-
Oct 12, 1492
Columbus Discovers the New World
Christopher Columbus came upon the New World while attempting to sail to Asia from Spain. Columbus came upon the Americas by finding the island Hispaniola (Haiti) and its civilizations of Native Americans. This discovery enabled nearly all people in Europe to venture to the great unknown in search of newfound freedom. -
Period: to
Colonialism
In the late 16th century, England, France, Spain and the Netherlands launched major colonization programs in eastern North America. Everywhere the death rate of the first arrivals was very high. However, successful colonies were established. European settlers came from a variety of social and religious groups. No aristocrats settled permanently, but a number of adventurers, soldiers, farmers, and tradesmen arrived. Colonists practiced mercantilism and left for America for religious freedom -
Rhode Island Formed
Roger Williams, a puritan minister who advocated for separation of church and state, was exiled from the more traditional Massachusetts Bay Colony for his beliefs. He, along with a large numbers of his followers broke apart and formed Rhode Island, which was founded upon his ideals. As years went on in colonial America, more and more followers bought in to Williams' ideas and move to Rhode Island. -
Period: to
Manifest Destiny
In the 19th century, Manifest Destiny was a widely held belief in the United States that its settlers were destined to expand and settle the western portion of North America. Historians believe Manifest Destiny was driven by the special virtues of the american people, a duty to god, and the mission to spread American values of freedom and democracy. Examples of Manifest Destiny include the settling of the west, Mexican-American War, and the Oregon boundary dispute. -
German and Irish Immigration
In the middle of the nineteenth century half the population of Ireland and an equal number of Germans emigrated to the United States. Most came because of civil unrest and economic hardships. Irish and German immigrants moved to northern industrial cities and faced fierce hostility. The Americans opposed their roman catholic religion and began to riot their ethnicity and religion. Americans also began to put up "no irish need apply" signs so no Irish people could work there. -
Homestead Act
Signed into effect by President Lincoln, the Homestead Act granted 160 acres of free land in return for any individual moving westward. This individual must upkeep, tend, and improve the land over a time period of five years. This was put in place to populate the largely unsettled Western America. Generally, young men seeking opportunity to "get rich quick" through gold mining were attracted to the vast Western America, and used the Homestead Act to move out West inexpensively. -
The American West/Frontier
Directly after the Civil War Americans began to look to the Western Frontier for economic opportunity.Economic opportunities such as gold mining arose when gold was discovered on the western coast of the United States.This internal migration was able to happen due to better transportation like the transcontinental railroad.There was cheap land available which was often purchased by either small family farms or large railroad corporations.Many Americans moved west in hope of economic opportunity. -
Chinese Exclusion Act
In the Spring of 1882, the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed by congress detering the admission of immigrating Chinese laborers into the United States for ten years. Congress believed that the entrance of more Chinese laborers would endanger buisnesses and the welfare of American workers. Chinese people who seeked to enter the U.S. not looking for work had to obtain a certificate from the Chinese government which proved they were not entering the country to find work. -
New Immigration
1880-1920
During the time of new immigration many would come from South and East Europe, as well as Asia. New culturea, religions, and languages came to America. The new immigrants were named "New Immigrants" because they came from different countries and different religions. Further, these immigrants came for economic reasons, and Americans were much harsher to this wave of immigrants than previous groups. New immigrants had to face the struggles of understanding english, immigrant discriminat -
Period: to
The Great Migration
Starting in the 1920s, African Americans took part in the Great Migration which lasted for around half a century. Many blacks in the South realized they no longer had good work farming, and decided to move to Northern cities and look for opportunities. Most of these men and women moved into cities like Chicago, Detroit and New York. There they found jobs in factory. Although they escaped Jim Crow Laws in the South, de facto discrimination still divided races. Blacks came together and expressed -
Period: to
The Great Migration (Part Two)
their communitity's cultural arts through music, literature, and art. The Jazz Age was born in the '20s. Jazz was a new hot style of music listened to by all that was primarily created by African Americans. The Harlem Renassainse was a time when cultural arts became more and more popular in Harlem, New York by the black community. The Great Migration altered the course of American History forever by further diversifying the country. -
