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Ulysses S Grant presidency
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Naturalization Act of 1870
Naturalization Act limits American citizenship to "white persons and persons of African descent," barring Asians from U.S. citizenship. -
Rutherford B Hayes presidency
Hayes vetoed bills created by Congress to limit immigration. -
James A Garfield presidency
Because of other issues, Garfield did little conc3erning Chinese immigration. -
Chester A. Arthur presidency
The Arthur Administration enacted the first general Federal immigration law. Arthur approved a measure in 1882 excluding paupers, criminals, and lunatics. Congress suspended Chinese immigration for ten years, later making the restriction permanent. -
Chinese Exclusion Act
The Chinese Exclusion Act was passed in order to prevent an excess of cheap labor in the U.S. and provided the deportation of those who were adjudged illegal residents. The act froze the population of the Chinese community.. Three years before, the previous president had vetoed a similar law completely restricting all immigration of -
Grover Cleveland presidency
He worked to limit Chinese immigration and to prohibit those who had left the United States to visit relatives in China from returning. The principal difference between Chinese and European immigrants, he believed, was the unwillingness of the former to assimilate into American society. -
Benjamin Harrison presidency
On April 11, 1890, President Benjamin Harrison designated Ellis Island as the site of the first federal immigration station -
1891 Immigration Act
The purpose of the act was to exclude undesirable immigrants and, perhaps more important, to assert federal control over immigration policy by directing the Treasury Department to establish the Office of the Superintendent of Immigration -
William McKinley presidency
After President William McKinley is assassinated by a Polish anarchist, Congress enacts the Anarchist Exclusion Act, which allows immigrants to be excluded on the basis of their political opinions. -
Theodore Roosevelt presidency
"Americanization" was a favorite theme of Roosevelt's during his later years, when he railed repeatedly against "hyphenated Americans" and the prospect of a nation "brought to ruins" by a "tangle of squabbling nationalities." He advocated the compulsory learning of English by every naturalized citizen. He said that "every immigrant who comes here should be required within five years to learn English or to leave the country." -
Gentlemen's Agreement of 1907
It was an informal agreement between the United States and the Empire of Japan whereby the U.S. would not impose restriction on Japanese immigration, and Japan would not allow further emigration to the U.S. The goal was to reduce tensions between the two powerful Pacific nations. The agreement was never ratified by Congress -
William Howard Taft presidency
He also participated in the negotiations that would end the Russo-Japanese War, and he helped Japan settle an immigration conflict. -
Woodrow Wilson presidency
With more than a two-thirds majority, Congress overrides President Woodrow Wilson's veto and passes the Immigration Act. The law required a literacy test for immigrants and barred Asiatic laborers, except for those from countries with special treaties or agreements with the United States, such as the Philippines -
Immigration Act of 1917
In 1917 Congress passed an immigration law that imposed a literacy test and created an Asiatic Barred Zone to shut out Asians. Aliens unable to meet minimum mental, moral, physical, and economic standards were excluded, as were anarchists and other so-called subversives. -
Emergency Quota Act
In 1921 a congressional enactment provided for a quota system for immigrants, whereby the number of aliens of any nationality admitted to the U.S. in a year could not exceed 3 percent of the number of foreign-born residents of that nationality living in the U.S. in 1910. -
Immigration Act of 1965
The 1965 amendments to the Immigration and Nationality Act abolished the national-origin quotas and established an annual limitation of 170,000 visas for immigrants from eastern hemisphere countries.
