Essay On The History Of Colonial Immigration

The history of immigration stretches back before the colonial era, but the United States experienced major waves of immigration during the colonial era, the first past of 19th century and from 1880s to 1920 (Bankston and Danielle, 318). From the 1640s to 1763, hundreds of thousands of African slaves came to America against their will. From its earliest, starting with its original inhabitants, who crossed the land bridge from Asia and North America tens of thousands of years ago, American has been a nation of immigrants. The first Europeans in the 1500s, led by the Spanish and French, had established settlement in United States. In Jamestown, Virginia colony, some first settlers came in search of freedom to practice faith. The Pilgrims fled religious

persecution in Europe to present day Plymouth, Massachusetts where they established a colony.

The Puritans soon followed and lived in Massachusetts Bay Colony. It was estimated 20,000 Puritans migrated to the region between1630 to1640. The earliest African slaves who arrived against their will during the colonial era were approximately 20 in numbers. They were forced into indentured servitude in Jamestown, in 1619 (Bankston and Danielle, 316). By the year 1680, there were about 7000 African slaves in the American colonies and the number climbed to 700,000 by 1790 (Bankston and Danielle, 318). Congress passed a law to outlaw importation of slaves in 1808, but the practice continued (Bankston and Danielle, 6). In 1870, the naturalization Act of 1870 extends naturalization rights to people of African Descent, but excludes other non-whites.
Another major wave of immigration occurred from 1815 to 1865 after the ratification of the U.S constitution (Bankston and Danielle, 235). The majority of these immigrants was Irish and constituted a one third of the population and 53% of urban residents, European immigrants contributed disproportionately to the important role of American intergroup relations (235). In 1790, Congress passed the first uniform naturalization law. For the next 102 years, more than 90% of

immigrants came from Germany, Great Britain, Ireland and Scandinavia (235). In 1892, the first arrivals were from the southern and Eastern Europe and Ellis Island became the new receiving and processing center created by President Harrison (236). The facility located in New York Harbor near Statue of Liberty processed more than 12 million immigrants between 1892- 1954. During these years, 4.5 Million in total of German Protestants, Roman Catholics, Jews and Scandinavian Protestants, 4.5 million impoverished Irish Catholics alone emigrated and settled along the East Coast and too faced discrimination for their religious beliefs (236). The Germans immigrants were received and journeyed to the present day Midwest cities like Milwaukee, Cincinnati and St. Louis. During 1849, a significant number of Asian immigrants arrived in the United States. The Chinese immigrants as laborers faced considerable prejudice and discrimination, which eventually diminished in the World War I (Bankston and Danielle, 146). Following the Civil War, the United States experienced a depression in the 1870 that led to slowdown in immigration (146). The Chinese Exclusion Act (repealed in 1943) of 1882, was first piece of federal legislation aimed at restricting immigration. The decline in wages due to cheap labor agitated Californians to pass the new law. The law banned Chinese from coming to America (147). For the better part of the 1900s, the immigration policy was left to individual states. However, by the end of the 19th century, the government decided to handle the influx of new immigrants. President Harrison