Immigration—Almost Four Hundred Years of American History - The First Century Of Immigration

In the early 1800s America's territory more than doubled in size with the addition of the 828,000 square miles of land, which came to be known as the Louisiana Purchase. Reports of rich farm land and virgin forests provided by explorers like Lewis and Clark drew struggling farmers and skilled craftsmen, merchants and miners, laborers, and wealthy investors to leave Europe for the land of opportunity. In 1820, the year when immigration records were first kept, only 8,385 immigrants entered the United States, according to the Office of Immigration Statistics. During the 1820s the number began to rise slowly, an increase that generally continued for more than a century, until the Great Depression in 1929.

A Wave of Irish and German Immigration

Europe suffered from a population explosion in the 1800s. As land in Europe became more and more scarce, tenant farmers were pushed off their farms into poverty. Some immigrated to America to start a new life. This situation was made worse in Ireland when a fungus that caused potato crops to rot struck in 1845. Many Irishmen were poor farmers who depended on potatoes for food. They suffered greatly from famine when their crops rotted, and epidemics of cholera and typhoid spread from village to village. The Irish Potato Famine forced people to choose between starving to death or leaving their country. In the ten-year period from 1831 to 1840, a little over 207,000 Irish people arrived in America. Driven by the potato famine, between 1841 and 1850 the number of Irish immigrants rose more than 375% to 780,719. The flow of immigrants from Ireland peaked at more than 900,000 in the 1851–1860 decade. (See Table 1.1.)

TABLE 1.1
Immigration by region and selected country of last residence, 1820–2003

Region and country of last residencea	1820	1821–30	1831–40	1841–50	1851–60	1861–70	1871–80	1881–90
All countries	8,385	143,439	599,125	1,713,251	2,598,214	2,314,824	2,812,191	5,246,613
Europe	7,690	98,797	495,681	1,597,442	2,452,577	2,065,141	2,271,925	4,735,484
Austria-Hungary	b	b	b	b	b	7,800	72,969	353,719
Austria	b	b	b	b	b	7,124c	63,009	226,038
Hungary	b	b	b	b	b	484c	9,960	127,681
Belgium	1	27	22	5,074	4,738	6,734	7,221	20,177
Czechoslovakia	d	d	d	d	d	d	d	d
Denmark	20	169	1,063	539	3,749	17,094	31,771	88,132
France	371	8,497	45,575	77,262	76,358	35,986	72,206	50,464
Germany	968	6,761	152,454	434,626	951,667	787,468	718,182	1,452,970
Greece	—	20	49	16	31	72	210	2,308
Irelande	3,614	50,724	207,381	780,719	914,119	435,778	436,871	655,482
Italy	30	409	2,253	1,870	9,231	11,725	55,759	307,309
Netherlands	49	1,078	1,412	8,251	10,789	9,102	16,541	53,701
Norway-Sweden	3	91	1,201	13,903	20,931	109,298	211,245	568,362
Norway	f	f	f	f	f	f	95,323	176,586
Sweden	f	f	f	f	f	f	115,922	391,776
Poland	5	16	369	105	1,164	2,027	12,970	51,806
Portugal	35	145	829	550	1,055	2,658	14,082	16,978
Romania	g	g	g	g	g	g	11g	6,348
Soviet Union	14	75	277	551	457	2,512	39,284	213,282
Spain	139	2,477	2,125	2,209	9,298	6,697	5,266	4,419
Switzerland	31	3,226	4,821	4,644	25,011	23,286	28,293	81,988
United Kingdome, h	2,410	25,079	75,810	267,044	423,974	606,896	548,043	807,357
Yugoslavia	i	i	i	i	i	i	i	i
Other Europe	—	3	40	79	5	8	1,001	682
Asia	6	30	55	141	41,538	64,759	124,160	69,942
Chinaj	1	2	8	35	41,397	64,301	123,201	61,711
Hong Kong	k	k	k	k	k	k	k	k
India	1	8	39	36	43	69	163	269
Iran	l	l	l	l	l	l	l	l
Israel	m	m	m	m	m	m	m	m
Japan	n	n	n	n	n	186	149	2,270
Korea	o	o	o	o	o	o	o	o
Philippines	16	p	p	p	p	p	p p
Turkey	1	20	7	59	83	131	404	3,782
Vietnam	11	k	k	k	k	k	k	k
Other Asia	3	—	1	11	15	72	243	1,910
America	387	11,564	33,424	62,469	74,720	166,607	404,044	426,967
Canada & Newfoundlandq, r	209	2,277	13,624	41,723	59,309	153,878	383,640	393,304
Mexicor	1	4,817	6,599	3,271	3,078	2,191	5,162	1,913s
Caribbean	164	3,834	12,301	13,528	10,660	9,046	13,957	29,042
Cuba	I	I	I	I	I	I	I	I
Dominican Republic	t	t	t	t	t	t	t	t
Haiti	t	t	t	t	t	t	t	t
Jamaica	u	u	u	u	u	u	u	u
Other Caribbean	164	3,834	12,301	13,528	10,660	9,046	13,957	29,042
Central America	2	105	44	368	449	95	157	404
El Salvador	t	t	t	t	t	t	t	t
Other Central America	2	105	44	368	449	95	157	404
South America	11	531	856	3,579	1,224	1,397	1,128	2,304
Argentina	t	t	t	t	t	t	t	t
Colombia	t	t	t	t	t	t	t	t
Ecuador	t	t	t	t	t	t	t	t
Other South America	11	531	856	3,579	1,224	1,397	1,128	2,304
Other America	v	v	v	v	v	v	v	v
Africa	1	16	54	55	210	312	358	857
Oceania	1	2	9	29	158	214	10,914	12,574
Not specifiedv	300	33,030	69,902	53,115	29,011	17,791	790	789

