US Immigration Timeline
A New Land
1492-1790
Building a Modern America -
1965 - Present
The American Dream -
1880-1930
A Place of Refuge:
1930 - 1965
Expanding America -
1790-1880
Back to Timeline
1634–1680s: Religious Freedom
A New Land - 1492-1790
The beautiful land of the New World amazed the European explorers who arrived on North American shores around 1500. They realized the economic possibilities of the fertile soil and many natural resources. In the 17th century, Europeans established successful permanent settlements in what is now the United States. The European settlers soon dominated the Native American civilizations, which had existed for thousands of years. The major European powers (including England, Spain, and France) established colonies, which are lands controlled by a faraway government. The people who lived in the colonies were called colonists. Enduring great hardship, the colonists built new communities in the New World.
1492–1500s: The Explorers
1565–1600s: New Settlements
1680–1776: Expanding Colonies / 1776–1790: A New Nation
1619: Slavery Begins
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1820: The Irish and Germans
Expanding America - 1790-1880
In the decades after the Revolutionary War, the 13 original colonies grew to include states stretching from Maine in the north to Louisiana in the south; from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to Illinois in the west. As a new nation, the United States of America thrived. By 1820, the population had grown to nearly 10 million people. The quality of life for ordinary people was improving. People were moving west, creating towns along the route of the Transcontinental Railroad, which connected the entire country by rail, east to west, for the first time. The prosperous young country lured Europeans who were struggling with population growth, land redistribution, and industrialization, which had changed the traditional way of life for peasants. These people wanted to escape poverty and hardship in their home countries. More than 8 million would come to the United States from 1820 to 1880.
1862: The Homestead Act
1808: Slavery Continues
1845–1851: The Irish Potato Famine
1861: Civil War and the End of Slavery
1863–1869: The Transcontinental Railroad
Back to Timeline
1920: Building America
The American Dream - 1880-1930
By 1880, America was booming. The image of America as a land of promise attracted people from all over the world. On the East Coast, Ellis Island welcomed new immigrants, largely from Europe. America was "the golden door," a metaphor for a prosperous society that welcomed immigrants. Asian immigrants, however, didn't have the same experience as European immigrants. They were the focus of one of the first major pieces of legislation on immigration. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 severely restricted immigration from China. And the 1907 "Gentlemen's Agreement" between Japan and the United States was an informal agreement that limited immigration from Japan. Despite those limitations, nearly 30 million immigrants arrived from around the world during this great wave of immigration, more than at any time before.
1892: Ellis Island
1920–1930: Backlash
1900s: Bursting Cities
1910: Angel Island
Back to Timeline
A Place of Refuge: 1930 - 1965
From 1930 to 1965, the world underwent a great deal of strife, conflict, and change. The United States suffered through the Great Depression in the 1930s. America no longer looked like the land of opportunity, and few immigrants came. From the late '30s to 1945, World War II locked Europe, Japan, and a great deal of the Pacific Rim in conflict. In the postwar period, much of Europe was physically and economically in ruin. Europeans started looking to America again as a place of refuge. The idea of the immigrant as refugee, from both hardship and oppressive regimes, would change how the country thought about immigration in this period and beyond.
1950–1965: The Cold War Begins
1930s: The Great Depression and War in Europe
1940–1950: World War II and the Postwar Period (Part 2)
1940–1950: World War II and the Postwar Period (Part 1)
Back to Timeline
Building a Modern America - 1965 - Present
A major change to immigration legislation in 1965 paved the way for new waves of immigration from all over of the world. Asians and Latin Americans arrived in large numbers, while European immigration declined. Today, immigration to the United States is at its highest level since the early 20th century. In fact, as a result of the variety of these recent immigrants, the United States has become a truly multicultural society. The story of America — who we are and where we come from — is still being written.
1980s: Latin American Immigration
1965: Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965
1990–Today: A Multicultural America
1965–1980: Vietnamese Immigration and the Refugee Act
1930s: The Great Depression and War in Europe
In the 1930s, the country was going through the Great Depression, a terrible period of economic hardship. People were out of work, hungry, and extremely poor. Few immigrants came during this period; in fact, many people returned to their home countries. Half a million Mexicans left, for example, in what was known as the Mexican Repatriation. Unfortunately, many of those Mexicans were forced to leave by the U.S. government. In 1933, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) was formed. It still exists today. In 1938, World War II started in Europe. America was again concerned about protecting itself. Fears about foreign-born people continued to grow.
As a result of the turmoil in the 1930s, immigration figures dropped dramatically from where they had been in previous decades. In the 1920s, approximately 4,300,000 immigrants came to the United States; in the 1930s, fewer than 700,000 arrived.
