This summary of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century immigration describes the "new immigration" that originated from Southern and Eastern Europe. The essay also outlines American responses to the new wave of immigration, including some of the laws designed to restrict immigration that were adopted between 1880 and 1910. Show Between 1880 and 1910, almost fifteen million immigrants entered the United States, a number which dwarfed immigration figures for previous periods. Unlike earlier nineteenth century immigration, which consisted primarily of immigrants from Northern Europe, the bulk of the new arrivals hailed mainly from Southern and Eastern Europe. These included more than two and half million Italians and approximately two million Jews from Russia and Eastern Europe, as well as many Poles, Hungarians, Austrians, Greeks, and others. The new immigrants’ ethnic, cultural, and religious differences from both earlier immigrants and the native-born population led to widespread assertions that they were unfit for either labor or American citizenship. A growing chorus of voices sought legislative restrictions on immigration. Often the most vocal proponents of such restrictions were labor groups (many of whose members were descended from previous generations of Irish and German immigrants), who feared competition from so-called “pauper labor.” After the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 barred Chinese immigration and made it nearly impossible for Chinese to become naturalized citizens, efforts to restrict European immigration increased. In the same year, the Immigration Act for the first time levied a “head tax” (initially fifty cents a person) intended to finance enforcement of federal immigration laws. The act also made several categories of immigrants ineligible to enter the United States, including convicts, "lunatics" (a catch-all term for those deemed mentally unfit) and those likely to become “public charges,” i.e., those who would place a financial burden on state institutions or charities. A second Immigration Act in 1891 expanded these categories to include polygamists and those sick with contagious diseases, and established a Bureau of Immigration to administer and enforce the new restrictions. In 1892, Ellis Island opened in New York Harbor, replacing Castle Garden as the main point of entry for millions of immigrants arriving on the East Coast. In accordance with the 1891 law, the federal immigration station at Ellis Island included facilities for medical inspections and a hospital. While business and financial interests occasionally defended unrestricted immigration, viewing a surplus of cheap labor as essential to industry and westward expansion, calls for measures restricting the flow of the new immigrants continued to grow. Although President Grover Cleveland vetoed an 1897 law proposing a literacy test for prospective immigrants, further restrictions on immigration continued to be added. Following the assassination of President William McKinley in 1901 by the anarchist Leon Czolgosz, xenophobia and hysteria about political radicalism led to the Anarchist Exclusion Act, which excluded would-be immigrants on the basis of their political beliefs. In 1907, immigration at Ellis Island reached its peak with 1,004,756 immigrants arriving. That same year, Congress authorized the Dillingham Commission to investigate the origins and consequences of contemporary immigration. The Commission concluded that immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe posed a serious threat to American society and recommended that it be greatly curtailed in the future, proposing as the most efficacious remedy a literacy test similar to the one President Cleveland had vetoed in 1897. Ultimately, the Commission’s findings provided a rationale for the sweeping immigration laws passed in the years after World War I. Source | American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning, 2008.
The United States has long been considered a nation of immigrants, but attitudes toward new immigrants by those who came before have vacillated over the years between welcoming and exclusionary. Thousands of years before Europeans began crossing the vast Atlantic by ship and settling en masse, the first immigrants arrived in North America from Asia. They were Native American ancestors who crossed a narrow spit of land connecting Asia to North America at least 20,000 years ago, during the last Ice Age. By the early 1600s, communities of European immigrants dotted the Eastern seaboard, including the Spanish in Florida, the British in New England and Virginia, the Dutch in New York, and the Swedes in Delaware. Some, including the Pilgrims and Puritans, came for religious freedom. Many sought greater economic opportunities. Still others, including hundreds of thousands of enslaved Africans, arrived in America against their will. Below are the events that have shaped the turbulent history of immigration in the United States since its birth. WATCH: America: Promised Land on HISTORY Vault White People of 'Good Character' Granted CitizenshipJanuary 1776: Thomas Paine publishes a pamphlet, “Common Sense,” that argues for American independence. Most colonists consider themselves Britons, but Paine makes the case for a new American. “Europe, and not England, is the parent country of America. This new world hath been the asylum for the persecuted lovers of civil and religious liberty from every part of Europe,” he writes. March 1790: Congress passes the first law about who should be granted U.S. citizenship. The Naturalization Act of 1790 allows any free white person of “good character,” who has been living in the United States for two years or longer, to apply for citizenship. Without citizenship, nonwhite residents are denied basic constitutional protections, including the right to vote, own property, or testify in court. August 1790: The first U.S. census takes place. The English are the largest ethnic group among the 3.9 million people counted, though nearly one in five Americans are of African heritage. Irish Immigrant Wave1815: Peace is re-established between the United States and Britain after the War of 1812. Immigration from Western Europe turns from a trickle into a gush, which causes a shift in the demographics of the United States. This first major wave of immigration lasts until the Civil War. Between 1820 and 1860, the Irish—many of them Catholic—account for an estimated one-third of all immigrants to the United States. Some 5 million German immigrants also come to the United States, many of them making their way to the Midwest to buy farms or settle in cities including Milwaukee, St. Louis and Cincinnati. 