Immigration 1865-1914

Honors US History

Immigration prior to 1865 The majority of immigration in the US

before the Civil War was from the British Isles. Predominantly British and Irish people.

1865-1880’s Germans

Huge numbers of Germans moved to the United States looking for a better life.

1881-1885: One million Germans moved to the US; primarily in the Midwest.

Western Europeans After 1870, steam powered ships were used to make the

voyage across the Atlantic. A flood of immigrants came to the US. Nearly 25 million Europeans made the voyage. Italians,

Greeks, Hungarians, Poles, and others speaking Slavic languages constituted the bulk of this migration.

1875 – The First Immigration Law Page Act of 1875 (AKA

The Chinese Exclusionary Act) The law excluded three

types of people Asian Convicts Asian Contract

Laborers (Slaves sort of)

Asian Prostitutes

1880 - 1910’s Scandinavian's

1.5 million Norwegian and Swedish immigrants escaping religious persecution come to the US.

Italians 1880-1920 over two million Italians move into

the US. 1/3 return to Italy after about 5 years.

Ellis Island 1892-1954

Ellis Island Today, over 100 million American’s can

trace their ancestry back to people who first arrived at Ellis Island.

By 1907, Ellis Island was processing nearly a million immigrants per year.

Ellis Island 1904 1904 Processing New

Immigrants to the US.

Immigration Act of 1924

Established to limit immigration. Set quota's for certain ethnicities

Quota’s were based on the 1920 census. It was racist, excluding specific nationalities.

Ie: British immigration dropped 19%, Italian immigration dropped more than 90%.

What about now? Arizona Immigration Law? Fear of Terrorists Drug Smuggling Undocumented workers Refugees Naturalization Process