Immigration Past and Present: A Nation of Immigrants

24 August 2015

by

Sigrid B. Wangsness

The Beginnings

Native Americans

European explorers and

missionaries (Spanish,

French, English)

In the 1500s: The first settlers from Europe (Spanish, French, Dutch)

The Foundation: The First Colonies

1607: Jamestown, Virginia (English)

1619: The first black slaves were

imported from Africa

1620: The Pilgrim Fathers, Boston, Mass.

The first Thanksgiving

The English, Spanish, French and Dutch battled each other and Native Americans for territory

The First Wave of Immigration: 1680 – 1776

In 1680: 80% of the population English By 1776: The English only 52% of the

population due to new immigrants from Ireland,

Scotland, Germany and France

American Independence and Revolution

1776: Independence: The United States of America

1776-1783: American War of Independence from Britain (= The American Revolution)

The 13 colonies → states Territories → states

1776-1820:Few new immigrants to the USA: The Anglo-American culture firmly established.

English as the official language

The Second Wave: 1820 – 1880/1890

“Old” immigration (from northern / western Europe)

Britons, Germans, Scandinavians, Irish, Jews

Pioneering, farming

The Third Wave: 1890 – 1920/30

“New” immigration (from eastern / southern Europe):

Italians, Russians, Hungarians, Austrians, Poles, Jews, Czechs, Greeks, Portuguese

( + Syrians, Mexicans, Japanese)

The Third Wave: 1890 – 1920/30

East coast, cities, factory workers

1921 and 1924: Restrictive immigration

laws

Quotas favouring north-western

Europeans

1929: Oriental Exclusion Act

The Fourth Wave: 1930s – today

1930s: Little immigration due to the Depression

1940s: Second World War and Cold War refugees

1950s: Mexican contract (farm) workers

The Fourth Wave: 1930 – today

Major change: 1965 and 1990: Expansive immigration laws

Increase in non-European immigration

The 1990 Act: 700,000 immigrants per

year + people with special

skills (European “brain drain”)

National and Cultural Identity

Assimilation ("the melting pot ")

= Americanization Institutions of assimilation:

Preservation ("the salad bowl")

= Integration (?)

Is the U.S.A. still a nation of immigrants?

Immigration today:

1.Legal immigration Around 900,000 legal

immigrants come to the USA every year,

mostly Hispanics and Asians.

Most of these go to California, Florida,Texas, Arizona, New Jersey, New York, and Illinois.

2. Illegal immigration

There are around 11 million illegal immigrants in the USA today (more than half from Mexico).

Demonstrations - both in favour and against illegal immigrants (cf. the video about illegal immigrants in Georgia).

What are the main arguments?

How to reduce illegal immigration?

Suggested measures to reduce illegal immigration:

- Increase funding for border

security

- Build more fences

- Improve the policing of the border and use

the National Guard as border patrol

Suggested measures to reduce illegal immigration:

- Allow state police to check a person’s immigration status while enforcing other laws

- Allow a state to arrest and drive out illegal immigrants (= make illegal immigration a serious crime)

- Grant “guest worker” status and a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants already in America (amnesty)

Suggested measures to reduce illegal immigration:

- Have clear conditions linked to guest- worker programme (e.g. learn English, pay taxes for years back)

- Make tamper-proof identity cards

- Hold employers to account

Other possible measures?

Why did/do so many people want to go to the USA?(In the 19th and 20th centuries, but also today?)

Push factors

Pull factors

Factors that discourage immigration

Gains and costs of immigration (for the immigrants themselves)