Date Event Details Naturalization Establishes uniform rules for naturalization and a two-year residency requirement for aliens who are "free white persons" of "good 1790 Act moral character" One of the "Alien and Sedition Acts" passed by Federalists; permits deportation of foreigners deemed to be dangerous, increases Naturalization residency requirements to 14 years; intended to prevent immigrants (who supported the Democratic-Republican Party), from 1798 Act becoming citizens. Revision of Naturalization Democratic-Federalists reduce residency requirement from fourteen to five years. 1802 Act of 1798 Ban on Importation of 1808 Slaves Officially ends the importation of slaves into the U.S., although this continues illegally. Establishment Establishes border controls for ports, and requires the Secretary of State to report to Congress annually the number of immigrants 1819 of Border admitted. 1821- 143,439 1830 immigrants Mostly from Ireland, England and its colonies, France, and Germany. 1831- 599,125 1840 immigrants Mostly from Ireland, Germany, England and its colonies, France, and the Caribbean. 1841- 1,713,251 First major wave of immigration to the U.S.; mostly from Germany, Ireland, France, Norway/Sweden, England and its colonies, and 1850 immigrants the Caribbean. 1845- Irish Potato A combination of ecological catastrophe (the Potato Blight) and English restrictions on the rights of Catholics in Ireland led to the 1851 Famine starvation of over a million and the emigration of a million more Irish people during this period. Crop failures, rapid industrialization, and rising unhappiness with authoritarianism in the German kingdoms culminate in the Revolutions of 1848 (which also happened in the rest of Europe). In the aftermath, reactionary German kings retaliated against 1846- Unrest in the liberals who had rebelled with curtailment of their freedoms. In many of the German states, antisemitic laws were passed to restrict 1848 Germanies the freedoms of all Jewish people, because they were blamed for the uprisings. The Treaty of Guadalupe Ends the Mexican-American War and extends U.S. citizenship to the approximately 80,000 Mexican citizens living in what becomes 1848 Hidalgo Texas, California, and the American Southwest. California Gold Discovery of gold in California became a draw for migration west and for immigrants to come try their luck, many of whom arrived by 1849 Rush ship in California having rounded the horn of South America from Europe or having sailed from Asia. "Nativity" 1850 Census For the first time, the United States Census surveys the "nativity" of citizens -- whether they were born inside or outside the US. 1851- 2,598,214 1860 immigrants Mostly from Ireland, Germany, France, China, Canada, England and its colonies, and the Caribbean. The nativist political party seeking to restrict immigration wins significant victories in Congress, a sign of popular backlash against The Know- growing immigration from Catholic Ireland; U.S. Protestants fear growing Catholic immigration would give the Pope control over the 1854 Nothings U.S. Castle Garden 1855 Established Castle Garden is established as New York's principal point of entry. Dred Scott 1857 Decision Declares free persons of African origin to be non-citizens. 1861- 2,314,825 1870 immigrants Mostly from Germany, Ireland, Normay/Sweden, England and its colonies, China, Canada, and the Caribbean.

Provides free plots of up to 160 acres of western land to settlers who agree to develop and live on it for at least five years, thereby 1862 Homestead Act spurring an influx of immigrants from overpopulated countries in Europe seeking land of their own. "Anti-Coolie" California Legislature-passed law discourages Chinese immigration to California and institutes special taxes on employers who hire 1862 Act Chinese workers. Transcontinent The Central Pacific hires Chinese laborers and the Union Pacific hires Irish laborers to construct the first transcontinental railroad, 1863 al Railroad which would stretch from San Francisco to Omaha, allowing continuous travel by rail from coast to coast. Transcontinent The Central Pacific hires Chinese laborers and the Union Pacific hires Irish laborers to construct the first transcontinental railroad, 1863 al Railroad which would stretch from San Francisco to Omaha, allowing continuous travel by rail from coast to coast. Riots against the draft in New York City involve many immigrants opposed to compulsory military service (July 13–16, 1863). Much 1863 Draft Riots of the violence targets African Americans, whom the immigrants blame for the war for which they were being drafted. Contract Labor Contract Labor Law allows recruiting of foreign labor and encourages U.S. employers to pay the passage for skilled foreign workers 1864 Law in exchange for their labor.. Fourteenth 1868 Amendment African Americans gain citizenship. Transcontinent al Railroad Central Pacific and Union Pacific lines meet at Promontory Summit, Utah (May 10, 1869); this makes internal migration easier, and 1869 Connected allows those entering the U.S. at the West Coast to travel the the Eastern U.S.. 1870 Naturalization Expands citizenship to both white immigrants and African Americans, although Asians are still excluded. Fifteenth 1870 Amendment When ratified, grants voting rights to citizens, regardless of "race, color, or previous condition of servitude." 1871- 2,812,191 1880 immigrants Mostly from Germany, Ireland, England and its colonies, Norway/Sweden, Canada, Austria-Hungary, Russia, China, the Caribbean Henderson v. Decision declares all state laws governing immigration unconstitutional; Congress must regulate "foreign commerce." Mayor of New In the aftermath of this decision, charity workers, burdened with helping immigrants, petition Congress to exercise its authority and 1875 York regulate immigration. Congress prohibits convicts and prostitutes from entering the country. 5,246,613 1881- immigrants Mostly from Germany, Ireland, England and its colonies, Norway/Sweden, Canada, Italy, Austria-Hungary, Russia, China, Turkey, 1890 arrive Japan, the Pacific Island, and the Caribbean.

