US Immigration History

By TySvan
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    British Colonization

    British immigration to the USA

  • Major change in how immigrants fit in

    New immigrants begin forming close-knit communities in major cities; Italians, Polish, Jewish, and Greeks
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    Irish Immigration Wave

    Potato
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    70% of immigrants come from Great Britain, Germany, and Ireland

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    New York Mayor views Irish and Germans as filthy and less than human

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    200,000 Chinese immigrate to the US

    Chinese recruited for construction crew for the transcontinental railroad

  • Chinese comprise 20-30% of labor force in California

    Work for low wages, causing other workers to lobby for laws to restrict the Chinese ability to find work. State Law barred Chinese from marrying whites or testifying against them in courts.
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    Majority of immigrants from southern eastern Europe specifically Italy, Hungary, Russia

  • Chinese Exclusion Act

    Chinese cannot immigrate to America

  • Congress passes Chinese Exclusion Act

    Prohibited Chinese workers from entering the US. Was the beginning of laws that led to complete suspension of Chinese immigration, also preventing those here from sending money back overseas.
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    30,000,000 immigrants

  • 334,000 Immigrants

  • 290 million total population

  • Census shows unbroken frontier of the west had been filed

    Great Plains and Western Valleys claimed by newcomers

  • Industrial Cities in North East and Great Lakes region look for cheap unskilled labor

  • Japanese begin Immigrating

  • 4/5 of New Yorkers are born abroad or children of immigrants

  • Anti-Immigration forces in congress want to make literacy requirement to enter the US

  • Congress overrides President Wilson's veto and creates literacy requirements

  • Law passed creating quotas for immigrants based on nation of origin.

  • Started Immigration act of 1924 AKA National Origins Act

    1924 act limits annual immigration for each European nationality to 2% of its proportion in the US Population in the 1890 census. This mostly reduces immigration by Italians, Hungarians, Poles, and other small groups.
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    National Origins Act governs US immigration Policy

  • Displaced Persons Act

    Allowed for admission of over 400,000 refugees left homeless by WWII

  • Quota system, depression, and WWII reduce immigration

  • Immigration and nationality Act

    Leads to robust economic growth and boosts immigration in nations restricted under the quota system.

  • Wave of Immigration- 700,000 people fleeing Fidel Castro in Cuba

  • Immigration law faces challenges despite strict regulation, more immigrants enter the country outside of normal routes, either as refuges or as illegal aliens.

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    Immigration begun in the largest number in the last half-century

  • Refugee Act

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    9.5 million immigrants

  • Immigration Act

  • Illegal Immigration reform and Immigrant responsibility Act

  • 1 million legal and illegal immigrants

  • Debate over national security and Immigration following 9/11

  • Major backlog of visa applications from family members of US citizens and legal residents. Around 3.6 Million