A historical look at who and why has entered the U.S. over the past 200 years

 : 450,000 immigrants from Western Europe  Colonial and Revolutionary period – English, Scottish, Germans. 50% of immigrants before 1776 were indentured servants Need for continuous labor, so turned to Africans circa 1700

 No formal restrictions on immigration – encouraged and needed  3 month boat trip – very harsh conditions

 From the 1840’s through the Civil War: 10 million immigrants  Reasons: increase in population in Europe, wars/revolutions, commercial farms were pushing small farmers off their land  Need for labor in America, especially with the railroads being built  Irish – huge potato famine. Settled in many of the American slums, worked in factories

 Chinese began coming to work on the western railroads and in gold mines  earned 1/3 of a white man’s salary  1840’s – Know-Nothing Party – secret societies to protect America from foreigners

 1880’s though World War I: 15 million Immigrants  Eastern & Southern European – Russians, Jews, Poles, Italians, Greeks  Left for economic reasons and religious persecution  Settled in Urban Ghettos  Faced extreme Nativism  Method of travel: Steam Ship – most on the lower decks with no windows, little light

 2 Major Problems Cultural Differences between this group and previous immigrants  Kept wages down - would work for practically nothing Concentrated in certain areas together to keep culture alive  Retained their languages and old identities

  End of WWI halts mass immigration to US  1922 Cable Act – if an American female marries an immigrant, she loses her U.S. citizenship

 1950-present  At first – Asia when exclusion acts were lifted  Recently, huge increase in immigrants from Middle East, Mexico, and Central America