For the first time, the United States Census surveys the "nativity" of citizens -- whether they were born inside or outside the US.

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

2 ,314,825 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 spurring an influx of 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 Chinese workers Transcontinent al Railroad The Central Pacific hires Chinese laborers and the Union Pacific hires Irish laborers to construct the first transcontinental railroad, which would stretch from San Francisco to Omaha, allowing continuous travel by rail from coast to coast Transcontinent al Railroad The Central Pacific hires Chinese laborers and the Union Pacific hires Irish laborers to construct the first transcontinental railroad, which would stretch from San Francisco to Omaha, allowing continuous travel by rail from coast to coast Draft Riots Riots against the draft in New York City involve many opposed to compulsory military service (July 13 16, 1863). Much of the violence targets African Americans, whom the 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 Amendment African Americans gain citizenship Transcontinent al Railroad Connected Central Pacific and Union Pacific lines meet at Promontory Summit, Utah (May 10, 1869); this makes internal migration easier, and allows those entering the U.S. at the West Coast to travel the the Eastern U.S Naturalization Expands citizenship to both white and African Americans, although Asians are still excluded Fifteenth Amendment When ratified, grants voting rights to citizens, regardless of "race, color, or previous condition of servitude." ,812,191 Mostly from Germany, Ireland, England and its colonies, Norway/Sweden, Canada, Austria-Hungary, Russia, China, the Caribbean Henderson v. Mayor of New York 5,246,613 arrive Decision declares all state laws governing immigration unconstitutional; Congress must regulate "foreign commerce." In the aftermath of this decision, charity workers, burdened with helping, petition Congress to exercise its authority and regulate immigration. Congress prohibits convicts and prostitutes from entering the country. Mostly from Germany, Ireland, England and its colonies, Norway/Sweden, Canada, Italy, Austria-Hungary, Russia, China, Turkey, Japan, the Pacific Island, and the Caribbean million Germans arrive This is the peak of German immigration. Jewish 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 Exclusion and open immigration into the United States based on national origin or race. Imposes a "head tax" of 50 cents upon all and deems several categories of ineligible for citizenship. Besides Chinese, those barred include criminals, "lunatics," "idiots," and persons deemed "likely to become a public charge" -- a of 1882 category that will eventually come to encompass most unmarried women.

3 Alien Contract Labor Law Dedication of the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor Also known as the Foran act and pushed for by the Knights of Labor; prohibits the importation and migration of foreigners and aliens under contract or agreement to perform labor in the U.S. Interestingly, this law only applied to those travelling by ship, and did not apply to those crossing land borders (say, the border between the U.S. and Mexico). Built by French workmen in celebration of a century of friendship with the United States, the statue becomes an icon for generations of American, who steam past it en route to the nearby immigration stations at Castle Garden and Ellis Island Haymarket Riot in Chicago Ford Committee Hull House founded in Chicago Jacob Riis publishes How the Other Half Lives Restriction League (Boston) of 1891 Bureau of founded 3,687,564 Ellis Island opens Henry Street Settlement founded in Lower East 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 policemen are killed. The anarchist organizers of the rally -- mostly German -- are tried, convicted, and executed for 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, criminals, and paupers into the US has become a major social problem. For the first time since 1798, provisions are adopted for expulsion of aliens. Progressive social reformer Jane Addams founds Hull House, the most famous of many "settlement houses" organized to aid the urban immigrant poor. (later, Henry Street Settlement) Raises awareness of the plight of recent, especially of immigrant children; Riis's images of urban street urchins, child miners, and mill and factory children affected many deeply, leading them to call for reforms to benefit these recent. Advocates for exclusion of "undesirable" "new " from Eastern and Southern Europe. According to the League, the question of immigration is whether Americans want their country "to be peopled by British, German and Scandinavian stock, historically free, energetic, progressive, or by Slav, Latin and Asiatic races, historically down-trodden, atavistic, and stagnant." Expands the categories of 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 moral turpitude." Restricted classes included those who were monetarily assisted by others for their passage. Steamship companies were ordered to return ineligible to countries of origin. Established under the Treasury Department, with total control over health inspections of and final say on whether or not any individual immigrant should or should not be allowed into the country. Foreign-born in US made up 15% of population; the numbers of arriving from southern and eastern Europe ("new ") surpassed those arriving from northern and western Europe ("old "). Ellis Island opened to screen entering the US on the East Coast. Ellis Island officials reported that women traveling alone must be met by a man, or they were immediately deported. Progressive reformer and nurse Lillian Wald founds the Henry Street Settlement in the Lower East Side of New York City to aid the immigrant poor of New York City. This is the first settlement house founded in New York City.