Also affected by a potato famine and failed political revolutions, increasing numbers of German immigrants paralleled that of the Irish. From 1851 to 1860 the number of German immigrants (951,667) exceeded the Irish (914,119) by 37,548. The influx of Germans continued to rise to a peak of more than 1.4 million arrivals from 1881 to 1890. (See Table 1.1.)

Immigration, Politics, and the Civil War

This new wave of immigration led to intense anti-Irish, anti-German, and anti-Catholic sentiments among Americans, many of whom had been in America for only a few generations. It also triggered the creation of secret nativist societies (groups professing to protect the interests of the native-born against immigrants). Out of

TABLE 1.1
Immigration by region and selected country of last residence, 1820–2003 [CONTINUED]

Region and country of last residencea	1891–1900	1901–10	1911–20	1921–30	1931–40	1941–50	1951–60	1961–70
All countries	3,687,564	8,795,386	5,735,811	4,107,209	528,431	1,035,039	2,515,479	3,321,677
Europe	3,555,352	8,056,040	4,321,887	2,463,194	347,566	621,147	1,325,727	1,123,492
Austria-Hungary	592,707w	2,145,266w	896,342w	63,548	11,424	28,329	103,743	26,022
Austria	234,081c	668,209c	453,649	32,868	3,563x	24,860x	67,106	20,621
Hungary	181,288c	808,511c	442,693	30,680	7,861	3,469	36,637	5,401
Belgium	18,167	41,635	33,746	15,846	4,817	12,189	18,575	9,192
Czechoslovakia	d	d	3,426d	102,194	14,393	8,347	918	3,273
Denmark	50,231	65,285	41,983	32,430	2,559	5,393	10,984	9,201
France	30,770	73,379	61,897	49,610	12,623	38,808	51,121	45,237
Germany	505,152w	341,498w	143,945w	412,202	114,058x	226,578x	477,765	190,796
Greece	15,979	167,519	184,201	51,084	9,119	8,973	47,608	85,969
Irelande	388,416	339,065	146,181	211,234	10,973	19,789	48,362	32,966
Italy	651,893	2,045,877	1,109,524	455,315	68,028	57,661	185,491	214,111
Netherlands	26,758	48,262	43,718	26,948	7,150	14,860	52,277	30,606
Norway-Sweden	321,281	440,039	161,469	165,780	8,700	20,765	44,632	32,600
Norway	95,015	190,505	66,395	68,531	4,740	10,100	22,935	15,484
Sweden	226,266	249,534	95,074	97,249	3,960	10,665	21,697	17,116
Poland	96,720w	w	4,813w	227,734	17,026	7,571	9,985	53,539
Portugal	27,508	69,149	89,732	29,994	3,329	7,423	19,588	76,065
Romania	12,750	53,008	13,311	67,646	3,871	1,076	1,039	2,531
Soviet Union	505,290w	1,597,306w	921,201w	61,742	1,370	571	671	2,465
Spain	8,731	27,935	68,611	28,958	3,258	2,898	7,894	44,659
Switzerland	31,179	34,922	23,091	29,676	5,512	10,547	17,675	18,453