1881- 1 million 1885 Germans arrive This is the peak of German immigration. 1881- Jewish 1920 immigration 2 million Jewish persons from Eastern European immigrate to the US Chinese Bans immigration from China into the US for ten years. Chinese Exclusion marks the first systematic federal legislation to restrict free 1882 Exclusion Act and open immigration into the United States based on national origin or race. Imposes a "head tax" of 50 cents upon all immigrants and deems several categories of immigrants ineligible for citizenship. Immigration Besides Chinese, those barred include criminals, "lunatics," "idiots," and persons deemed "likely to become a public charge" -- a 1882 Act of 1882 category that will eventually come to encompass most unmarried women. Also known as the Foran act and pushed for by the Knights of Labor; prohibits the importation and migration of foreigners and aliens Alien Contract under contract or agreement to perform labor in the U.S. Interestingly, this law only applied to those travelling by ship, and did not 1885 Labor Law apply to those crossing land borders (say, the border between the U.S. and Mexico). Dedication of the Statue of Liberty in New Built by French workmen in celebration of a century of friendship with the United States, the statue becomes an icon for generations 1886 York Harbor of American immigrants, who steam past it en route to the nearby immigration stations at Castle Garden and .

Riot breaks out when police attempt to disperse a peaceful rally of workers for the eight-hour workday; when a bomb is lobbed into the crowd by an unknown party, the police open fire on the crowd, and in the ensuing chaos, four workers and at least seven Haymarket Riot policemen are killed. The anarchist organizers of the rally -- mostly German immigrants -- are tried, convicted, and executed for 1886 in Chicago inciting the violence. The Haymarket Riot stokes fears among many Americans of the dangers of foreign-born radicalism. In response to the Haymarket Riot, the investigative committee of Congress reports that the unrestricted immigration of anarchists, Ford criminals, and paupers into the US has become a major social problem. For the first time since 1798, provisions are adopted for 1888 Committee expulsion of aliens. Hull House Progressive social reformer Jane Addams founds Hull House, the most famous of many "settlement houses" organized to aid the founded in urban immigrant poor. 1889 Chicago • (later, Henry Street Settlement) Jacob Riis publishes How the Other Half Raises awareness of the plight of recent immigrants, especially of immigrant children; Riis's images of urban street urchins, child 1890 Lives miners, and mill and factory children affected many deeply, leading them to call for reforms to benefit these recent immigrants. Immigration Restriction Advocates for exclusion of "undesirable" "new immigrants" from Eastern and Southern Europe. According to the League, the League question of immigration is whether Americans want their country "to be peopled by British, German and Scandinavian stock, 1890 (Boston) historically free, energetic, progressive, or by Slav, Latin and Asiatic races, historically down-trodden, atavistic, and stagnant." Expands the categories of immigrants excluded from entering the United States to include paupers, people with mental defects, polygamists, "persons suffering from a loathsome or dangerous contagious disease," and anyone convicted of a crime "involving Immigration Act moral turpitude." Restricted classes included those who were monetarily assisted by others for their passage. Steamship companies 1891 of 1891 were ordered to return ineligible immigrants to countries of origin. Bureau of Immigration Established under the Treasury Department, with total control over health inspections of immigrants and final say 1891 founded on whether or not any individual immigrant should or should not be allowed into the country. 