America, bringing with them almost the last vestige of German
democratic leadership.

In the meantime, economic conditions in Germany remained
unsatisfactory and combined with political discontent to uproot a
population and transplant it to a new land. The desire to immigrate,
stimulated by the transportation companies, spread like a fever. Whole
villages sold out and, with their pastor or their physician at their
head, shipped for America. A British observer who visited the Rhine
country in 1846 commented on "the long files of carts that meet you
every mile, carrying the whole property of these poor wretches who are
about to cross the Atlantic on the faith of a lying prospectus." But
these people were neither "poor wretches" nor dupes. They had coin in
their pockets, and in their heads a more or less accurate knowledge of
the land of their desires. At this time the German bookshops were
teeming with little volumes giving, in the methodical Teutonic
fashion, conservative advice to prospective immigrants and rather
accurate descriptions of America, with statistical information and
abstracts of American laws. Many of the immigrants had further
detailed information from relatives and friends already prospering on
western farms or in rapidly growing towns. This was, therefore, far
from a pauper invasion. It included every class, even broken-down
members of the nobility. The majority were, naturally, peasants and
artisans, but there were multitudes of small merchants and farmers.
And the political refugees included many men of substantial property
and of notable intellectual attainments.[27]

Bremen was the favorite port of departure for these German emigrants
to America. Havre, Hamburg, and Antwerp were popular, and even London.
During the great rush every ship was overcrowded and none was over