United Kingdome, h	271,538	525,950	341,408	339,570	31,572	139,306	202,824	213,822
Yugoslavia	i	i	1,888i	49,064	5,835	1,576	8,225	20,381
Other Europe	282	39,945	31,400	42,619	11,949	8,486	16,350	11,604
Asia	74,862	323,543	247,236	112,059	16,595	37,028	153,249	427,642
Chinaj	14,799	20,605	21,278	29,907	4,928	16,709	9,657	34,764
Hong Kong	k	k	k	k	k	k	15,541k	75,007
India	68	4,713	2,082	1,886	496	1,761	1,973	27,189
Iran	I	I	I	241I	195	1,380	3,388	10,339
Israel	m	m	m	m	m	476m	25,476	29,602
Japan	25,942	129,797	83,837	33,462	1,948	1,555	46,250	39,988
Korea	o	o	o	o	o	107o	6,231	34,526
Philippines	p	p	p	p	528p	4,691	19,307	98,376
Turkey	30,425	157,369	134,066	33,824	1,065	798	3,519	10,142
Vietnam	k	k	k	k	k	k	335k	4,240
Other Asia	3,628	11,059	5,973	12,739	7,435	9,551	21,572	63,369
America	38,972	361,888	1,143,671	1,516,716	160,037	354,804	996,944	1,716,374
Canada & Newfoundlandq, r	3,311	179,226	742,185	924,515	108,527	171,718	377,952	413,310
Mexicor	971s	49,642	219,004	459,287	22,319	60,589	299,811	453,937
Caribbean	33,066	107,548	123,424	74,899	15,502	49,725	123,091	470,213
Cuba	I	I	I	15,901I	9,571	26,313	78,948	208,536
Dominican Republic	t	t	t	t	1,150t	5,627	9,897	93,292
Haiti	t	t	t	t	191t	911	4,442	34,499
Jamaica	u	u	u	u	u	u	8,869u	74,906
Other Caribbean	33,066	107,548	123,424	58,998	4,590	16,874	20,935u	58,980
Central America	549	8,192	17,159	15,769	5,861	21,665	44,751	101,330
El Salvador	t	t	t	t	673t	5,132	5,895	14,992
Other Central America	549	8,192	17,159	15,769	5,188	16,533	38,856	86,338
South America	1,075	17,280	41,899	42,215	7,803	21,831	91,628	257,940
Argentina	t	t	t	t	1,349t	3,338	19,486	49,721
Colombia	t	t	t	t	1,223t	3,858	18,048	72,028
Ecuador	t	t	t	t	337t	2,417	9,841	36,780
Other South America	1,075	17,280	41,899	42,215	4,894	12,218	44,253	99,411
Other America	v	v	v	31v	25	29,276	59,711	19,644
Africa	350	7,368	8,443	6,286	1,750	7,367	14,092	28,954
Oceania	3,965	13,024	13,427	8,726	2,483	14,551	12,976	25,122
Not specifiedv	14,063	33,523y	1,147	228	—	412	12,491	93

these groups grew a new political party, the American Party (also called the "Know-Nothings"), who claimed to support the rights of Protestant, American-born, male voters. According to Dennis Wepman, the Know-Nothings managed to win seventy-five seats in Congress and six governorships in 1855 before the party dissolved (Immigration: From the Founding of Virginia to the Closing of Ellis Island, New York: Facts on File, Inc., 2002).