1891- 3,687,564 Foreign-born in US made up 15% of population; the numbers of immigrants arriving from southern and eastern Europe ("new 1900 immigrants immigrants") surpassed those arriving from northern and western Europe ("old immigrants"). Ellis Island Ellis Island opened to screen immigrants entering the US on the East Coast. Ellis Island officials reported that women traveling alone 1892 opens must be met by a man, or they were immediately deported. Henry Street Settlement founded in Progressive reformer and nurse Lillian Wald founds the Henry Street Settlement in the Lower East Side of New York City to aid the 1893 Lower East immigrant poor of New York City. This is the first settlement house founded in New York City. Union Settlement Founded by members of the Union Theological Seminary Alumni Club, the still-operating Union Settlement serves the successive founded in East waves of immigrants in East Harlem from its founding to today: in the early twentieth century, Irish, German, Eastern European and Harlem, New Italian immigrants; in the mid-twentieth century, African Americans and immigrants from Puerto Rico, Mexico, Central and South 1895 York America and the Caribbean; and currently, recent immigrants from West Africa, South Asia and the Middle East. Anarchist When President William McKinley is assassinated by a mentally disturbed Polish-American anarchist named Leon Czolgosz (who Exclusion Act was not himself an immigrant), Congress passes the Anarchist Exclusion Act of 1901, barring entry into the U.S. by anyone judged by 1901 of 1901 immigration agents to be an anarchist or radical extremist. 1901- 8,795,386 1910 immigrants Mostly from Italy, Russia, Austria/Hungary, Japan, Canada, Africa, and The Caribbean. Publication of Woodrow Future president Woodrow Wilson writes that contemporary immigration consists of "multitudes of men of the lowest class from the Wilson's south of Italy, and men of the meaner sort out of Hungary and Poland, men out of the ranks where there was neither skill nor energy History of the nor any initiative of quick intelligence; and they came in numbers which increased from year to year, as if the countries of the south of 1902 American Europe were disburdening themselves of the more sordid and hapless elements of their population." Renewal of Chinese The extends the for ten more years, and adds the requirement that all Chinese residents carry 1902 Exclusion Act permits, as well as excluding them from serving as witnesses in court and from bail in habeus corpus proceedings. Emma Lazarus's poem The base of the statue is inscribed with the words of poet Emma Lazarus:"Give me your tired, your poor / Your huddled masses added to the yearning to breathe free / The wretched refuse of your teeming shore / Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me / I lift my lamp 1903 base of the beside the golden door!" Naturalization For the first time, makes some knowledge of the English language a requirement for citizenship. The act also creates the Immigration 1906 Act and Naturalization Service as a branch of the Commerce Department. Immigration Act 1907 of 1907 Bans the entry of unaccompanied minors, the mentally disabled, and anyone with tuberculosis. Changes naturalization laws to require that any American woman who marries a foreign man will immediately forfeit her U.S. 1907 Expatriation Act citizenship and acquire the nationality of her husband.

