America as a Nation of Immigrants Essay

Since the beginning of times up until present time the United States Congress has always passed laws to limit immigrants rights. Immigrants who came to America for a better life have gone through many struggles due to the restrictions against them. Precedently, with the Chinese Exclusion Act, which prohibited Chinese immigrants to enter the United States. Another act was the Gentlemen’s Agreement Act between Japan and America, where Japan agreed to limit immigration, only if President Theodore Roosevelt agreed to limit restrictions on Japanese immigrants. Then in 1924, Congress passed the Immigration Act of 1924. The act limited the number of aliens that are allowed in the U.S. Congress passed this act because they felt that immigrant threaten America’s “old ways.” Congress wanted American to be “pure” again, by doing so, they had to get rid of many immigrants. The factors that led to Congress to pass the Immigration Act were to maintain American traditions, maintain jobs for American citizens, and repair the income.

People from all over the world come to America for many reasons; for instance, most of illegal and legal immigrant come to this country for a better life and to reunite with family that live in the

America is traditionally a country of immigrants. Very few people today have relatives who were Native Americans, many of them because of religious persecution, and others because of they were just looking to start a new life on the exciting untouched frontier. For instance, in Florida, the first arrivals were European, beginning with the Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon who explored the land in 1513, following French and Spanish settlement during the 16th century. From the past, America was seen as a country of opportunities. People from all over the world have moved here looking for better opportunities. There are a lot of reasons why immigrants should live in this country, but I would like to mention three of them.

The government has also put provisions designed to encourage migration of certain kinds of workers who have lost the skills from the current population. In 1924, as the fears of the immigrants fleeing from border increased, Congress set up the first Office of border control to watch the immigrants from Canada and Mexico. Immigration numbers decreased significantly around 1925 and 1945 In 1948, Congress made a temporary revision to the immigration policy to allow people displaced by World War II to be in America. in 1952, Congress made the McCarran-Walter Immigration and Nationality law, which officially canceled any remaining limitations on the grounds of race, and immigration to people of any nation. The McCarran- Walter immigration and nationality law improved political growth (Schrag).

The period between 1900 and 1915 is thought to be the peak of immigration. More than ten million people came to the United States looking for a better future. The fact that these included Jews and Catholics alerted older Anglo-Saxon and Protestant American citizens. They also disliked the fact that newcomers with their Old World customs, dared to compete for low-wage jobs. As the tension over immigration rose, a series of anti-immigration measures were taken. Immigration Quota Law of 1924 and a 1929 act, both of these laws limited the number of immigrants to over a hundred thousand to be distributed among people of different nationalities as oppose to the number of the fellow countrymen already living in the United States in 1920.

Today the United States of America is regarded as a global economic leader. The standard of living in the U.S. is higher than that of most other nations. Our nation is considered an economic super-power. Economic needs have often caused Americans to seek immigrants as workers, and economic opportunities have attracted foreigners. The United States is a nation of immigrants. Our nation has been shaped by successive waves of immigrants who have played major roles in our changing economy. The overwhelming majority of immigrants who enter the United States come in search of jobs and a chance at a better life for themselves and their families. Economic immigrants come primarily from Europe, Asia and, most recently, Latin America. Many

The immigration act of 1924 was really the first permanent limitation on immigration. This limitation was like a quota system that only aloud two percent instead of the three percent of each foreign born group living in the United states in 1890. Like it say in Document A “Under the act of 1924 the number of each nationality who may be admitted annually is limited to two per cent of the population of such nationality resident in the United States according to the census of 1890.” Using the 1890 census instead of newer up-to-date ones they excluded a lot of new immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe that came by in resent years (This is shown awfully well in Document B). This acts annual quota changed from 358,000 in 1921 to 164,000

Over the years, the levels of immigration have been at historic heights as a result of the United States appeal as the land of opportunities. In order to accommodate those who wish to reside within the United States, the implemented immigration laws and U.S citizenship requirements as a standard of admission and exclusion. In 1965, the National Origins Quota System was removed by congress, which led to noticeable changes in the immigrant population –the more ethnically diverse the United States became a sense of uneasiness was developing in response to said increase. This led to the creation of immigration restrictions that manifested into racism. The implementation of the new restrictions on immigration where adversities as being made with

There were many laws created throughout US history, which regulated immigration. Immigration peaked in the early 20th century and between 1900 and 1915, 13

The culture of every ethnic group is beautiful in its own way and worth cherishing. Today, America is known as the great melting pot not for the number of immigrants it has but rather because of the wonderful cultures and traditions the immigrants brought with them. Immigrants do not need to forgo their mother tongue, significant celebrations or customs to become American. However to be socially accepted, they will need to learn English, take part in celebrating national holidays and fulfill their patriotic duties Americans like every other U.S citizens.

        Ever since the United States was founded, immigrants have been arriving on its soil.  The first white inhabitants of the U.S. were immigrants from Europe.  They came for many reasons, such as religion and opportunity.  As the country grew and became more prosperous, it became more enticing to foreigners looking for opportunity.  This continued into the 20th century and finally during the 1920’s, the United States began to restrict immigrants from coming to their country, mostly for cultural and economic reasons.  Even the immigrants that were allowed in during the 20’s faced many hardships such as religious persecution, racism, and xenia phobia.  One of the major groups of immigrants during that

Immigrants founded the United States of America and ever since then there have been people from all over the world coming to America for a chance at a better life for themselves and their families. Immigrants from all over the world come, some legally and some illegally. A majority of these immigrants come from southern-border country Mexico. Everyday, the United States has hundreds of illegal immigrants come into the country. They cross over from the Rio Grande into Texas; they cross over into Arizona, New Mexico, and California. With all of the problems that the United States is facing from illegal immigration, maybe

In the United States immigration has almost always been a controversial topic to discuss. James Madison wrote that "Our kind reception of immigrants is very proper, but it is dictated more by benevolent [sic] than by interested consideration, though some of them seem to be very far from regarding the obligations as lying on their side"(Madison, James) When Madison wrote this he had no clue of the problems that immigration could cause in the modern day United States in the last five to six decades. To better the U.S 's immigration policy, reforms are a necessary practice in order to better the involvement in immigration to the U.S. for both the immigrants and for the country.

Most Americans place their pride in being apart of a country where a man can start at the bottom and work his way to the top. We also stress the fact that we are “all created equal” with “certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.” (Jefferson 45) During the early 1900s white Americans picked and chose who they saw fit to live in America and become an American. “Those that separate the desirable from the undesirable citizen or neighbor are individual rather than race.”

During the 1920’s the United States really became a country of immigrants, even though not everyone was on board. In this time we saw immigration numbers that would far exceed the decades that would come after it and only to be surpasses by the decade that came before in a 40 year span. Almost 4.3 million people came to the US in the 1920’s and they spanned from far and wide to come to the US. Numbers would dip in the coming decades and would not surpass the million mark for at least two decades. These numbers saw drops that would relate to immigrant life and US immigration tactics.