Emergency Quota Act
The Emergency Quota Act of 1921 set a 3% quota on any nationality's population in the USA from the year 1910. This act passed during Hardings presidency, was set to limit the large influx of European immigrants into the country following problems following World War I back home in Southern and Eastern Europe. This was escpecially put in place in response to the Red Scare in America in which new immigrants with anarchist, communist, and socialist views threatened to impose them upon the USA. -
Sacco and Vanzetti Case
The Sacco and Vanzetti Case took place in the summer of 1921 in the state of Massachussetts.The men Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were charged with first degree murder and later sentenced to death by the electric chair. Both men were Italian born immigrants and anarchists which in large part caused them to be convicted and sentenced to death. They were charged with first degree muder in relation to a armed robbery and there was little evidence to prove their guilt except their heritage. -
Immigration Restriction Act of 1924
An improvement from the immigration limitation from the previous quota in 1921, the Immigration Restriction Act of 1924 set a 2% on any nationality's population in the USA from 1890. In 1890, there little "new immigrants" coming from Southern and Eastern Europe. This restrictment lessened terror or political threat by radical immigrants from those countries. Passed with a conservative president in office (Coolidge), this act showed America's isolationism during the 1920s / post Word War I. -
Period: to
Mexican Emigration (Great Depression)
During the Great Depression, economic struggles made it hard for all Americans to find steady work. Many Mexicans, especially illegal immigrants worked for cheaper pay and were often hired by employers in need of good work for little money. This angered many Americans due to Mexicans stealing jobs in a foreign country. Many of these Mexicans were discriminated against and were deported sometimes legally, but sometimes not. As a result, many left the country due to lack of work for their people. -
The Great Migration (Continued through WWII)
Even though the Great Migration began in the 1920's and came to a lull during the Great Depression, Once WWII began, African Americans moved in greater masses to the north. Many blacks left the South to avoid state enforced racial segregation under Jim Crow laws but higher wages elsewhere attracted workers as well. Black Migration stopped during the Great Depression, yet was revived with the help of WWII. Between the 1940s and 1950s over two million African Americans moved north. -
Jewish Immigration to The United States
Throughout WWII FDR and the American government did not take in or acknowledge the Jews displaced or affected by WWII. The U.S. passed strict immigration policies during WWII out of fear of refugees working as spies for the Nazis. It was not until January of 1944 that FDR took notice of Jewish refugees and set up the War Refugee Board (WRB) which helped to facilitate the rescue of imperiled refugees. Jewish immigration was greatly restricted during the war and they only get help when it was over -
Japanese Internment
Japanese internment started in WW2 shortly after the attacks on Pearl Harbour to prevent Japanese terrrorism on the homefront. This executive order mandated that all Japanese Americans on the West Coast be moved to internment camps for inland for safety purposes. To their dismay, all Japanese Americans moved slightly East and away from the coast . There they were held in camps until the end of the war, or until they volunteered to enlist and fight for the US army. -
Bracero Program
The Bracero Program was put in place during World War II to aid the war effort. This called for Mexican immigrants to be brought into the country to work on farms to sell to the government, or save for victory garders, or helped out in anyway possible for the wartime rationing process. Surpassing into the Cold War era, over 4.6 million Bracero contracts were signed into effect. This program largely added to the Mexican American population in many Southern states in America. -
Period: to
"White Flight"
After the war, there was an increase of movement of white families out of the major cities and into suburbs surrounding them. These families took their money out of the city and into the suburbs where they moved into identical neighborhoods with thousands of box-like houses. This was mainly possible due to the GI Bill of Rights which gave financial benefits to ex-soldiers to afford school and living in the newly populated suburbs. -
Immigration Act
The Immigration Act of 1965, signed into effect by President Lyndon B. Johnson as a part of his Great Society, abolished all earlier quota systems put in place that limited certain amounts of people from certain countries. Skilled worker immigrants weremost likely accepted into the U.S. by result of this act. For the first time in American history, an explosion of Asian (specifically Chinese) immigrants entered the country.
