The Irish immigrants were seen as a threat in the mid-1800s. The anti-papist cartoons and editorials were outrageous. Then, of course, there were the eastern Europeans, but also the Italians. On the West Coast there were the Chinese immigrants.
However, my statement was not intended to mean only immigration changes the nation. It was also intended to mean political as well as technological changes. George Washington and Hamilton, for instance, could not have imagined the changes made possible by the telegraph or the transcontinental railroad.
The Irish as of yet had not brooked collectivist thought like the eastern europeans
they did later though a bit after Easter
yes technology is both a boon and a curse
none of our great leaders except Reagan and maybe Teddy could have won the photogenic teleprompter battle