Why did your ancestors emigrate to the USA?

Okay, if you are black, perhaps your ancestors were forced, during the slavery times, but if your ancestors came from Europe,(from the Mayflower, to 50 years ago) why did they do it? What was the process like for them, what kind of paperwork or legal documents did they have to fill?

Why did your ancestors emigrate to the USA?
Irish side - left in order to escape religious harassment (they were catholics from Northern Ireland) Went to Canada first then illegally immigrated around 1900 into North Dakota.



Italian side - Came from Italy ~1910's - looking for better economic opportunity...and found it.



It was difficult for them but it required very few papers and documentation - Health check at Ellis Island - nothing like the bureaucracy people have to go through today.
Reply:My hugenot ancestors had been living in the Netherlands for a generation or two where they had gone to escape religious persecution in France. They settled in what was at the time New Amsterdam in the early-mid 1600s. My "Palatine" ancestors came from the Pfalz(Paltine) region in southern Germany to escape religious persecution. MY Scottish ancestors came for religious freedom and land. My Irish ancestors came to escape religious persecution and genocide, also for land it seems. Some of my English ancestors came for religious freedom some came because they received land grants. You mention the Mayflower. Two of my ancestors were among the group of finaciers who backed the Mayflower expedition. My Cherokee ancestors, we are told, probably walked across the land bridge from Siberia in search of better hunting, but the theory of multiple waves of immigration and multiple points of entry to ancient America is gaining popularity. I know the Cherokee didn't bring documents. There probably weren't any immigration officers and writing had not been invented yet anyway. In the case of the Europeans I know they were on ships' passenger lists. With the exception of the hugenots who came from the Netherlands the the Europeans all came from the English controlled British Isles before American independence and they all came to British or Dutch colonies so I suppose it was a simple matter to immigrate.
Reply:more opertonity better rights