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15,000-18,000 years ago the first people to come to America were Native Americans. Native Americans establish their tribes and each tribe is its own independent nation. Up until year 1492 when Christopher Columbus came to America and saw the Native Americans he then made them his servants. -
In the early 1500s, is when enslaved Africans started coming to the U.S. This is when slavery started but it became more popular and more slaves were being used in the U.S. in the early 1600s. -
In 1607 the first English Colony was established by English settlers in Jamestown, Virginia on May 13. Jamestown was named after King James I. This was the first permanent settlement in America. -
In 1808 there was the Act of Prohibiting the Importation of Slaves. The Act started in 1807, however, the law wasn't put into effect until January 1, 1808 by the United States Constitution. -
In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation which stated that all slaves were free. Then slaves slowly began to earn freedom and rights after they were free which was a huge step forward for them. -
On May 6, 1882, President Chester A. Arthur signed the Chinese Exclusion Act. This act prohibited all immigration of Chinese people into the United States for 10 years. This act not only prohibited the migration of the Chinese into the U.S., but it made Chinese people who were already in the U.S. not eligible for citizenship. -
In the 1900s there was a total of 5.3 million Italians that came to the United States for work opportunities. 2 million Jews also came to the United States because of what was going on in Germany and WW2.