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1492
Columbus Crosses Atlantic
Christopher Columbus landed in the Bahamas in 1492. He quickly took over the area and started a legacy of Europeans brutalizing native people with warfare and disease. -
Jamestown, VA
Jamestown Virginia was the first successful colony in the New World -
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Trans Atlantic Slave Trade
Millions of Africans were stolen from their lands and forced across the Atlantic to work for free on plantations in the Southern US, the Caribbean, and Brazil. -
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First Wave of European Immigration
Tens of Thousands of Europeans, mostly British Puritans but also Dutch and German immigrants, came to the US, mainly to escape religious persecution -
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Wave of Scottish and Irish Immigration
Throughout the 18th century, many Scottish and Irish immigrants settled inland in PA and deep into the south along the appalachians -
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Hispanic and French Immigration
Throughout the 18th century, Spaniards and Native Mexicans crossed into what is now the American Southwest. Also, French people settled along the Mississippi from New Orleans to the Great Lakes region. -
Only 100,000 Native Americans left in US
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Wave of Immigration from Britain, Ireland, Germany, and China
Irish were mainly unskilled laborers in the industrial revolution in urban areas. Germans were mainly farmers in the midwest or craftsmen in cities. Chinese began to cross pacific to work as laborers, mainly on the Trans Continental Railroad. -
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Anti Immigration Sentiments Begin
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Asian Exclusion Act
Outlawed Asian contract laborers from immigrating to US -
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Steam-powered Ships
Large, Steam powered ships replaced sailboats, which made it much faster and cheaper to come to the US -
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Wave of Immigration from Eastern Europe
Italians, Poles, Swedes, Norwegians, Greeks, Hungarians, Jews -
Emergency Quota Act
Set limits on the number of immigrants allowed into the country each year -
Border Patrol Established
Also, undocumented immigrants were made subject to deportation -
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Wave of Mexican Immigration
Mexicans were allowed in to fill jobs left open by white soldiers in WW2 -
"Operation Wetback"
Police officers stopped any 'mexican looking people' and if they didn't have their documents they were arrested and deported -
Hart-Celler Act
replaced the old quota system with a policy that gives preference to immigrants with relatives in the US or sought after job skills -
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Shift from European Immigration to non-European Immigration
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Immigration Reform and Control Act
Gave green cards to 2.7 million immigrants -
Immigration Act of 1990
Increased the number of legal immigrants allowed into the country