Immigration

Plymouth Colony

• 1620-1691• English settlers – Pilgrims – seeking religious freedom

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." — U.S. Constitution

1619 African Arrival in Virginia

• 20 Africans• Transported in a Dutch ship, stolen from a Spanish ship• Traded for food, left in Jamestown, VA as servants• “Servant” becomes “Slave” in less than a generation – at first justified by religious difference, later by skin color.

The Naturalization Act of 1790

• First law setting rules for granting of US citizenship (Constitution grants that power to Congress)

• All “free white persons” of “good character”• Excludes: American Indians, slaves, free Blacks

and Asians

Potato Famine (Ireland, 1845 – 1851)

• 1 million dead• 1 million emigrated• Population of Ireland decreased 25%• Ireland produced ample food for export – Irish natives couldn’t afford to feed themselves• By 1850, the Irish made up a quarter of the population in Boston, New York City, Philadelphia and Baltimore.

Shift in Immigration

•Old Immigrants (1620 – 1840)• Protestants• England, Germany, the Netherlands•White, fair hair and eyes

•New Immigrants (1840 – 1920)• Irish, Asian, Eastern European, Italian• Looked different• Catholic, Jewish, many different faiths• Led to emergence of “nativist” movements

Nativism

The Emergency Quota Act (1921)

• First time numerical limits were placed on immigration

• Quotas based on ethnicity

• Each year US would admit no more than 3% of number of residents from that same country already living in the U.S.

• Maintains the existing ethnic mixture

• 1920: 805,228 immigrants

• 1922: 309,556

The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965

• Eliminated the national origins quotas of the Emergency Quota Act• Created new guidelines•Gave preference to family members• Skilled laborers• Per-country limits• Total immigration limit

Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986

• Required employers to attest to emplyees’ immigration status

• Illegal to hire/recruit illegal immigrants

• Legalized some seasonal agricultural workers

• Amnesty for 3 million illegal immigrants in the US prior to 1982.