4 Union Settlement founded in East Harlem, New York Anarchist Exclusion of ,795,386 Publication of Woodrow Wilson's History of the American Renewal of Chinese Exclusion Emma Lazarus's poem added to the base of the Naturalization of Expatriation Founded by members of the Union Theological Seminary Alumni Club, the still-operating Union Settlement serves the successive waves of in East Harlem from its founding to today: in the early twentieth century, Irish, German, Eastern European and Italian ; in the mid-twentieth century, African Americans and from Puerto Rico, Mexico, Central and South America and the Caribbean; and currently, recent from West Africa, South Asia and the Middle East. When President William McKinley is assassinated by a mentally disturbed Polish-American anarchist named Leon Czolgosz (who was not himself an immigrant), Congress passes the Anarchist Exclusion of 1901, barring entry into the U.S. by anyone judged by immigration agents to be an anarchist or radical extremist. Mostly from Italy, Russia, Austria/Hungary, Japan, Canada, Africa, and The Caribbean. Future president Woodrow Wilson writes that contemporary immigration consists of "multitudes of men of the lowest class from the 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 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 Europe were disburdening themselves of the more sordid and hapless elements of their population." The Geary extends the Chinese Exclusion for ten more years, and adds the requirement that all Chinese residents carry permits, as well as excluding them from serving as witnesses in court and from bail in habeus corpus proceedings. The base of the statue is inscribed with the words of poet Emma Lazarus:"Give me your tired, your poor / Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free / The wretched refuse of your teeming shore / Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me / I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" For the first time, makes some knowledge of the English language a requirement for citizenship. The act also creates the and Naturalization Service as a branch of the Commerce Department. 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. citizenship and acquire the nationality of her husband The Gentlemen's Agreement Dillingham Congressional Committee on Angel Island established in San Francisco Bay Dillingham Report Deal between the governments of the U.S. and Japan that allows the U.S. to block Japanese immigration without offending the national pride of Japan. The United States agrees not to pass formal legislation excluding Japanese if Japan will prevent its own citizens from emigrating; the U.S. also promises to act against anti-japanese discrimination in California. Establishes a Commission on better known as the Dillingham Commission, after its chairman, Vermont Senator William Dillingham to study social problems related to the immigration issue. The Dillingham Commission will spend four years conducting extensive research before issuing its 41-volume final report. West Coast immigration station on Angel Island in San Francisco Bay opens as "The Guardian of the Western Gate." Because of immigration restrictions in place for people of Chinese, Korean, or Japanese nationality, Angel Island functions mainly as a detention center for Asians attempting to enter the country. Detainees are imprisoned for an average of two weeks while proving they are 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 " from Southern and Eastern Europe poses a grave threat to American culture and society and that Congress should take measures to restrict immigration.

5 ,735,811 Mostly from Italy, Russia, Austria/Hungary, Canada, Turkey, Mexico, Japan, Africa, and The Caribbean million Italians arrive This is the peak of Italian immigration Alien Land Law California State Legislature bans all "aliens ineligible for citizenship" (Asians) from legally owning property in the state Eugenicist Madison Grant 1916 publishes Passing of the Great Race in America An influential pseudo-scientific attack on "undesirable" New Immigrants, the book criticizes "the pathetic and fatuous belief in the efficacy of American institutions and environment to revise or obliterate immemorial hereditary tendencies," and warns that the "great race" of Anglo-Saxon Americans will soon be overrun by "the weak, the broken and the mentally crippled of all races" if immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe is not ended or curtailed. Expands the classes of 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 of territory, stretching from Indonesia to Turkey, from which no migrants will be allowed to enter the United States. The act thus of 1917 Jones-Shafroth Emergency Quota 4,107, Cable Japanese made ineligible for citizenship US v. Bhaghat Singh Thind case Oriental Exclusion Border Patrol established effectively bans all Asian immigration. At the height of World War I, Congress grants U.S. citizenship to Puerto Ricans but also makes them eligible to be drafted into the American military for the first time. Establishes, for the first time, specific quotas for the number of 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 United States in The new system forces a dramatic reduction in immigration from Eastern and Southern Europe, but allows immigration from Northern and Western Europe to continue virtually unabated. Mostly from Italy, Germany, Russia, Poland, Canada, England and its colonies, Czechoslovakia, Africa, and Mexico, Partially repeals the Expatriation of 1907 by allowing female U.S. citizens marry European men to retain their U.S. citizenship. However, those who marry Asians will still forfeit their American citizenship. 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 By choosing 1890 a year that preceded the bulk of the "new Origins immigration" as the benchmark for setting national quotas, the law heavily favors Northern and Western Europeans at the expense Indian Citizenship Native Americans are made citizens Passed in conjunction with the National Origins of, further tightens restrictions on Asian immigration by blocking the immigration of foreign-born wives of Asians already living in America and the children of American citizens born within the Asiatic Barred Zone. Border Patrol created to help police increasingly stringent immigration controls and to combat smuggling and illegal immigration.