1900s: Bursting Cities
New immigrants flooded into cities. In places like New York and Chicago, groups of immigrants chose to live and work near others from their home countries. Whole neighborhoods or blocks could be populated with people from the same country. Small pockets of America would be nicknamed "Little Italy" or "Chinatown."Immigrants often lived in poor areas of the city. In New York, for example, whole families crowded into tiny apartments in tenement buildings on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Many organizations were formed to try to help the new immigrants adjust to life in America. Settlement houses, such as Hull House in Chicago, and religious-based organizations worked to help the immigrants learn English and life skills, such as cooking and sewing.
1680–1776: Expanding Colonies / 1776–1790: A New Nation
In 1783, with the help of the French, who had joined their side, the colonists won the war. The United States of America was a new nation. The new government conducted a census, or count, of everyone living in the United States. At the time of the first census in 1790, nearly 700,000 Africans and 3 million Europeans lived in the new United States. By the time of the Revolutionary War, about 2.5 million people lived in the colonies, including approximately 450,000 Africans; 200,000 Irish; 500,000 Scottish and Scotch-Irish; 140,000 Germans; and 12,000 French.
1920: Building America
Many of the immigrants who arrived in the early 20th century were poor and hardworking. They took jobs paving streets, laying gas lines, digging subway tunnels, and building bridges and skyscrapers. They also got jobs in America’s new factories, where conditions could be dangerous, making shoes, clothing, and glass products. Immigrants fueled the lumber industry in the Pacific Northwest, the mining industry in the West, and steel manufacturing in the Midwest. They went to the territory of Hawaii to work on sugar cane plantations. Eventually, they bargained for better wages and improved worker safety. They were on the road to becoming America’s middle class.
1940–1950: World War II and the Postwar Period (Part 2)
After World War II, the U.S. economy began to improve. Many people wanted to leave war-torn Europe and come to America. President Harry S. Truman urged the government to help the “appalling dislocation” of hundreds of thousands of Europeans. In 1945, Truman said, “everything possible should be done at once to facilitate the entrance of some of these displaced persons and refugees into the United States.”On January 7, 1948, Truman urged Congress to “pass suitable legislation at once so that this Nation may do its share in caring for homeless and suffering refugees of all faiths.” Later that year, Congress passed the Displaced Persons Act of 1948, allowing refugees who otherwise wouldn’t have been permitted under existing immigration law to come to the United States. Truman supported the act, saying, “I believe that the admission of these persons will add to the strength and energy of the Nation.” The Displaced Persons Act marked the beginning of a new era of refugee immigration to the United States.
1634–1680s: Religious Freedom
After the Pilgrims, many other immigrants came to America for the religious freedom it offered. The colony of Maryland was founded in 1634 as a refuge for Catholics, who were persecuted in England in the 17th century. In 1681, William Penn began a Quaker colony in the land that was later named after him: Pennsylvania. The main settlement was Philadelphia, which prospered through farming and commerce. In 1685, 14,000 Huguenots who were persecuted in France also joined the growing English colonies.
1565–1600s: New Settlements
European nations—including Spain, France, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, and England—vied to claim pieces of the new land. In the 1600s, England founded colonies along the Atlantic seaboard, from what is now New Hampshire to Georgia. These original 13 colonies would eventually become the United States of America. Spain founded a colony at Saint Augustine, Florida, as early as 1565 and would go on to claim parts of what are now the states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. France established colonies along the Saint Lawrence River, in what is now Canada; and also in the southern part of North America, in the region that is now Louisiana. The Dutch began the settlement of New Amsterdam on the southern tip of what is now Manhattan Island, home to part of New York City. The European countries often fought each over ownership of the new land; more land meant more power and economic opportunity.
1892: Ellis Island
In 1892, President Benjamin Harrison designated Ellis Island in New York Harbor as the nation's first immigration station. At the time, people traveled across the Atlantic Ocean by steamship to the bustling port of New York City. The trip took one to two weeks, much faster than in the past (when sailing ships were the mode of transportation), a fact that helped fuel the major wave of immigration. For many immigrants, one of their first sights in America was the welcoming beacon of the Statue of Liberty, which was dedicated in 1886. Immigrants were taken from their ships to be processed at Ellis Island before they could enter the country.
Vist Ellis Island
About 12 million immigrants would pass through Ellis Island during the time of its operation, from 1892 to 1954. Many of them were from Southern and Eastern Europe. They included Russians, Italians, Slavs, Jews, Greeks, Poles, Serbs, and Turks.
1980s: Latin American Immigration
During the 1980s, large numbers of immigrants arrived from Central America, the Caribbean, and South America. Hundreds of thousands came from Cuba, fleeing Fidel Castro’s dictatorship. This marked a major new immigration wave: during the 1980s, 8 million immigrants came from Latin America—almost equal to the number of European immigrants who came between 1900 and 1910.This new immigration wave changed America’s population makeup. By 1990, Latinos made up about 11.2 percent of the U.S. population.
