The Swedish Immigrant – a question of choice

(Original article by James Pat Johnson – The Vasa Star “Vasastjärnan)

(reprinted from the Texas Posten – 15 October, 1981)

As Americans and Canadians of Swedish descent we have all been told, at one time or another, of the hardships under which our pioneering forefathers struggled to begin their new lives on this great continent. Indeed, could there be among us even one who has not heard the history of a Swede who tilled the parched Illinois prairie, felled the giant timber of Minnesota, or endured the barren winters in Alberta? But perhaps fewer of us have heard why such hardships were willingly chosen. The history of how the Swedish community contributed to the growth of North America is important; but the history of why our forefathers chose to contribute, why they chose to become, as we are now, citizens of the United States and Canada, should not, therefore, be forgotten.

In 1840, the Swedish Parliament (Riksdag) enacted legislation which effectively removed the legal barriers to immigration, and thus the “First Great Wave” of Swedish immigration into North America began. Yet, it was not this legislation which gave impetus to emigration; previous law had only suppressed a genuine desire of many to leave. Two reasons stand above all for this aspiration: the economic conditions of Sweden, particularly of the rural areas, and religious persecution.

It is perhaps exaggerating to state that Swedish farmers of the early nineteenth century farmed as their ancestors had done five centuries before. But it is clear that rural Sweden had not, as yet, experienced the great leap in agricultural productivity which was necessary if output and standards of living were to keep abreast of the rapidly rising population. As demand for land increased, those with money fought for the privileges of owning a few costly acres of soil. Those without money fought for the privilege of working.

But emigration was not an easy talk in 1840. One traveled by horse, or more often by foot, to the post cities of Sweden, then my ship for up to eleven weeks to America and finally by whatever means available to one’s “new home”. Moreover, it was expensive. As such, it was more often the small independent farmers (bönder) who, fearing the possibility of one day losing their property in Sweden, chose to challenge the North American continent with its free but hostile land.

The second reason for emigration was, as with people from so many nations at that time, the quest for religious freedom. Sweden, as did most European countries during this period, professed a “true” state religion, in this case the Lutheran faith. Any attempt to renounce this compulsory doctrine resulted in the confiscation of all one’s property. In addition, the “Conventicle Edict” forbade Swedes from congregating in private homes for prayer and Bible reading (and thus began the dissident “Reading Movement” or “Lutherläsare” of the mid-nineteenth century). Emigration, then, provided the twin desires of many Swedes: land and religious freedom.

Emigration did not reach great proportions during this first “Great Wave”. Indeed, between 1841 to 1860 perhaps 15,000 made the journey. This is not to suggest only 19,000 Swedes felt a desire to emigrate, but the high costs of ocean travel and especially the lack of knowledge, at least initially, of this vast new continent proved prohibitive to the less determined.

The Swedish population in America did grow however, and their constant barrage of optimistic letters homeward helped to reduce the cautiousness of the potential emigrant. They also provided the newly emigrated with a solid base from which to begin his new life in American. Both the religious organizations and later the fraternal lodges (of which our own Vasa Order of America is best known) were active in this assistance to newcomers. With the lowering of transatlantic fares and the passage of the Homestead Act in 1862 ensuring free land, the era of mass emigration became a reality.

The “Second Great Wave” of emigration was much more clearly a response to economic conditions. The liberalization of both church doctrine and state-church laws after 1860 ensured that religion would not play a vital role in this later emigration. High population growth rates continued to characterize the Swedish economy, and the crop failures of 1868 and 1869 only served to augment “American Fever”. Over 70,000 people fled the old county at that time.

In the seventh decade a new force emerged which had profound effects on the pattern of emigration – industrialization. The growing demand for labor and the resultant high wages in the cities provided an alternative escape for the rural laborer. Yet, industrial expansion, however great, was still not capable of absorbing all who wished to flee the countryside. But now the emigrant flow stemmed more and more from the burgeoning cities. Having once uprooted himself to migrate, the newly urbanized worker found emigration a clear alternative should life prove economically unsatisfactory in his native land.

Thus, it is not surprising that the exodus to America became increasingly correlated with the fluctuations of the Swedish industrial economy. Expansionary booms meant low unemployment and high expectations for the future: periods of high unemployment encourage the search for better opportunities aboard. During the recession-plagued 1880’s (the original “Great Depression”), over 300,000 Swedes left for America.

Not all rang badly for the Swedish economy. The high birth rates of previous years fell drastically after 1880, thus allowing Sweden’s infant but expanding industrial complex to absorb a much greater proportion of new workers than before. The rise in living standards brought about by industrialization, together with the decreasing possibility of acquiring cheap land in the United States, reduce the incentive to leave. Those who did were more often skilled tradesmen, taking relatively high paying employment in the established cities and towns of the eastern states.

There were, of course, those who wished to begin anew despite the inherent risks, but increasingly a more northern climate was chose. With their abundance of free land, the Canadian prairies soon became, as was the United States between 1840 and 1870, the focus of the pioneer spirit. Yet, with the future of Sweden appearing far brighter by the early twentieth century than it had some sixty years previous, fewer and fewer chose to leave. By 1924, the year the U.S. government imposed country quota restrictions on immigration, it was already evident that the era of mass Swedish immigration was ending.

Immigration into both the United States and Canada continued after 1924 of course. And those who did come have contributed greatly to the cultural heritage of both countries. But the roots of that cultural heritage lie with those who chose to leave a profoundly different Sweden. It is their history and the history of that Sweden that must not be forgotten.