The First Wave Of Immigration

Immigration in the United States is a complex demographic activity that has been a major contribution to population growth and cultural change throughout much of the nation's history. The many aspects of immigration have controversy in economic benefits, jobs for non-immigrants, settlement patterns, crime, and even voting behavior. Congress has passed many laws that have to do with immigrants especially in the 19th century such as the Naturalization Act of 1870, and the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882, or even the Immigration Act of 1903 all to insure specific laws and boundaries set on immigrants. The life of immigrants has been drastically changed throughout the years of 1880-1925 through aspects such as immigrants taking non-immigrants

One of the difference between the immigrants of the 1900’s and today is the country they originate. During the 1900’s, most of the immigrants who seek refuge in the United States of America came from Europe. Some small percentage of  immigrants came from Asia, Mexico and Cuba. As much of a diversity America truly is, today the percentage of the immigrants is mostly from Mexico and Cuba. Asia is followed right after the two and a small percentage of the immigrants consists of Europeans.

In addition to this major shift from rural to urban areas, a new wave of immigration increased America’s population significantly, especially in major cities. Immigrants came from war-torn regions of southern and eastern Europe, such as Italy, Greece, Poland, Russia, Croatia. This new group of immigrants

The Irish experience in the U.S. was harsh. They fled Ireland due to the Potato Famine, and arrived here for opportunity, and even more importantly, a better life. They were also exceedingly poor, so that being

During the late 1800s, inhabitants from all parts of the world made the decision to leave their jobs and homes to immigrate to the United States. They fled rising taxes, famine, crop failure, land and job shortages, to come to the United States. Perceived to be one of the greater countries for economic opportunity, many sought freedom from religious and political persecution. Around twelve million immigrants arrived in the United States between 1870 and 1900. Before the Civil War, the majority of immigrants were from Germany, Ireland, and England. There would be a drastic change in the next three decades. After the Civil War, immigrants

In recent history, many Americans have had a growing concern for the immigration (both legal and illegal) growth in our country. While the United States of America was settled by European immigrants, the unprecedented growth the late 1800s saw, led to reform on the immigration policy, which once was nonexistent. Based on conditions floods of immigrants caused in the cities of the country, the immigration reform was needed. Not only were the lives of immigrants negatively impacted in the United States, but so were previously settled Americans.

In the late 1800s, people from other countries across the world choose to leave their homes and move to the United States. United States was seen as the land of economic opportunity at this time because of famine, land and job shortages, and rising taxes in their countries. Many others desired personal freedom or to escape political and religious persecution. Between 1870 and 1900, over 12 million immigrants arrived in hopes of a promising future. The majority of these immigrants were from England, Ireland, and Germany. Immigrants from Europe commonly entered from ports on the East Coast and settled nearby. However, there were a few immigrants who were attracted by lands for farming and moved inland.

Between 1860-1900 almost 14 million people came to America.Another 14.5 million came between 1900 and 1915.Even more significant than the increased in numbers was the changing character of immigration during these years.

Between the years 1861 and 1941 almost 30 million people immigrated from Europe to the United States. Many left for a new life, some left because the crops were dying and they were starving, some came for a job, and lastly people left because of religious persecution. In the 1800s, two of the main contributions of the immigrants in the U. S. were the larger population and different cultures.

Citizens from around the world have been migrating to the United States for centuries. During the 1880s all the way up to the 1920's, more than twenty-five million foreigners voyaged to America. After World War I ended on November 11, 1918, there had been a massive increase of immigrants. The result of numerous people migrating to the U.S. greatly impacted culture and society. The majority of immigrants were traveling from Eastern and Southern Europe. As immigration increased after World War I, some questions in need of answering are what were the significant reasons as to why European immigrants started coming to the U.S. during the 1920's through the 1930's after World War I? How were they able maintain their cultural identity? Immigrants decided to resettle in the United States in search of new beginnings, riches, and the

The migration of foreigners to the United States has been one of the most powerful forces shaping American history this was especially true between 1860 and 1920. (American A Narrative History, Pg. 827). When immigrants traveled to the new land it was an arduous journey. Arriving in large cities often without their families or understanding the language was difficult.

Between 1850 and 1900 immigrants prompted much more concern among native born white Americans than did black people. During these years there was a rapid gain of net immigration moving into the United

From 1890 to 1910 Immigration reached its peak. Immigration increased from 3.5 million to 9 million in the duration of 20 years. Between 1880 and 1920, 25 million immigrants moved to America. Immigrants gradually came from Canada, Latin America, and Eastern and Southern European countries, after the 1880s. Eastern and Southern Europeans made up

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.

Since the 19th Century, America has become known as the nation of immigrants. During that time the United States experienced the biggest wave of immigration of any place or time in the history of the world. It was also during that same time that America felt the greatest growth in production and standard of living than any other point in history (Divine, 1957). For many, the link between these two exceptional points in history was no coincidence.