1820: The Irish and Germans
In the early and mid-19th century, nearly all of the immigrants coming to the United States arrived from northern and western Europe. In 1860, seven out of 10 foreign-born people in the United States were Irish or German. Most of the Irish were coming from poor circumstances. With little money to travel any further, they stayed in the cities where they arrived, such as Boston and New York City. More than 2,335,000 Irish arrived between 1820 and 1870. The Germans who came during the time period were often better off than the Irish were. They had enough money to journey to the Midwestern cities, such as Chicago, Cincinnati, and St. Louis, or to claim farmland. More than 2,200,000 Germans arrived between 1820 and 1870.
1920–1930: Backlash
By the 1920s, America had absorbed millions of new immigrants. The country had just fought in the "Great War," as World War I was known then. People became suspicious of foreigners’ motivations. Some native-born Americans started to express their dislike of foreign-born people. They were fearful that immigrants would take the available jobs.Some Americans weren’t used to interacting with people who spoke different languages, practiced a different religion, or were a different race. Racism, anti-Semitism, and xenophobia (fear and hatred of foreigners) were the unfortunate result. In 1924, Congress passed the National Origins Act, which placed restrictions and quotas on who could enter the country. The annual quotas limited immigration from any country to 3 percent of the number of people from that country who were living in the United States in 1890. The effect was to exclude Asians, Jews, Blacks, and non-English speakers.
1861: Civil War and the End of Slavery
- In the early 1860s, the United States was in crisis. The Northern and Southern states could not agree on the issue of slavery. Most people in the North believed slavery was wrong, while many in the South—where plantations depended on enslaved labor—wanted to continue the practice. In 1861, the Civil War began between the North and South. It was an extremely bloody conflict; over 600,000 people would die in the fighting.
- Many immigrants fought in the war. Since immigrants had settled mostly in the North, where factories provided jobs and small farms were available, hundreds of thousands of foreign-born men fought for the Union.
- In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring that all enslaved people in the rebelling Southern states were free. This marked the beginning of the end of slavery. To ensure that abolition was permanent, Congress passed the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, outlawing slavery throughout the United States. The 14th Amendment, adopted in 1868, declared that African Americans were citizens of the United States. By 1870, African Americans numbered nearly 5 million and made up about 12.7 percent of the U.S. population.
1965: Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965
In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Immigration and Naturalization Act, also known as the Hart-Celler Act. This act repealed the quota system based on national origins that had been in place since 1921. It was the most significant change to immigration policy in decades. Instead of quotas, immigration policy was now based on a preference for reuniting families and bringing highly skilled workers to the United States. This was a major change because in the past, many immigrants were less skilled and less educated than the average American worker. In the modern period, many immigrants would be doctors, scientists, and high-tech workers.
Because Europe was recovering from World War II, fewer Europeans decided to move to America. However, people from other parts of the world were eager to come. Asians and Latin Americans became two of the most significant groups in the new wave of immigration. Within five years after the act was signed, Asian immigration had doubled.
1619: Slavery Begins
Africans first arrived in North America in 1619. In that year, 20 African people were brought to the Jamestown colony aboard a Dutch warship. They were slaves. They had been taken from their homes in Africa by force. They were beaten and enchained by men carrying weapons. Over the next almost 200 years, hundreds of thousands of Africans would be brought to America as slaves to work on plantations, especially to grow tobacco. By the end of the colonial period, Africans numbered about 500,000 and formed about 20 percent of the population of the United States.
1845–1851: The Irish Potato Famine
In 1845, a famine began in Ireland. A potato fungus, also called blight, ruined the potato crop for several years in a row. Potatoes were a central part of the Irish diet, so hundreds of thousands of people now didn’t have enough to eat. At the same time of the famine, diseases, such as cholera, were spreading. Starvation and disease killed more than a million people. These extreme conditions caused mass immigration of Irish people to the United States. Between 1846 and 1852, more than a million Irish are estimated to have arrived in America. The men found jobs building railroads, digging canals, and working in factories; they also became policemen and firemen. Irish women often worked as domestic servants. Even after the famine ended, Irish people continued to come to America in search of a better life. More than 3.5 million Irish in total had arrived by 1880.
1862: The Homestead Act
In the late 19th century, America was looking west. People began moving away from the now crowded Eastern cities. Some were motivated by the Homestead Act of 1862, which offered free land from the government. The government offered to give 160 acres of land—considered a good size for a single family to farm—in areas including Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas, and Nebraska. Homesteaders were required to stay on the land, build a home, and farm the land for five years. The offer attracted migrants from inside the country—and waves of more immigrants from Europe. For example, many people from Sweden, where land was extremely scarce, were drawn to come to the United States. These brave settlers worked hard to start a new life on the frontier. Though life was difficult, many succeeded.