In contrast to the nativists, the 1864 Republican party platform, written in part by Abraham Lincoln, stated, "Resolved, That foreign immigration, which in the past has added so much to the wealth, development of resources, and increase of power to the nation, the asylum of the oppressed of all nations, shall be fostered and encouraged by a liberal and just policy" (Felix S. Cohen, in Immigration and National

TABLE 1.1
Immigration by region and selected country of last residence, 1820–2003 [CONTINUED]

Region and country of last residencea	1971–80	1981–90	1991–2000	2000	2001	2002	2003	Total 184 years, 1820–2003
All countries	4,493,314	7,338,062	9,095,417	849,807	1,064,318	1,063,732	705,827	68,923,308
Europe	800,368	761,550	1,359,737	133,362	177,833	177,652	102,843	38,919,125
Austria-Hungary	16,028	24,885	24,882	2,024	2,318	4,016	2,181	4,376,179w,x
Austria	9,478	18,340	15,500	997	1,004	2,657	1,163	1,849,270b, c
Hungary	6,550	6,545	9,382	1,027	1,314	1,359	1,018	1,680,833b, c
Belgium	5,329	7,066	7,090	827	1,002	842	518	220,008
Czechoslovakia	6,023	7,227	9,816	1,415	1,921	1,862	1,474	160,874d
Denmark	4,439	5,370	6,079	556	741	655	436	378,323
France	25,069	32,353	35,820	4,093	5,431	4,596	2,933	836,367
Germany	74,414	91,961	92,606	12,372	22,093	21,058	8,102	7,227,324w,x
Greece	92,369	38,377	26,759	5,138	1,966	1,516	914	735,059
Irelande	11,490	31,969	56,950	1,279	1,550	1,419	1,010	4,786,062
Italy	129,368	67,254	62,722	2,695	3,377	2,837	1,904	5,443,948
Netherlands	10,492	12,238	13,308	1,466	1,895	2,305	1,329	393,069
Norway-Sweden	10,472	15,182	17,893	1,977	2,561	2,097	1,520	2,170,025
Norway	3,941	4,164	5,178	513	588	464	386	760,335f
Sweden	6,531	11,018	12,715	1,464	1,973	1,633	1,134	1,264,263f
Poland	37,234	83,252	163,747	9,773	12,355	13,304	11,016	806,758w
Portugal	101,710	40,431	22,916	1,402	1,654	1,320	821	527,972
Romania	12,393	30,857	51,203	6,521	6,224	4,525	3,311	270,104g
Soviet Union	38,961	57,677	462,874	43,807	55,099	55,464	33,563	4,050,706w
Spain	39,141	20,433	17,157	1,406	1,889	1,603	1,107	306,904
Switzerland	8,235	8,849	11,841	1,349	1,796	1,503	867	375,446
United Kingdome, h	137,374	159,173	151,866	14,532	20,258	18,057	11,220	5,320,551