1819: Many of newcomers arrive sick or dying from their long journey across the Atlantic in cramped conditions. The immigrants overwhelm major port cities, including New York City, Boston, Philadelphia and Charleston. In response, the United States passes the Steerage Act of 1819 requiring better conditions on ships arriving to the country. The Act also calls for ship captains to submit demographic information on passengers, creating the first federal records on the ethnic composition of immigrants to the United States. 1849: America’s first anti-immigrant political party, the Know-Nothing Party forms, as a backlash to the increasing number of German and Irish immigrants settling in the United States. 1875: Following the Civil War, some states passed their own immigration laws. In 1875 the Supreme Court declares that it’s the responsibility of the federal government to make and enforce immigration laws. Chinese Exclusion Act1880: As America begins a rapid period of industrialization and urbanization, a second immigration boom begins. Between 1880 and 1920, more than 20 million immigrants arrive. The majority are from Southern, Eastern and Central Europe, including 4 million Italians and 2 million Jews. Many of them settle in major U.S. cities and work in factories. 1882: The Chinese Exclusion Act passes, which bars Chinese immigrants from entering the United States. Beginning in the 1850s, a steady flow of Chinese workers had immigrated to America. They worked in the gold mines,and garment factories, built railroads and took agricultural jobs. Anti-Chinese sentiment grew as Chinese laborers became successful in America. Although Chinese immigrants make up only 0.002 percent of the United States population, white workers blame them for low wages. The 1882 Act is the first in American history to place broad restrictions on certain immigrant groups. 1891: The Immigration Act of 1891 further excludes who can enter the United States, barring the immigration of polygamists, people convicted of certain crimes, and the sick or diseased. The Act also created a federal office of immigration to coordinate immigration enforcement and a corps of immigration inspectors stationed at principle ports of entry. Ellis Island OpensJanuary 1892: Ellis Island, the United States’ first immigration station, opens in New York Harbor. The first immigrant processed is Annie Moore, a teenager from County Cork in Ireland. More than 12 million immigrants would enter the United States through Ellis Island between 1892 and 1954. 1907: U.S. immigration peaks, with 1.3 million people entering the country through Ellis Island alone. READ MORE: Immigration at Ellis Island: Photos  Ellis Island seen from New York Harbor, 1903. Geo. P. Hall & Son/The New York Historical Society/Getty Images Immigrants to the United States on the deck of the S.S. Patricia on December 10, 1906. Popperfoto/Getty Images Interior view of the Great Hall at the Ellis Island Immigration Station in New York. Interim Archives/Getty Images New arrivals line up to have their papers examined. Bettmann Archive/Getty Images A large group of immigrants with baggage lined up at tellers' windows for money exchange in 1907. Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images A woman and her three children undergoing examinations by Edwin Levick at Ellis Island in 1907. Fotosearch/Getty Images Immigrant children being examined by a city health officer upon arrival in 1911. Members of the Health Department carefully examine an immigrant mother and child. Bettmann Archive/Getty Images Pens at the Ellis Island Registry Room, or Great Hall, all filled with immigrants, 1907. The dinning room for detained immigrants at Ellis Island. Bettmann Archive/Getty Images Children display their Christmas gifts at Ellis Island. Bettmann/CORBIS An immigrant family on the dock at Ellis Island after having just passed the rigid examination for entry into the country, looking hopefully at New York's skyline while awaiting the government ferry on August 13, 1925. Bettmann Archive/Getty Images February 1907: Amid prejudices in California that an influx of Japanese workers would cost white workers farming jobs and depress wages, the United States and Japan sign the Gentlemen’s Agreement. Japan agrees to limit Japanese emigration to the United States to certain categories of business and professional men. In return, President Theodore Roosevelt urges San Francisco to end the segregation of Japanese students from white students in San Francisco schools. 1910: An estimated three-quarters of New York City’s population consists of new immigrants and first-generation Americans. New Restrictions at Start of WWI1917: Xenophobia reaches new highs on the eve of American involvement in World War I. The Immigration Act of 1917 establishes a literacy requirement for immigrants entering the country and halts immigration from most Asian countries. May 1924: The Immigration Act of 1924 limits the number of immigrants allowed into the United States yearly through nationality quotas. Under the new quota system, the United States issues immigration visas to 2 percent of the total number of people of each nationality in the United States at the 1890 census. The law favors immigration from Northern and Western European countries. Just three countries, Great Britain, Ireland and Germany account for 70 percent of all available visas. Immigration from Southern, Central and Eastern Europe was limited. The Act completely excludes immigrants from Asia, aside from the Philippines, at the time an American colony. READ MORE: 20 Ellis Island Immigration Photos That Capture the Hope and Diversity of New Arrivals During the late 19th and early 20th century, large groups of people from northern and western Europe immigrated to the United States, like this Slavic woman. An Ellis Island Chief Registry Clerk, Augustus Sherman, captured his unique viewpoint of the influx by bringing his camera to work