1910: Angel Island
On the West Coast, Asian immigrants were processed at Angel Island, often called the "Ellis Island of the West." Angel Island, which lies off the coast of San Francisco, opened in 1910. Although the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 restricted immigration, 175,000 Chinese came through Angel Island over a period of three decades. They were overwhelmingly the main group processed here; in fact, 97 percent of the immigrants who passed through Angel Island were from China.
Visit Angle Island
1990–Today: A Multicultural America
Since 1990, immigration has continued to grow, reaching its highest point in U.S. history. In the 1990s and 2000s, about 10 million new immigrants entered the country, surpassing the 8 million who arrived between 1900 and 1910.By 2000, the United States had 28.4 million foreign-born residents. That same year, California became the first state where no single ethnic group made up a majority. Today, over 80 percent of immigrants come from Latin America or Asia. The main countries of origin for modern immigrants include Mexico, the Philippines, China, Cuba, and India. About 1 in 10 U.S. residents is foreign-born, making the United States a truly multicultural society.
1863–1869: The Transcontinental Railroad
The Transcontinental Railroad was a massive construction project that linked the country by rail from east to west. The railway was built entirely by hand during a six-year period, with construction often continuing around the clock. Chinese and Irish immigrants were vital to the project. In 1868, Chinese immigrants made up about 80 percent of the workforce of the Central Pacific Railroad, one of the companies building the railway. The workers of the Union Pacific Railroad, another company that built the railroad, were mostly Irish immigrants. These railroad workers labored under dangerous conditions, often risking their lives. After the Transatlantic Railroad was completed, cities and towns sprang up all along its path, and immigrants moved to these new communities. The Transcontinental Railroad was a radical improvement in travel in the United States; after its completion, the trip from East Coast to West Coast, which once took months, could be made in five days.
1808: Slavery Continues
At the turn of the 19th century, more than 1 million African Americans lived in the United States. As slaves, they were not considered citizens. Large farms and plantations depended on the free labor they provided in fields and homes. It was difficult, backbreaking work. In 1808, the United States government banned the importation of enslaved people into the country, although the practice did continue illegally. Slavery, however, was not abolished for nearly 60 more years.
1950–1965: The Cold War Begins
In 1953, the Refugee Relief Act replaced the earlier Displaced Persons Act, allowing more refugees—including non-Europeans—to enter the United States. This reflected U.S. concerns about Communism spreading under Soviet control. President Dwight D. Eisenhower said the act showed America’s commitment to helping “the homeless and persecuted” from communist nations.In 1956, about 36,000 Hungarians fled to the U.S. after a failed revolt against Soviet rule. A few years later, in 1959, Fidel Castro took power in Cuba and aligned with the Soviet Union, prompting more than 200,000 Cubans to flee, many settling in Florida. During this time, the United States strengthened its role as a refuge for people escaping communist governments.
1940–1950: World War II and the Postwar Period (Part 1)
The United States entered World War II in 1942. During the war, immigration decreased. There was fighting in Europe, transportation was interrupted, and American consulates weren’t open. Fewer than 10 percent of the immigration quotas from Europe were used from 1942 to 1945. In many ways, the country was still fearful of the influence of foreign-born people. The United States was fighting Germany, Italy, and Japan (the Axis Powers), and the U.S. government decided to detain certain resident aliens of those countries. (Resident aliens are people living permanently in the United States but who are not citizens.) Oftentimes, there was no reason for these people to be detained other than fear and racism. Beginning in 1942, the government even detained American citizens who were ethnically Japanese. This occurred despite the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which says, “nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law.” Also because of the war, the Chinese Exclusion Act was repealed in 1943. China had quickly become an important ally of the United States against Japan, and the U.S. government did away with the offensive law. Chinese immigrants could once again legally enter the country, although they did so only in small numbers for the next couple of decades.
1965–1980: Vietnamese Immigration and the Refugee Act
During the 1960s and 1970s, the United States became involved in the Vietnam War in Southeast Asia. After the war ended, many Vietnamese refugees began coming to America. During the 1970s, about 120,000 Vietnamese arrived, and hundreds of thousands more followed over the next two decades. In 1980, the government passed the Refugee Act, which was designed to help refugees who needed to flee their countries. Refugees come because they fear persecution due to their race, religion, political beliefs, or other reasons. The United States and other countries signed treaties agreeing to protect and assist refugees. The Refugee Act guaranteed this right for immigrants coming to America.