6 Execution of Sacco and Vanzetti Extension of The state of Massachusetts executes Italian-born radicals Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzettii, convicted for a 1920 murder; Sacco and Vanzetti become symbolic martyrs for many who believe they are innocent victims of anti-immigrant, anti-radical hysteria. Quotas Makes permanent the annual quotas of the. The Great Crash 532,431 Philippine Independence Marks the onset of the Great Depression; combined with restrictive new quota laws, the collapse of the U.S. economy will bring immigration to a virtual halt. In some years during the 1930s, more will leave the United States than enter; this marks the ending of the great wave of immigration that began in the 1880s. Mostly from Germany, Canada, and Africa. Congress grants the US-occupied territory of the Philippines its independence effective in 1946; however, as the price of national independence, the law strips Filipinos of their right to US citizenship and bans them immigrating to the US Harry Bridges Case Angel Island closes Alien Registration (Smith ) 1,035,039 Bracero Program Chinese Exclusion Ends 1945 War Brides Displaced Persons 2,515,479 The US attempts to deport militant left-wing labor leader Harry Bridges, the Australian-born leader of the West Coast longshoremen's union, on the grounds that Bridges is a member of the Communist Party. Bridges denies the charges and wins the case, but the government will attempt to deport the radical labor leader several more times before finally giving up in the mid-1950s. More commonly known as the Smith, requires all alien residents of the US to register with the government while also criminalizing membership in or association with any group that advocates the overthrow of the government by force or violence. The Smith will be used to jail or deport hundreds of American Communists in the early years of the Cold War. Mostly from Germany, England and its colonies, Canada, the Caribbean, Central America, and Oceania. At the height of World War II, authorizes the federal importation of thousands of agricultural laborers from Mexico and the Caribbean as temporary workers but grants them no right to pursue American citizenship or permanent residence. After 61 years, rescinds the Chinese Exclusion, which has become an embarrassment during a World War in which the US and China are close allies in the fight against fascism. Chinese Exclusion's repeal is largely symbolic, however, as China is allotted a quota of just 105 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 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 filling national immigration quotas. Technical provisions that discriminated against Catholic and Jewish are dropped in Mostly from Germany, the UK, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, Central and South America, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, Japan, the Philippines, Israel,

7 1952 McCarran- Warren and National Security Ellis Island At the height of the Cold War, Congress passes the the first substantial modification to American immigration policy since. While reaffirming the National Origins system, it alters the quota system by establishing preferences for skilled workers and substantially tightening counter-subversive security measures by facilitating the deportation of foreigners who have ever had any connection to Communists. It eliminates race as a bar to immigration or citizenship. It sets Japan's quota at 185 annually, maintains China's at 105, and grants other Asian countries 100 each. Northern and western Europe's quota is set at 85% of all, while tighter restrictions are placed on coming from British colonies in order to stem the tide of black West Indians entering under Britain's generous quota. Husbands of American women are now included in the non-quota class closes This marks the end of the era of mass European immigration to the US ,321,677 Mostly from the UK, Italy, Germany, Canada, Central and South America, Mexico, the Caribbean, Hong Kong, India, the Philippines, 1970 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 refugee status ,493,314 Mostly from Mexico, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Italy, Portugal, the UK, the Philippines, Korea, Vietnam, Hong Kong, 1980 India, Africa, and Oceania Refugee Removes refugees as a preference category; reduces worldwide ceiling for immigration to 270, ,338, Mostly from Mexico, the Caribbean, the Middle East, the Philippines, Korea, China, UK, and Africa. Reform and 1986 Control 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 1255 certification standards. Limits unskilled workers to 10,000/year, establishes skilled labor requirements and makes immediate family reunification a major of 1990 goal. Foreign-born population in US is 7%. 9,095,417 arrived. Mostly from Mexico, Russia, the Philippines, the Caribbean, Central and South America, China, India, Poland, the UK and Africa. Amends the and Nationality 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 States.