The Deal between the governments of the U.S. and Japan that allows the U.S. to block Japanese immigration without Gentlemen's offending the national pride of Japan. The United States agrees not to pass formal legislation excluding Japanese immigrants if 1907 Agreement Japan will prevent its own citizens from emigrating; the U.S. also promises to act against anti-Japanese discrimination in California. Dillingham Congressional Establishes a Commission on Immigration—better known as the Dillingham Commission, after its chairman, Vermont Senator Committee on William Dillingham—to study social problems related to the immigration issue. The Dillingham Commission will spend four years 1907 Immigration conducting extensive research before issuing its 41-volume final report. Angel Island West Coast immigration station on Angel Island in San Francisco Bay opens as "The Guardian of the Western Gate." Because of established in immigration restrictions in place for people of Chinese, Korean, or Japanese nationality, Angel Island functions mainly as a detention San Francisco center for Asians attempting to enter the country. Detainees are imprisoned for an average of two weeks while proving they are 1910 Bay eligible for entry; some are detained for up to two years and many are deported. Final report on social problems related to immigration concludes that the recent surge of so-called "new immigrants" from Southern Dillingham and Eastern Europe poses a grave threat to American culture and society and that Congress should take measures to restrict 1911 Report immigration. 1911- 5,735,811 1920 immigrants Mostly from Italy, Russia, Austria/Hungary, Canada, Turkey, Mexico, Japan, Africa, and The Caribbean 1911- 2 million 1920 Italians arrive This is the peak of Italian immigration. 1913 Alien Land Law California State Legislature bans all "aliens ineligible for citizenship" (Asians) from legally owning property in the state Eugenicist Madison Grant publishes An influential pseudo-scientific attack on "undesirable" New Immigrants, the book criticizes "the pathetic and fatuous belief in Passing of the the efficacy of American institutions and environment to revise or obliterate immemorial hereditary tendencies," and warns that the Great Race in "great race" of Anglo-Saxon Americans will soon be overrun by "the weak, the broken and the mentally crippled of all races" if 1916 America immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe is not ended or curtailed. Expands the classes of immigrants barred from entry, making illiterates, alcoholics, stowaways, vagrants, "persons of psychopathic inferiority," and epileptics ineligible for admission to the country. The act also establishes the "Asiatic Barred Zone," a huge expanse Immigration Act of territory, stretching from Indonesia to Turkey, from which no migrants will be allowed to enter the United States. The act thus 1917 of 1917 effectively bans all Asian immigration. Jones-Shafroth At the height of World War I, Congress grants U.S. citizenship to Puerto Ricans but also makes them eligible to be 1917 Act drafted into the American military for the first time.

Establishes, for the first time, specific quotas for the number of immigrants allowed to enter the US each year from each foreign country. The quota limits annual immigration from any given country to 3% of the number of people from that country resident in the Emergency United States in 1910. The new system forces a dramatic reduction in immigration from Eastern and Southern Europe, but allows 1921 Quota Act immigration from Northern and Western Europe to continue virtually unabated. 1921- 4,107,209 1930 immigrants Mostly from Italy, Germany, Russia, Poland, Canada, England and its colonies, Czechoslovakia, Africa, and Mexico, Partially repeals the by allowing female U.S. citizens marry European men to retain their U.S. citizenship. 1922 Cable Act However, those who marry Asians will still forfeit their American citizenship. Japanese made ineligible 1922 for citizenship US v. Bhaghat Singh Thind 1923 case US Supreme Court rules that Indians from the Asian subcontinent cannot become US citizens. Refines the national quota system created in 1921 to cap annual immigration from any given nation to 2% of the number of people National from that country resident in the United States in 1890. By choosing 1890—a year that preceded the bulk of the "new 1924 Origins Act immigration"—as the benchmark for setting national quotas, the law heavily favors Northern and Western Europeans at the expense Indian 1924 Citizenship Act Native Americans are made citizens Passed in conjunction with the National Origins Act of 1924, further tightens restrictions on Asian immigration by blocking the Oriental immigration of foreign-born wives of Asians already living in America and the children of American citizens born within the Asiatic 1924 Exclusion Act Barred Zone. Border Patrol 1924 established Border Patrol created to help police increasingly stringent immigration controls and to combat smuggling and illegal immigration. Execution of Sacco and The state of Massachusetts executes Italian-born radicals Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzettii, convicted for a 1920 murder; 1927 Vanzetti Sacco and Vanzetti become symbolic martyrs for many who believe they are innocent victims of anti-immigrant, anti-radical hysteria. Extension of 1929 1924 Quotas Makes permanent the annual quotas of the 1924 Act. Marks the onset of the Great Depression; combined with restrictive new quota laws, the collapse of the U.S. economy will bring The Great immigration to a virtual halt. In some years during the 1930s, more will leave the United States than enter; this marks the ending of 1929 Crash the great wave of immigration that began in the 1880s. 1931- 532,431 1940 immigrants Mostly from Germany, Canada, and Africa. Philippine Congress grants the US-occupied territory of the Philippines its independence effective in 1946; however, as the price of national 1934 Independence independence, the law strips Filipinos of their right to US citizenship and bans them immigrating to the US.