1492–1500s: The Explorers
In 1492, Christopher Columbus, an Italian explorer and excellent sailor, crossed the Atlantic Ocean in search of a shorter trade route to Asia. After more than two months at sea, he landed in the Bahamas in the Caribbean islands. Although Columbus never reached the mainland of North America, he had discovered the gateway to a vast continent unexplored by Europeans. Columbus returned to Europe believing he had reached previously unknown islands in Asia. Word of the new route spread in Europe. Over the next few decades, other explorers followed in Columbus's wake, hoping to take advantage of the shortcut to Asia. It would be another Italian explorer, named Amerigo Vespucci, who realized that what had actually been discovered was a continent unknown to Europeans. He called it the New World.
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Transcript
US Immigration Timeline
A New Land
1492-1790
Building a Modern America -
1965 - Present
The American Dream -
1880-1930
A Place of Refuge:
1930 - 1965
Expanding America -
1790-1880
Back to Timeline
1634–1680s: Religious Freedom
A New Land - 1492-1790
The beautiful land of the New World amazed the European explorers who arrived on North American shores around 1500. They realized the economic possibilities of the fertile soil and many natural resources. In the 17th century, Europeans established successful permanent settlements in what is now the United States. The European settlers soon dominated the Native American civilizations, which had existed for thousands of years. The major European powers (including England, Spain, and France) established colonies, which are lands controlled by a faraway government. The people who lived in the colonies were called colonists. Enduring great hardship, the colonists built new communities in the New World.
1492–1500s: The Explorers
1565–1600s: New Settlements
1680–1776: Expanding Colonies / 1776–1790: A New Nation
1619: Slavery Begins
Back to Timeline
1820: The Irish and Germans
Expanding America - 1790-1880
In the decades after the Revolutionary War, the 13 original colonies grew to include states stretching from Maine in the north to Louisiana in the south; from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to Illinois in the west. As a new nation, the United States of America thrived. By 1820, the population had grown to nearly 10 million people. The quality of life for ordinary people was improving. People were moving west, creating towns along the route of the Transcontinental Railroad, which connected the entire country by rail, east to west, for the first time. The prosperous young country lured Europeans who were struggling with population growth, land redistribution, and industrialization, which had changed the traditional way of life for peasants. These people wanted to escape poverty and hardship in their home countries. More than 8 million would come to the United States from 1820 to 1880.
1862: The Homestead Act
1808: Slavery Continues
1845–1851: The Irish Potato Famine
1861: Civil War and the End of Slavery
1863–1869: The Transcontinental Railroad
Back to Timeline
1920: Building America
The American Dream - 1880-1930
By 1880, America was booming. The image of America as a land of promise attracted people from all over the world. On the East Coast, Ellis Island welcomed new immigrants, largely from Europe. America was "the golden door," a metaphor for a prosperous society that welcomed immigrants. Asian immigrants, however, didn't have the same experience as European immigrants. They were the focus of one of the first major pieces of legislation on immigration. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 severely restricted immigration from China. And the 1907 "Gentlemen's Agreement" between Japan and the United States was an informal agreement that limited immigration from Japan. Despite those limitations, nearly 30 million immigrants arrived from around the world during this great wave of immigration, more than at any time before.
1892: Ellis Island
1920–1930: Backlash
1900s: Bursting Cities
1910: Angel Island
Back to Timeline
A Place of Refuge: 1930 - 1965
From 1930 to 1965, the world underwent a great deal of strife, conflict, and change. The United States suffered through the Great Depression in the 1930s. America no longer looked like the land of opportunity, and few immigrants came. From the late '30s to 1945, World War II locked Europe, Japan, and a great deal of the Pacific Rim in conflict. In the postwar period, much of Europe was physically and economically in ruin. Europeans started looking to America again as a place of refuge. The idea of the immigrant as refugee, from both hardship and oppressive regimes, would change how the country thought about immigration in this period and beyond.
1950–1965: The Cold War Begins
1930s: The Great Depression and War in Europe
1940–1950: World War II and the Postwar Period (Part 2)
1940–1950: World War II and the Postwar Period (Part 1)
Back to Timeline
Building a Modern America - 1965 - Present
A major change to immigration legislation in 1965 paved the way for new waves of immigration from all over of the world. Asians and Latin Americans arrived in large numbers, while European immigration declined. Today, immigration to the United States is at its highest level since the early 20th century. In fact, as a result of the variety of these recent immigrants, the United States has become a truly multicultural society. The story of America — who we are and where we come from — is still being written.
1980s: Latin American Immigration
1965: Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965
1990–Today: A Multicultural America
1965–1980: Vietnamese Immigration and the Refugee Act
1930s: The Great Depression and War in Europe
In the 1930s, the country was going through the Great Depression, a terrible period of economic hardship. People were out of work, hungry, and extremely poor. Few immigrants came during this period; in fact, many people returned to their home countries. Half a million Mexicans left, for example, in what was known as the Mexican Repatriation. Unfortunately, many of those Mexicans were forced to leave by the U.S. government. In 1933, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) was formed. It still exists today. In 1938, World War II started in Europe. America was again concerned about protecting itself. Fears about foreign-born people continued to grow.
