Immigration Graph

Work Cited

The Points in History of

U.S Immigration

“Chinese Exclusion Act: 1882, Definition & Immigrants.” Edited by History.com Editors, History.Com, A&E Television Networks, 24 Aug. 2018, www.history.com/topics/19th-century/chinese-exclusion-act-1882.

“Immigration Act of 1924 (Johnson-Reed Act).” Immigration History, 1 Feb. 2020, immigrationhistory.org/item/1924-immigration-act-johnson-reed-act/.

“Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 (Hart-Celler Act).” Immigration History, 27 Sept. 2019, immigrationhistory.org/item/hart-celler-act/.

Mlblevins. “Immigration Act of 1924: Effects, Significance, and Summary.” Historyplex, 18 July 2014, historyplex.com/immigration-act-of1924-effects-significance-summary.

Sheikh, Zilpah. “Coronavirus History: How Did Coronavirus Start?” WebMD, WebMD, 11 Mar. 2020, www.webmd.com/covid/coronavirus-history.

“U.S. Immigration since 1965 - Impact, Results & Summary.” Edited by History.com Editors, History.Com, A&E Television Networks, 5 Mar. 2010, www.history.com/topics/immigration/us-immigration-since-1965.

“United States v. Wong Kim Ark (1898).” National Constitution Center – Constitutioncenter.Org, constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution/supreme-court-case-library/united-states-v-wong-kim-ark-1898. Accessed 20 Dec. 2023.

Wu, Yuning. “Chinese Exclusion Act.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., 20 Dec. 2023, www.britannica.com/topic/Chinese-Exclusion-Act.

By Nedson, Seamas, Jake, Ethan

Final Thoughts

Immigration into the U.S has change drasticly from high to low but immigration rates mainly seem to change based on the sentiment towards immigrants. Based on the graph and many events throught the U.S's history, many of the spikes and drops of immigration numbers are due to how the government and citizens view immigrants. Many acts like the Chinese exclusion act reflected the U.S's views on immigrants from China or Africa as citizens didn't like Chinese people because they were different. The U.S didn't like immigrants from countries that weren't white so immigrants from Asia or South America were not treated kindly. As a result their immigration rates a so low compared to those in Europe. Even in Europe sentiment towards Italians and Jews were not kind and as a result the Johnson Reed Act crushed immigration rates from all countries. However immigrant sentiment changed after the World Wars as the Immigration and Naturalization act reflected the U.S's change on immigration as it allowed for much more oppertunity for immigrants from anywhere to immigrate. As a result the Immigration became more diverse as more people areas like Asia or South America were allowed into the U.S. This shows how immigration rates and the places that immigrants came from direclty corrolates with the U.S's sentiment towards immigrants

U.S. Vs. Wong Kim Ark

1898

Significance:

Backgorund & Cause

U.S vs. Wong Kim Ark established birthrite citizenship for many foreigners and that the U.S. could not deny citizenship to them.

U.S vs Wong Kim Ark is a landmark Supreme Court case decieded in 1898. Wong Kim Ark was born in San Francisco in 1873. Both of his parents are citizens of China. When Kim Ark was 21, he visted China to see his parents. However, when he returned to the U.S., he was denied entry becuase he was not a U.S. citizen, despite being born on U.S. soil. Wong Kim Ark decided to challenge the government in court saying that he was a U.S. citizen under the 14th amendment.

The main cause of this case was the Chinese Exclusion Act, which prohibited the immagration Chinese laborers.

Effects:

The Supreme Court ruled in a 6-2 decsion that Wong Kim Ark is a U.S. citizen becuase of the 14th amendment. Because of this, many foreingers born in the U.S. were considers citiznes becuase of birthrite citizenship. It also, in some way, overturned the Chinese Exclusion act in that Chinses people could become citizens of the U.S.

Italian Immigration

1880 - 1920

Throughout this period of time more then 2 million italians would immigrate to America due to Italys instability after many wars and conflicts.

Pull Factors

Push Factors

1) Travel across the atlantic was becoming cheaper

2) The American Dream promised prosperity and economic freedom

3) America had lots of jobs even if they weren't the best as Italians were willing to work for anything

1) Constant violence and conflict due to the differences of the North and South

2) Wide Spread poverty for the peasants in the South lead to economic instability

3) Disease and Natural Disasters swept through the country

4) The New Government was very weak and couldn't do anything to aid the citizens

Chinese Exclusion Act

Effects:

This greatly hindered the amount of Chinese people that were allowed to immigrate. The visa system got introduced for China, allowing a limited amount of people each year. The remaining Chinese people in America were denided citizenship. America became less diverse.

Significance

This was first law in the history of the United States to restict immigration from anywhere into the U.S. Along with allowing descimination towards Chinese people living in America.

Background/Cause:

This act was in reaction to the fast migration of variouse minorities and especially the Chinese. This was due to the vast chinese exclusion propaganda that was presented at this time. That they were less inteligent than white americans, and that they were only here to harm America and not inprove it. Some Ameircans were also concerned with the idea of white purity disapearing overtime, if more minorities came to America.

