, or started their own businesses. German Americans faced opposition from native-born Americans, particularly in the 1840s and 1850s when anti-immigration movements arose. Despite the adversity that German-American immigrants faced on their journey to their new country and the hostility of other Americans once they arrived, Germans were successful in their search for opportunity and freedom in America and left a lasting cultural legacy. The Germans who immigrated to the United States in the first half of the 19th century were economical. Many Germans yearned to leave their country in search of prosperity in America. But at the turn of the century, the Napoleonic Wars broke out across Europe. They brought hard times to the populations of much of Europe. Additionally, wars made sea travel dangerous, thus slowing transatlantic immigration (Brownstone and Franck 139). When Napoleon was defeated in 1815, a new wave of German immigration arrived middle of paper...... - 1850s (Daniels, American Immigration 174). Party members were to be American-born Protestants who believed in "resisting the insidious policies of the Church of Rome and all other foreign influences against the institutions of our country, by placing in all functions the gift of the people… Protestant citizens born in the country” (175). The Know Nothing movement died out in 1860, in part because it attempted to avoid what turned out to be the greatest political issue of the time: slavery (Hoobler and Hoobler 53). In 1856, the Republican Party published its anti-slavery platform in English and German in an appeal for German votes (53). In the 1860 election, Lincoln won a close election with strong German support in key states (53). Despite this opposition, German immigration to America remained strong until the end of the 19th century..