As a result of the turmoil in the 1930s, immigration figures dropped dramatically from where they had been in previous decades. In the 1920s, approximately 4,300,000 immigrants came to the United States; in the 1930s, fewer than 700,000 arrived.
1900s: Bursting Cities
New immigrants flooded into cities. In places like New York and Chicago, groups of immigrants chose to live and work near others from their home countries. Whole neighborhoods or blocks could be populated with people from the same country. Small pockets of America would be nicknamed "Little Italy" or "Chinatown."Immigrants often lived in poor areas of the city. In New York, for example, whole families crowded into tiny apartments in tenement buildings on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Many organizations were formed to try to help the new immigrants adjust to life in America. Settlement houses, such as Hull House in Chicago, and religious-based organizations worked to help the immigrants learn English and life skills, such as cooking and sewing.
1680–1776: Expanding Colonies / 1776–1790: A New Nation
In 1783, with the help of the French, who had joined their side, the colonists won the war. The United States of America was a new nation. The new government conducted a census, or count, of everyone living in the United States. At the time of the first census in 1790, nearly 700,000 Africans and 3 million Europeans lived in the new United States. By the time of the Revolutionary War, about 2.5 million people lived in the colonies, including approximately 450,000 Africans; 200,000 Irish; 500,000 Scottish and Scotch-Irish; 140,000 Germans; and 12,000 French.
1920: Building America
Many of the immigrants who arrived in the early 20th century were poor and hardworking. They took jobs paving streets, laying gas lines, digging subway tunnels, and building bridges and skyscrapers. They also got jobs in America’s new factories, where conditions could be dangerous, making shoes, clothing, and glass products. Immigrants fueled the lumber industry in the Pacific Northwest, the mining industry in the West, and steel manufacturing in the Midwest. They went to the territory of Hawaii to work on sugar cane plantations. Eventually, they bargained for better wages and improved worker safety. They were on the road to becoming America’s middle class.
1940–1950: World War II and the Postwar Period (Part 2)
After World War II, the U.S. economy began to improve. Many people wanted to leave war-torn Europe and come to America. President Harry S. Truman urged the government to help the “appalling dislocation” of hundreds of thousands of Europeans. In 1945, Truman said, “everything possible should be done at once to facilitate the entrance of some of these displaced persons and refugees into the United States.”On January 7, 1948, Truman urged Congress to “pass suitable legislation at once so that this Nation may do its share in caring for homeless and suffering refugees of all faiths.” Later that year, Congress passed the Displaced Persons Act of 1948, allowing refugees who otherwise wouldn’t have been permitted under existing immigration law to come to the United States. Truman supported the act, saying, “I believe that the admission of these persons will add to the strength and energy of the Nation.” The Displaced Persons Act marked the beginning of a new era of refugee immigration to the United States.
1634–1680s: Religious Freedom
After the Pilgrims, many other immigrants came to America for the religious freedom it offered. The colony of Maryland was founded in 1634 as a refuge for Catholics, who were persecuted in England in the 17th century. In 1681, William Penn began a Quaker colony in the land that was later named after him: Pennsylvania. The main settlement was Philadelphia, which prospered through farming and commerce. In 1685, 14,000 Huguenots who were persecuted in France also joined the growing English colonies.
1565–1600s: New Settlements
European nations—including Spain, France, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, and England—vied to claim pieces of the new land. In the 1600s, England founded colonies along the Atlantic seaboard, from what is now New Hampshire to Georgia. These original 13 colonies would eventually become the United States of America. Spain founded a colony at Saint Augustine, Florida, as early as 1565 and would go on to claim parts of what are now the states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. France established colonies along the Saint Lawrence River, in what is now Canada; and also in the southern part of North America, in the region that is now Louisiana. The Dutch began the settlement of New Amsterdam on the southern tip of what is now Manhattan Island, home to part of New York City. The European countries often fought each over ownership of the new land; more land meant more power and economic opportunity.
1892: Ellis Island
In 1892, President Benjamin Harrison designated Ellis Island in New York Harbor as the nation's first immigration station. At the time, people traveled across the Atlantic Ocean by steamship to the bustling port of New York City. The trip took one to two weeks, much faster than in the past (when sailing ships were the mode of transportation), a fact that helped fuel the major wave of immigration. For many immigrants, one of their first sights in America was the welcoming beacon of the Statue of Liberty, which was dedicated in 1886. Immigrants were taken from their ships to be processed at Ellis Island before they could enter the country.
Vist Ellis Island
About 12 million immigrants would pass through Ellis Island during the time of its operation, from 1892 to 1954. Many of them were from Southern and Eastern Europe. They included Russians, Italians, Slavs, Jews, Greeks, Poles, Serbs, and Turks.