and taking photos of the wide array of immigrants entering from 1905 to 1914. Augustus Sherman/New York Public Library Although Ellis Island had been open since 1892, the immigration station reached its peak at the turn of the century. From 1900-1915 more than 15 million immigrants arrived in the United States, with an increasing number coming from non-English speaking countries, like this Romanian musician. Augustus Sherman/New York Public Library Foreigners from southern and eastern Europe, including Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Greece, came over to escape political and economic oppression. Augustus Sherman/New York Public Library Many immigrants, including this Algerian man, wore their finest traditional clothing as they entered the country. Augustus Sherman/New York Public Library Greek-Orthodox priest Rev. Joseph Vasilon. Augustus Sherman/New York Public Library Wilhelm Schleich, a miner from Hohenpeissenberg, Bavaria. Augustus Sherman/New York Public Library This woman arrived from the west coast of Norway. Augustus Sherman/New York Public Library Three women from Guadeloupe stand outside the immigration station. Augustus Sherman/New York Public Library A close-up of a Guadeloupean immigrant. Augustus Sherman/New York Public Library A mother and her two daughters from the Netherlands pose for a photo. Augustus Sherman/New York Public Library Thumbu Sammy, age 17, arrived from India. Augustus Sherman/New York Public Library This tattooed German man got to the country as a stowaway and was eventually deported. Read more: When Germans Were Americas Undesirables Augustus Sherman/New York Public Library John Postantzis was a Turkish bank guard. . Augustus Sherman/New York Public Library Peter Meyer, age 57, arrived from Denmark. Augustus Sherman/New York Public Library A Gypsy family had come from Serbia. Augustus Sherman/New York Public Library An Italian immigrant woman, photographed at Ellis Island. Augustus Sherman/New York Public Library A soldier from Albania poses for the camera. Augustus Sherman/New York Public Library This man had worked as shepherd in Romania. Augustus Sherman/New York Public Library Three boys in traditional Scottish clothing pose at Ellis Island. Read more: The History Behind the Scottish Independence Vote Augustus Sherman/New York Public Library Russian Cossacks as they entered the United States to start new lives. Augustus Sherman/New York Public Library 1924: In the wake of the numerical limits established by the 1924 law, illegal immigration to the United States increases. The U.S. Border Patrol is established to crack down on illegal immigrants crossing the Mexican and Canadian borders into the United States. Many of these early border crossers were Chinese and other Asian immigrants, who had been barred from entering legally. Mexicans Fill Labor Shortages During WWII1942: Labor shortages during World War II prompt the United States and Mexico to form the Bracero Program, which allows Mexican agricultural workers to enter the United States temporarily. The program lasts until 1964. 1948: The United States passes the nation’s first refugee and resettlement law to deal with the influx of Europeans seeking permanent residence in the United States after World War II. 1952: The McCarran-Walter Act formally ends the exclusion of Asian immigrants to the United States. 1956-1957: The United States admits roughly 38,000 immigrants from Hungary after a failed uprising against the Soviet Union. They were among the first Cold War refugees. The United States would admit over 3 million refugees during the Cold War. 1960-1962: Roughly 14,000 unaccompanied children flee Fidel Castro’s Cuba and come to the United States as part of a secret, anti-Communism program called Operation Peter Pan. READ MORE: The Secret Cold War Program That Airlifted Cuban Kids to the U.S.—Without Their Parents Quota System Ends1965: The Immigration and Nationality Act overhauls the American immigration system. The Act ends the national origin quotas enacted in the 1920s which favored some racial and ethnic groups over others. The quota system is replaced with a seven-category preference system emphasizing family reunification and skilled immigrants. Upon signing the new bill, President Lyndon B. Johnson, called the old immigration system “un-American,” and said the new bill would correct a “cruel and enduring wrong in the conduct of the American Nation.” Over the next five years, immigration from war-torn regions of Asia, including Vietnam and Cambodia, would more than quadruple. Family reunification became a driving force in U.S. immigration. April-October 1980: During the Mariel boatlift, roughly 125,000 Cuban refugees make a dangerous sea crossing in overcrowded boats to arrive on the Florida shore seeking political asylum. Amnesty to Undocumented Immigrants1986: President Ronald Reagan signs into law the Simpson-Mazzoli Act, which grants amnesty to more than 3 million immigrants living illegally in the United States. 2001: U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) propose the first Development, Relief and Education of Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, which would provide a pathway to legal status for Dreamers, undocumented immigrants brought to the United States illegally by their parents as children. The bill—and subsequent iterations of it—don’t pass. 2012: President Barack Obama signs Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) which temporarily shields some Dreamers from deportation, but doesn’t provide a path to citizenship. 2017: President Donald Trump issues two executive orders aimed at curtailing travel and immigration from six majority Muslim countries (Chad, Iran, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia) as well as North Korea and Venezuela. Both of these so-called Muslim travel bans are challenged in state and federal courts. 2018: In April 2018, the travel restrictions on Chad are lifted. In June 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court uphold a third version of the travel ban on the remaining seven countries. SourcesImmigration Timeline, The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation. |
What best accounts for the sharp increase of immigrants during the period from 1880 to 1910?
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