Immigraton Laws
The first immigrants to the territory now the United States were from Western
Europe. The first great migration began early in the 19th century when large
numbers of Europeans left their homelands to escape the economic hardships
resulting from the transformation of industry by the factory system and the
simultaneous shift from small-scale to large-scale farming. At the same time,
conflict, political oppression, and religious persecution caused a great many
Europeans to seek freedom and security in the U.S.
The century following 1820 may be divided into three periods of immigration to
the U.S. During the first period, from 1820 to 1860, most of the immigrants came
from Great Britain, ...
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and Russia
constituting more than half of the total. Until World War I, immigration had
generally increased in volume every year. From 1905 to 1914 an average of more
than a million immigrants entered the U.S. every year. With the start of the war,
the volume declined sharply, and the annual average from 1915 to 1918 was little
more than 250,000. In 1921 the number again rose; 800,000 immigrants were
admitted. Thereafter the number declined in response to new conditions in Europe
and to the limitations established by U.S. law.
The first measure restricting immigration enacted by Congress was a law in 1862
banning American vessels from transporting Chinese immigrants to the U.S.; 20
years later Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act excluding Chinese
immigrants.(Immigration) In 1875, 1882, and 1892, acts passed by Congress
provided for the examination of immigrants and for the exclusion from the U.S.
of convicts, polygamists, prostitutes, persons suffering from ...
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aliens.(Immigration)
After World War I, a marked increase in racism and the growth of isolationist
sentiment in the U.S. led to demands for further restrictive legislation. In
1921 a congressional statute provided for a quota system for immigrants, whereby
the number of aliens of any nationality admitted to the U.S. in a year could not
exceed 3 percent of the number of foreign-born residents of that nationality
living in the U.S. in 1910. The law applied to nations of Europe, the Middle
East, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Asian Russia, and certain islands in the
Atlantic and Pacific.
In 1924, the basic immigration quotas were changed; the new law provided for
annual immigration quotas ...
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Immigraton Laws. (2004, April 24). Retrieved December 23, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Immigraton-Laws/6744
"Immigraton Laws." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 24 Apr. 2004. Web. 23 Dec. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Immigraton-Laws/6744>
"Immigraton Laws." Essayworld.com. April 24, 2004. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Immigraton-Laws/6744.
"Immigraton Laws." Essayworld.com. April 24, 2004. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Immigraton-Laws/6744.
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