Yugoslavia	30,540	18,762	66,557	12,213	21,937	28,100	5,312	258,177
Other Europe	9,287	8,234	57,651	8,517	11,766	10,573	10,321	272,285
Asia	1,588,178	2,738,157	2,795,672	255,860	337,566	326,871	236,039	9,715,328
Chinaj	124,326	346,747	419,114	41,861	50,821	55,974	37,395	1,477,680
Hong Kong	113,467	98,215	109,779	7,199	10,307	7,952	5,020	435,288k
India	164,134	250,786	363,060	39,072	65,916	66,864	47,157	998,713
Iran	45,136	116,172	68,556	6,505	8,063	7,730	4,709	265,909I
Israel	37,713	44,273	39,397	3,893	4,925	4,938	3,719	190,519m
Japan	49,775	47,085	67,942	7,730	10,464	9,150	6,724	556,524n
Korea	267,638	333,746	164,166	15,214	19,933	20,114	12,177	858,638o
Philippines	354,987	548,764	503,945	40,587	50,870	48,674	43,258	1,673,400p
Turkey	13,399	23,233	38,212	2,713	3,477	3,934	3,332	461,282
Vietnam	172,820	280,782	286,145	25,340	34,648	32,425	21,270	832,765k
Other Asia	244,783	648,354	735,356	65,746	78,142	69,116	51,278	1,964,610
America	1,982,735	3,615,225	4,486,806	397,201	473,351	478,777	306,793	18,813,275
Canada & Newfoundlandq, r	169,939	156,938	191,987	21,475	30,203	27,299	16,555	4,561,296
Mexicor	640,294	1,655,843	2,249,421	171,748	204,844	217,318	114,984	6,675,296s
Caribbean	741,126	872,051	978,787	85,875	96,958	94,240	67,660	3,940,822
Cuba	264,863	144,578	169,322	19,322	26,073	27,520	8,722	980,347I
Dominican Republic	148,135	252,035	335,251	17,441	21,256	22,474	26,157	915,274t
Haiti	56,335	138,379	179,644	22,004	22,535	19,189	11,942	468,067t
Jamaica	137,577	208,148	169,227	15,654	15,099	14,567	13,082	641,475u
Other Caribbean	134,216	128,911	125,343	11,454	11,995	10,490	7,757	935,659
Central America	134,640	468,088	526,915	62,708	73,063	66,520	53,435	1,539,561
El Salvador	34,436	213,539	215,798	22,332	31,054	30,539	27,915	579,973t
Other Central America	100,204	254,549	311,117	40,376	42,009	35,981	25,520	959,588
South America	295,741	461,847	539,656	55,392	68,279	73,400	54,155	1,985,779
Argentina	29,897	27,327	26,644	2,485	3,459	3,811	3,217	168,249t
Colombia	77,347	122,849	128,499	14,191	16,333	18,488	14,455	473,128t
Ecuador	50,077	56,315	76,592	7,658	9,694	10,564	7,040	259,657t
Other South America	138,420	255,356	307,921	31,058	38,793	40,537	29,443	1,084,745
Other America	995	458	40	3	4	3	4	110,188