The US attempts to deport militant left-wing labor leader Harry Bridges, the Australian-born leader of the West Coast longshoremen's Harry Bridges union, on the grounds that Bridges is a member of the Communist Party. Bridges denies the charges and wins the case, but the 1938 Case government will attempt to deport the radical labor leader several more times before finally giving up in the mid-1950s. Angel Island 1940 closes Alien More commonly known as the Smith Act, requires all alien residents of the US to register with the government while also criminalizing Registration Act membership in or association with any group that advocates the overthrow of the government by force or violence. The Smith Act will 1940 (Smith Act) be used to jail or deport hundreds of American Communists in the early years of the Cold War. 1941- 1,035,039 1950 immigrants Mostly from Germany, England and its colonies, Canada, the Caribbean, Central America, and Oceania. Bracero At the height of World War II, authorizes the federal importation of thousands of agricultural laborers from Mexico and the 1942 Program Caribbean as temporary workers but grants them no right to pursue American citizenship or permanent residence. After 61 years, rescinds the Chinese Exclusion Act, which has become an embarrassment during a World War in which the US and Chinese China are close allies in the fight against fascism. Chinese Exclusion's repeal is largely symbolic, however, as China is allotted a 1943 Exclusion Ends quota of just 105 immigrants per year under the quota system in place. Allows foreign women who married US soldiers overseas during the war to enter the country, even if they would normally be blocked 1945 from entry by restrictive quotas or the Asiatic Barred Zone. In response to the Nazi holocaust, Congress for the first time creates a special allowance for refugees of totalitarian regimes to enter the country. It allows 205,000 refugees over two years; gives priority to Baltic States refugees; and prioritizes displaced persons for Displaced filling national immigration quotas. Technical provisions that discriminated against Catholic and Jewish immigrants are dropped in 1948 Persons Act 1953. 1951- 2,515,479 Mostly from Germany, the UK, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, Central and South America, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, Japan, the 1960 immigrants Philippines, Israel, At the height of the Cold War, Congress passes the the first substantial modification to American immigration policy since 1924. While reaffirming the National Origins system, it alters the quota system by establishing preferences for skilled workers and McCarran- substantially tightening counter-subversive security measures by facilitating the deportation of foreigners who have ever had any Warren connection to Communists. It eliminates race as a bar to immigration or citizenship. It sets Japan's quota at 185 annually, maintains Immigration China's at 105, and grants other Asian countries 100 each. Northern and western Europe's quota is set at 85% of all immigrants, and National while tighter restrictions are placed on immigrants coming from British colonies in order to stem the tide of black West Indians 1952 Security Act entering under Britain's generous quota. Husbands of American women are now included in the non-quota class. Ellis Island 1954 closes This marks the end of the era of mass European immigration to the US. 1961- 3,321,677 Mostly from the UK, Italy, Germany, Canada, Central and South America, Mexico, the Caribbean, Hong Kong, India, the Philippines, 1970 immigrants Japan, and Korea. Abolishes national origins quotas, establishing separate ceilings for the eastern (170,000) and western (120,000) hemispheres (combined in 1978 at 290,000). Establishes categories of preference based on family ties, critical skills, artistic excellence, and 1965 Hart-Celler Act refugee status. 1971- 4,493,314 Mostly from Mexico, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Italy, Portugal, the UK, the Philippines, Korea, Vietnam, Hong Kong, 1980 immigrants India, Africa, and Oceania. 1980 Removes refugees as a preference category; reduces worldwide ceiling for immigration to 270,000. 1981- 7,338,062 1990 immigrants Mostly from Mexico, the Caribbean, the Middle East, the Philippines, Korea, China, UK, and Africa. Immigration Reform and 1986 Control Act Provides amnesty for many illegal aliens and sanctions for employers hiring undocumented workers. U.S. Code Gives permanent status to non-immigrant registered nurses who have lived in US for at least three years and met established 1989 1255 certification standards. Immigration Act Limits unskilled workers to 10,000/year, establishes skilled labor requirements and makes immediate family reunification a major 1990 of 1990 goal. Foreign-born population in 1990 US is 7%. 9,095,417 1991- immigrants 2000 arrived. Mostly from Mexico, Russia, the Philippines, the Caribbean, Central and South America, China, India, Poland, the UK and Africa. Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to broaden the scope of aliens ineligible for admission or deportable due to terrorist activities to include an alien who is a representative of a political, social, or similar group whose political endorsement of terrorist acts undermines U.S. antiterrorist efforts; has used a position of prominence to endorse terrorist activity, or to persuade others to support such activity in a way that undermines U.S. antiterrorist efforts (or the child or spouse of such an alien under specified circumstances); or has been associated with a terrorist organization and intends to engage in threatening activities while in the United 2001 USA Patriot Act States.