1980s: Latin American Immigration
During the 1980s, large numbers of immigrants arrived from Central America, the Caribbean, and South America. Hundreds of thousands came from Cuba, fleeing Fidel Castro’s dictatorship. This marked a major new immigration wave: during the 1980s, 8 million immigrants came from Latin America—almost equal to the number of European immigrants who came between 1900 and 1910.This new immigration wave changed America’s population makeup. By 1990, Latinos made up about 11.2 percent of the U.S. population.
1820: The Irish and Germans
In the early and mid-19th century, nearly all of the immigrants coming to the United States arrived from northern and western Europe. In 1860, seven out of 10 foreign-born people in the United States were Irish or German. Most of the Irish were coming from poor circumstances. With little money to travel any further, they stayed in the cities where they arrived, such as Boston and New York City. More than 2,335,000 Irish arrived between 1820 and 1870. The Germans who came during the time period were often better off than the Irish were. They had enough money to journey to the Midwestern cities, such as Chicago, Cincinnati, and St. Louis, or to claim farmland. More than 2,200,000 Germans arrived between 1820 and 1870.
1920–1930: Backlash
By the 1920s, America had absorbed millions of new immigrants. The country had just fought in the "Great War," as World War I was known then. People became suspicious of foreigners’ motivations. Some native-born Americans started to express their dislike of foreign-born people. They were fearful that immigrants would take the available jobs.Some Americans weren’t used to interacting with people who spoke different languages, practiced a different religion, or were a different race. Racism, anti-Semitism, and xenophobia (fear and hatred of foreigners) were the unfortunate result. In 1924, Congress passed the National Origins Act, which placed restrictions and quotas on who could enter the country. The annual quotas limited immigration from any country to 3 percent of the number of people from that country who were living in the United States in 1890. The effect was to exclude Asians, Jews, Blacks, and non-English speakers.
1861: Civil War and the End of Slavery
1965: Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965
In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Immigration and Naturalization Act, also known as the Hart-Celler Act. This act repealed the quota system based on national origins that had been in place since 1921. It was the most significant change to immigration policy in decades. Instead of quotas, immigration policy was now based on a preference for reuniting families and bringing highly skilled workers to the United States. This was a major change because in the past, many immigrants were less skilled and less educated than the average American worker. In the modern period, many immigrants would be doctors, scientists, and high-tech workers.
Because Europe was recovering from World War II, fewer Europeans decided to move to America. However, people from other parts of the world were eager to come. Asians and Latin Americans became two of the most significant groups in the new wave of immigration. Within five years after the act was signed, Asian immigration had doubled.
1619: Slavery Begins
Africans first arrived in North America in 1619. In that year, 20 African people were brought to the Jamestown colony aboard a Dutch warship. They were slaves. They had been taken from their homes in Africa by force. They were beaten and enchained by men carrying weapons. Over the next almost 200 years, hundreds of thousands of Africans would be brought to America as slaves to work on plantations, especially to grow tobacco. By the end of the colonial period, Africans numbered about 500,000 and formed about 20 percent of the population of the United States.
1845–1851: The Irish Potato Famine
In 1845, a famine began in Ireland. A potato fungus, also called blight, ruined the potato crop for several years in a row. Potatoes were a central part of the Irish diet, so hundreds of thousands of people now didn’t have enough to eat. At the same time of the famine, diseases, such as cholera, were spreading. Starvation and disease killed more than a million people. These extreme conditions caused mass immigration of Irish people to the United States. Between 1846 and 1852, more than a million Irish are estimated to have arrived in America. The men found jobs building railroads, digging canals, and working in factories; they also became policemen and firemen. Irish women often worked as domestic servants. Even after the famine ended, Irish people continued to come to America in search of a better life. More than 3.5 million Irish in total had arrived by 1880.
1862: The Homestead Act
In the late 19th century, America was looking west. People began moving away from the now crowded Eastern cities. Some were motivated by the Homestead Act of 1862, which offered free land from the government. The government offered to give 160 acres of land—considered a good size for a single family to farm—in areas including Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas, and Nebraska. Homesteaders were required to stay on the land, build a home, and farm the land for five years. The offer attracted migrants from inside the country—and waves of more immigrants from Europe. For example, many people from Sweden, where land was extremely scarce, were drawn to come to the United States. These brave settlers worked hard to start a new life on the frontier. Though life was difficult, many succeeded.
1910: Angel Island
On the West Coast, Asian immigrants were processed at Angel Island, often called the "Ellis Island of the West." Angel Island, which lies off the coast of San Francisco, opened in 1910. Although the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 restricted immigration, 175,000 Chinese came through Angel Island over a period of three decades. They were overwhelmingly the main group processed here; in fact, 97 percent of the immigrants who passed through Angel Island were from China.