TABLE 1.1
Immigration by region and selected country of last residence, 1820–2003 [CONTINUED]
SOURCE: "Table 2. Immigration by Region and Selected Country of Last Residence, Fiscal Years 1820–2003," in 2003 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics Office of Immigration Statistics, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, September 2004, http://uscis.gov/graphics/shared/aboutus/statistics/IMM03yrbk/2003IMM.pdf (accessed January 27, 2005)

Region and country of last residencea	1971–80	1981–90	1991–2000	2000	2001	2002	2003	Total 184 years, 1820–2003
Africa	80,779	176,893	354,939	40,969	50,209	56,135	45,640	841,068
Oceania	41,242	45,205	55,845	5,962	7,253	6,536	5,102	279,358
Not specifiedv	12	1,032	42,418	16,453	18,106	17,761	9,410	355,154
aData for years prior to 1906 relate to country whence alien came; data from 1906–79 and 1984–99 are for country of last permanent residence; and data for 1980–83 refer to country of birth. Because of changes in boundaries, changes in lists of countries, and lack of data for specified countries for various periods, data for certain countries, especially for the total period 1820–1999, are not comparable throughout. Data for specified countries are included with countries to which they belonged prior to World War I.
bData for Austria and Hungary not reported until 1861.
cData for Austria and Hungary not reported separately for all years during the period.
dNo data available for Czechoslovakia until 1920.
ePrior to 1926, data for Northern Ireland included in Ireland.
fData for Norway and Sweden not reported separately until 1871.
gNo data available for Romania until 1880.
hSince 1925, data for United Kingdom refer to England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
iIn 1920, a separate enumeration was made for the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes. Since 1922, the Serb, Croat, and Slovene Kingdom recorded as Yugoslavia.
jBeginning in 1957, China includes Taiwan. As of January 1, 1979, the United States has recognized the People's Republic of China.
kData not reported separately until 1952.
lData not reported separately until 1925.
mData not reported separately until 1949.
nNo data available for Japan until 1861.
oData not reported separately until 1948.
pPrior to 1934, Philippines recorded as insular travel.
qPrior to 1920, Canada and Newfoundland recorded as British North America. From 1820–98, figures include all British North America possessions.
rLand arrivals not completely enumerated until 1908.
sNo data available for Mexico from 1886–94.
tData not reported separately until 1932.
uData for Jamaica not collected until 1953. In prior years, consolidated under British West Indies, which is included in "Other Caribbean."
vIncluded in countries "Not specified" until 1925.
wFrom 1899–1919, data for Poland included in Austria-Hungary, Germany, and the Soviet Union.
xFrom 1938–45, data for Austria included in Germany.
yIncludes 32,897 persons returning in 1906 to their homes in the United States.
Note: From 1820–67, figures represent alien passengers arrived at seaports; from 1868–91 and 1895–97, immigrant aliens arrived; from 1892–94 and 1898–2003, immigrant aliens admitted for permanent residence. From 1892–1903, aliens entering by cabin class were not counted as immigrants. Land arrivals were not completely enumerated until 1908. For recent changes in geographic definitions for Hong Kong, and the former Czechoslovakia, Soviet Union, and Yugoslavia, see Notice of Special Geographic Definitions. Data for Czechoslovakia, Soviet Union, and Yugoslavia include independent republics.

Welfare, New York: League for Industrial Democracy, 1940).

In 1862 Lincoln signed the Homestead Law, which offered 160 acres of free land to any adult citizen or prospective citizen who agreed to occupy and improve the land for five years. Wepman noted that between 1862 and 1904 more than 147 million acres of western land were claimed by adventurous citizens and eager new immigrants. Efforts to complete a transcontinental railroad provided work for predominantly Irish and Chinese laborers.

The Civil War itself (1861–1865) seemed to have little impact on immigration. Although the number of immigrants dropped from 153,640 in 1860 to just under 92,000 in both 1861 and 1862, there were more than 176,000 new arrivals in 1863 and the numbers continued to grow.

Post-Civil War Growth in Immigration

Post-Civil War America was characterized by the rapid growth of the Industrial Revolution, which fueled the need for workers in the nation's flourishing factories. The number of arriving immigrants continued to grow in the 1870s, dominated by people from Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Sweden, and Norway. (See Table 1.1.) Opposition to immigration continued among some factions of established citizens. Secret societies of white supremacists, such as the Ku Klux Klan, formed throughout the South to oppose not only African-American suffrage but also the influence of the Roman Catholic Church and rapid naturalization of foreign immigrants.

Immigration Swelled and the Source of Immigrants
Shifted in the 1880s

The decade from 1881 to 1890 marked a new era in immigration. The volume of immigrants nearly doubled from 2,812,191 in the 1870s to 5,246,613 in the 1880s. German immigration peaked at nearly 1.5 million and immigration from Norway, Sweden, England, Scotland, and Wales also reached their highest levels. A new wave of immigrants began to arrive from Russia (including a significant number of Jews fleeing massacres called pogroms), Poland, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. (See Table 1.1.) The mass exodus from eastern Europe foretold events that would result in World War I. These newcomers were different: they came from countries with limited public education and no sense of social equality; they were often unskilled and illiterate; and they tended to form tight ethnic communities within the large cities where they clung to their own language and customs, which further limited their ability to assimilate into American culture.

