-
1765
until about 1765--Europeans moved westward only as far as the eastern flanks of the Appalachian Mountains -
first national census of the United States
first national census of the United States more than two-thirds of the white population was of British origin, with Germans and Dutch next in importance. -
1760 and 1815.
Emigration to North America slowed -
1890
the U.S. Bureau of the Census was able to announce that the American settlement frontier was gone entirely. -
By 1913,
well over four-fifths of all immigrants were from these areas of Europe, especially Italy, Austria-Hungary, and Russia. -
Between about 1815 & 1914,
immigration tended to increase with each passing decade. -
limitations
The United States passed its first major legislation to restrict immigration in the 1920s. This limitation, coupled with the Great Depression of the 1930s and World War II in the 1940s, cut immigration to a fraction of its annual high in 1913. Since 1945, the number of arrivals has increased somewhat. Far more liberal immigration laws were passed in the 1960s. In the late 1980s, Mexico, the Philippines, and the West Indies provided the greatest number of migrants to the United States. -
1960 and 1987
the farm population fell from more than 15 million to under 6 million. -
1970s and 1980s
U.S. population statistics for the 1970s and 1980s suggest that a fourth major mobility period is at hand. Areas that had long experienced no change or even declining population size are growing. Much of the South is a prime example. -
1990
the United States had a population approaching 250 million, with a density of roughly 235 people per square kilometer. Three principal zones of population can be identified. First, a primary zone fills a quadrant defined approximately by the cities of Boston (Massachusetts), Chicago (Illinois), St. Louis (Missouri), and Washington, D.C. -
1990.
Whereas less than 10 percent of the population could even loosely be defined as urban in 1790, over three-quarters was urbanized by 1990.