Immigration and Naturalizatoin Act

1965

Johnson Reed Act

1924

Background

The bill was in response towards that the Johnson Reed Act. It would change how immigration worked by placing a system where all immigrants could immigrat to the U.S if they met one of the Criteria:

a. Have Family members or relatives that are citizens of the U.S

b. Are Deemed to have useful skills that will benifit the U.S

c. Are a refugee or are fleeing from conflict

Cause:

Effect:

Significace:

At the time that this law was being debated over the civil rights movement was starting to gain a huge amount of influence and momentum. The civil rights movement wanted equality for everyone no mater race or nationality. As a result people from the civil rights movement started to pressure congress to remove the Johnson Reed Act. They argued that it was discriminitory and this put a lot of pressure on Congress so they eventually passed this Act.

This was a landmark decision for immigrants as it abolished the discrimination of immigrants from certain areas and also set the precedent that the U.S government couldn't deny immigrants soly based on things like race, nationality, or sex. It lead to the increase in immigration that the U.S had but also lead to a more diverse and more prosporuse America.

This law reopened the flood gates that the funnel from the previous law created. It allowed for all immigrants from any country to immigrate to the U.S if they met the criteria. This law lead to a massive amount of immigrants from places like Asia or Mexico to flood in as shown by the graph. This lead to the giant boom in immigrants from all places as conflicts and push factors lead many people to immigrate to the U.S. The law also created a problem with illegal immigrants because most illegal immigrants didn't meet the requirments like skilled work experience.

Chinese eclusion act

14th amendment

1866

Background

The 14th amendment granted citizenship to all people living in the U.S or who were naturalized in the U.S. It also gave citizens equal protections under the law no matter their race which meant that formerly enslaved people could become citizens and be protected.

Cause:

Significance

Effect :

The civil war had been raging on for multiple years as the idea of freedom for slaves came into question. After the war pressure from people on Congress to pass some sort of law to give slaves citizenship or some sort of freedom after the 13th amendment had passed. As a result the 14th amendment was deemed nessesary to rebuild the U.S

The 14th amendment was a landmark in U.S history as it would set into motion the precent when it came to citizenship for immigrants and the questions of what a citizens gains and who can be a citizen. These questions would be answered through the following decades through many cases, laws, and events that changed both the U.S and immigration as a whole.

The 14th amendment allowed for most formerly enslaved people to become citizens and gain the rights of citizens. This created the era of reconstruction where the U.S changed drasticly as black people could make changes and be apart of the government while violence against black people increased. The 14th amendment also applied to immigrants which meant that coupled with the push factors happening in Europe and pull factors of jobs in the U.S, the immigration rates increased dramaticly as shown by the graph.

Background

Before the act passed there was a bill that acted very similar this this one named the Emergencay Quota Act. The bill and this act restricted the amount of the immigrants that could enter the U.S to 150,000. This act also put a cap on how many immigrants could come from a certain country. For example a maximum of 50,000 immigrants from England would be accepted while 100 immigrants from Nigeria would be accepted.

Causes, Effects, Significance

Significance:

Effects:

Cause:

This was one of the first times in history where Immigration was changed in a big way. This change happened mainly because of racism and prejudice against foriegn immigrants. This period really showed how racism and prejudice affected immigration as this law bassically stop those from Asian and African countries from immigrating to the U.S. It was also the time where immigration was at an all time low and feelings for people like Jews really impacted the way the government went about making laws on immigration.

This law put a metaphorical and literal funnel on Immigration as numbers on immigrants from all places dropped drasticly. Even from places that the U.S deemed favorable like Britain, immigration dropped by 50% from Britain. This lead to a huge decrease in immigrants from all areas of the world but mainly decreased in areas with systemic rasicm and anti immigrant feeling were felt. Immigration rates from Italy dropped down to 89% in the year that the act was passed and even for Eastern Europeans

This law was mainly influenced by the idea of Eugenics. Eugenics is the idea that there is one race which is superior and all other races are inferior and to increase the amount of superior race and decrease the amount of inferior race. In America the idea of the superior race was the named the Nordic race. People like Madison Grant pushed the idea to increase the amount of Nordic race. Immigrants were seen as the inferior race and as a result hatred towards immigrants increased. In Fact Madison Grant would publish a study that showed how black people were dumber and italians were more likely to commit crimes and so he went on a huge propaganda period. Congress would be influenced by this propaganda and eventually pased this law.

2020:

COVID-19

Causes:

The COVID-19 virus comes from SARS-CoV-2. Although the exact orgin of the virus is still unknown, It has thought to belive that the virus made its first jump to humans in one the seafood markets in Wuhan, China.

Effects:

The United States (as well as most other counties) closed their boarders from immagration to prevent the spread of the virus. The result is a massive decrease in immagration from 2020 to 2022.

Significance:

People who wanted to immagrate to the U.S. could not during COVID. whether thats for work, war, or to see thier family. This led everyone feeling seperated from their loved ones. It also had jobs at a all-time low as immagrants weren't coming to the U.S. for work.