A Developing Federal Role in Immigration

The increasing numbers of immigrants prompted a belief that there should be some type of administrative order to the ever-growing influx. In 1864 Congress created a Commission of Immigration under the U.S. Department of State. A one-man office was set up in New York City to oversee immigration.

The 1870s witnessed a national debate over the importation of contract labor and limiting of such immigration. In 1875, after considerable debate, Congress passed the Page Law (18 Stat. 477). This first major piece of restrictive immigration legislation prohibited alien convicts and prostitutes from entering the country.

With the creation of the Commission of Immigration, the federal government began to play a central role in immigration, which had previously been handled by the individual states. Court decisions beginning in 1849 strengthened the federal government's role and limited the states' role in regulating immigration. In 1875 the Supreme Court ultimately ruled in Henderson v. Mayor of the City of New York (92 U.S. 259) that the immigration laws of New York, California, and Louisiana were unconstitutional. This ended the states' right to regulate immigration and exclude undesirable aliens. From then on Congress and the federal government had complete responsibility for immigration.

In 1882 Congress passed the first general immigration law. The Immigration Act of August 3, 1882 (22 Stat. 214) established a centralized immigration administration under the Secretary of the Treasury. The law also allowed the exclusion of "undesirables" including paupers, criminals, and the insane. A head tax was added at fifty cents per arriving immigrant to defray the expenses of immigration regulation and caring for the immigrants after their arrival in the United States.

The Influx of Immigrants from Asia

Before the discovery of gold in California in 1848, very few Asians (little more than two hundred, including Asian Indians) came to the United States (2003 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics, Washington, DC: Office of Immigration Statistics, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, September 2004). Between 1849 and 1852 large numbers of Asian immigrants began arriving in the United States. These early arrivals came mostly from southern China, spurred on by economic depression, famine, war, and flooding. Thousands of Chinese immigrants were recruited to build railroads and work in mines, construction, or manufacturing. Many became domestic servants. Former mining camp cooks who had saved a little money opened restaurants. Others invested small amounts in equipment to operate one-man laundries, performing a service few other people wanted to tackle. Between 1851 and 1880 about a quarter of a million immigrants arrived from China, while only a few thousand arrived from other Asian countries. (See Table 1.1.)

Some people became alarmed by this increase in Chinese immigration. Their fears were fueled by a combination of racism and fears among American-born workers that employers were bringing over foreign workers to replace them and keep unskilled wages low. The public began to call for restrictions on Chinese immigration.

The Chinese Exclusion Act

In 1882 Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act (22 Stat. 58), which prohibited further immigration of Chinese laborers to the United States for ten years. Exceptions included teachers, diplomats, students, merchants, and tourists. The Chinese Exclusion Act marked the first time the United States barred immigration of a national group. The law also prohibited Chinese immigrants in the United States from becoming naturalized American citizens. Fewer than fifteen thousand Chinese arrived during the last decade of the nineteenth century. (See Table 1.1.)

Four other laws that prohibited the immigration of Chinese laborers followed the Chinese Exclusion Act. The 1892 Geary Act (27 Stat. 25) extended the Chinese Exclusion Act for ten more years. In cases brought before the U.S. Supreme Court, the Court upheld the constitutionality of these two laws. The Immigration Act of 1904 (33 Stat. 428) made the Chinese exclusion laws permanent. Under the Immigration Act of 1917 (39 Stat. 874), the United States suspended the immigration of laborers from almost all Asian countries.

During World War II, the United States and China became allies against the Japanese in Asia. As a gesture of goodwill, on December 17, 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Act to Repeal the Chinese Exclusion Acts, to Establish Quotas, and for Other Purposes (57 Stat. 600-1). The new law lifted the ban on naturalization of Chinese nationals but established a quota or limit of 105 Chinese immigrants to be admitted per year.