Visit Angle Island
1990–Today: A Multicultural America
Since 1990, immigration has continued to grow, reaching its highest point in U.S. history. In the 1990s and 2000s, about 10 million new immigrants entered the country, surpassing the 8 million who arrived between 1900 and 1910.By 2000, the United States had 28.4 million foreign-born residents. That same year, California became the first state where no single ethnic group made up a majority. Today, over 80 percent of immigrants come from Latin America or Asia. The main countries of origin for modern immigrants include Mexico, the Philippines, China, Cuba, and India. About 1 in 10 U.S. residents is foreign-born, making the United States a truly multicultural society.
1863–1869: The Transcontinental Railroad
The Transcontinental Railroad was a massive construction project that linked the country by rail from east to west. The railway was built entirely by hand during a six-year period, with construction often continuing around the clock. Chinese and Irish immigrants were vital to the project. In 1868, Chinese immigrants made up about 80 percent of the workforce of the Central Pacific Railroad, one of the companies building the railway. The workers of the Union Pacific Railroad, another company that built the railroad, were mostly Irish immigrants. These railroad workers labored under dangerous conditions, often risking their lives. After the Transatlantic Railroad was completed, cities and towns sprang up all along its path, and immigrants moved to these new communities. The Transcontinental Railroad was a radical improvement in travel in the United States; after its completion, the trip from East Coast to West Coast, which once took months, could be made in five days.
1808: Slavery Continues
At the turn of the 19th century, more than 1 million African Americans lived in the United States. As slaves, they were not considered citizens. Large farms and plantations depended on the free labor they provided in fields and homes. It was difficult, backbreaking work. In 1808, the United States government banned the importation of enslaved people into the country, although the practice did continue illegally. Slavery, however, was not abolished for nearly 60 more years.
1950–1965: The Cold War Begins
In 1953, the Refugee Relief Act replaced the earlier Displaced Persons Act, allowing more refugees—including non-Europeans—to enter the United States. This reflected U.S. concerns about Communism spreading under Soviet control. President Dwight D. Eisenhower said the act showed America’s commitment to helping “the homeless and persecuted” from communist nations.In 1956, about 36,000 Hungarians fled to the U.S. after a failed revolt against Soviet rule. A few years later, in 1959, Fidel Castro took power in Cuba and aligned with the Soviet Union, prompting more than 200,000 Cubans to flee, many settling in Florida. During this time, the United States strengthened its role as a refuge for people escaping communist governments.
1940–1950: World War II and the Postwar Period (Part 1)
The United States entered World War II in 1942. During the war, immigration decreased. There was fighting in Europe, transportation was interrupted, and American consulates weren’t open. Fewer than 10 percent of the immigration quotas from Europe were used from 1942 to 1945. In many ways, the country was still fearful of the influence of foreign-born people. The United States was fighting Germany, Italy, and Japan (the Axis Powers), and the U.S. government decided to detain certain resident aliens of those countries. (Resident aliens are people living permanently in the United States but who are not citizens.) Oftentimes, there was no reason for these people to be detained other than fear and racism. Beginning in 1942, the government even detained American citizens who were ethnically Japanese. This occurred despite the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which says, “nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law.” Also because of the war, the Chinese Exclusion Act was repealed in 1943. China had quickly become an important ally of the United States against Japan, and the U.S. government did away with the offensive law. Chinese immigrants could once again legally enter the country, although they did so only in small numbers for the next couple of decades.
1965–1980: Vietnamese Immigration and the Refugee Act
During the 1960s and 1970s, the United States became involved in the Vietnam War in Southeast Asia. After the war ended, many Vietnamese refugees began coming to America. During the 1970s, about 120,000 Vietnamese arrived, and hundreds of thousands more followed over the next two decades. In 1980, the government passed the Refugee Act, which was designed to help refugees who needed to flee their countries. Refugees come because they fear persecution due to their race, religion, political beliefs, or other reasons. The United States and other countries signed treaties agreeing to protect and assist refugees. The Refugee Act guaranteed this right for immigrants coming to America.
1492–1500s: The Explorers
In 1492, Christopher Columbus, an Italian explorer and excellent sailor, crossed the Atlantic Ocean in search of a shorter trade route to Asia. After more than two months at sea, he landed in the Bahamas in the Caribbean islands. Although Columbus never reached the mainland of North America, he had discovered the gateway to a vast continent unexplored by Europeans. Columbus returned to Europe believing he had reached previously unknown islands in Asia. Word of the new route spread in Europe. Over the next few decades, other explorers followed in Columbus's wake, hoping to take advantage of the shortcut to Asia. It would be another Italian explorer, named Amerigo Vespucci, who realized that what had actually been discovered was a continent unknown to Europeans. He called it the New World.