The Beginning of Japanese Immigration

Until the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act, Japanese immigration was hardly noticeable, with the total flow at 335 between 1861 and 1880. Because Japanese immigrants were not covered by the Chinese Exclusion Act, however, Japanese laborers were brought in to replace Chinese workers. Consequently Japanese immigration increased from 2,270 in the 1880s to almost 130,000 during the first decade of the twentieth century (1901–1910). (See Table 1.1.) Japanese workers labored in the rapidly expanding sugarcane plantations in Hawaii and the fruit and vegetable farms of California.

The same anti-Asian attitudes that had led to the Chinese Exclusion Act culminated in President Theodore Roosevelt's "Gentleman's Agreement" of 1907, an informal arrangement between the U.S. and Japanese governments that cut the flow of Japanese immigration to a trickle. This anti-Asian attitude resurfaced a generation later in the National Origins Act (Immigration Act of 1924; 43 Statutes-at-Large 153). The immigration quota for any nationality group had been based on the number of persons of that nationality resident in the United States in the 1910 census. The new law reduced quotas from 3% to 2% and shifted the base for quota calculations from 1910 back to 1890. Since few Asians lived in the United States in 1890, the reduction in Asian immigration was particularly dramatic. Asian immigration was not permitted to increase until after World War II.

Greater Government Control

In "Overview of INS History" (http://uscis.gov/graphics/aboutus/history/articles/OVIEW.htm), Marion L. Smith describes the development of the federal role in control of immigration. With the exception of Asian immigration, the federal government had done little to restrict immigration. In 1891 the federal government assumed total control over immigration issues. The Immigration Act of March 3, 1891 (26 Stat. 1084), authorized the establishment of the U.S. Office of Immigration under the Treasury Department. This first comprehensive immigration law added to the list of inadmissible persons those suffering from certain contagious diseases, polygamists (married persons who had more than one mate at the same time), and aliens convicted of minor crimes. The law also prohibited using advertisements to encourage immigration.

On January 2, 1892, a new federal immigration station began operating on Ellis Island in New York. According to the Statue of Liberty–Ellis Island Foundation, during its years of operation (1892–1954) more than twelve million immigrants were processed through Ellis Island (http://ellisisland.org/genealogy/ellis_island_history.asp). That figure represented about half of the 24,178,969 immigrants who entered the United States during that period. In 1895 the Office of Immigration became the Bureau of Immigration under the Commissioner-General of Immigration.

In 1903 the Bureau of Immigration was transferred to the Department of Commerce and Labor. The Basic Naturalization Act of 1906 (34 Stat. 596) consolidated the immigration and naturalization functions of the federal government under the new title Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization. When the Department of Labor and Commerce was separated into two cabinet departments in 1913, two bureaus were formed—the Bureau of Immigration and the Bureau of Naturalization. In 1933 the two bureaus were reunited as the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS).

Immigrants from Eastern Europe Continued to Come

By the 1890s the origins of those arriving in America had changed. Fewer immigrants came from northern Europe while immigrants from southern, central, and eastern European countries grew in numbers every year. Of the 8.1 million European immigrants who arrived between 1901 and 1910, 72% came from Italy, the Soviet Union, and Austria-Hungary. (See Table 1.1.) The 1923 report "The Immigration Problem in the United States" prepared by the National Industrial Conference Board noted that immigration from northern and western Europe was referred to as "old" immigration, whereas that from southern and eastern European countries was commonly called "new" immigration. The same report noted racial problems between "old" and "new" immigrants; the term "race" generally included nationalities or ethnic groups. The National Industrial Conference Board report displayed graphs of immigrant groups by race, including among others Hebrew, German, English, Irish, Scotch, Scandinavian, Slovak, and Armenian.

The exodus of Jews (called Hebrews in the National Industrial Conference Board report) from eastern Europe was particularly significant. The 1923 report stated that an average of greater than 57,000 Hebrew[s] per year arrived between 1908 and 1922. This was double the average arrivals of any other group. The American Immigration Law Foundation noted that many of these Jewish immigrants were merchants, shopkeepers, craftsmen, and professionals, contrary to the stereotype of poor, uneducated immigrants coming out of eastern Europe.