Immigraton Laws Essay -- essays research papers fc

Immigraton LawsThe world-class immigrants to the territory now the United States were from WesternEurope. The first great migration began early in the 19th century when largenumbers of Europeans left wing their homelands to escape the economic hardshipsresulting from the transformation of industry by the factory system and thesimultaneous shift from small-scale to large-scale farming. At the same time,conflict, political oppression, and unearthly persecution caused a great manyEuropeans to seek freedom and security in the U.S.The century following 1820 may be divided into three periods of immigration tothe U.S. During the first period, from 1820 to 1860, most of the immigrants camefrom Great Britain, Ireland, and western Germany. In the second period, from1860 to 1890, those countries continued to supply a majority of the immigrantsthe Scandinavian nations provided a substantial minority. Afterwards theproportion of immigrants from Yankee and Western Europe declined rapidly. Int he final period, from 1890 to 1910, fewer than one-third of the immigrants camefrom these areas. The majority of the immigrants were natives of Southern andEastern Europe, with immigrants from Austria, Hungary, Italy, and Russiaconstituting more than half of the total. Until World War I, immigration had generally increased in volume every year. From 1905 to 1914 an average of morethan a million immigrants entered the U.S. every year. With the start of the war,the volume declined sharply, and the annual average from 1915 to 1918 was littlemore than 250,000. In 1921 the number again rose 800,000 immigrants wereadmitted. Thereafter the number declined in response to new conditions in Europeand to the limitations established by U.S. law.The first pulsation restricting immigration enacted by Congress was a law in 1862banning American vessels from transporting Chinese immigrants to the U.S. 20years later Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act excluding Chineseimmigrants.(Immigration) In 1875, 1882, and 1892, acts passed by Congressprovided for the examination of immigrants and for the exclusion from the U.S.of convicts, polygamists, prostitutes, persons suffering from contagiousdiseases, and persons liable to become public charges. The Alien coerce LaborLaws of 1885, 1887, 1888, and 1891 prohibited the immigration to the U.S. ofpersons entering the country t... ...ion (Rumbaut, 617).Despite evidence to the contrary, many Americans still believe immigration to beharmful. This is simply not the case. As stated, legal immigrants provide abenefit not only to themselves, but also to native people. Though the problem ofillegal immigration must be addressed, it should be done in such a way as not todiscourage legal immigration. America was founded and populated by people from other countries. We must continue this if we expect to survive in the 21stcentury.BIBLIOGRAPHYBlotnick, Srully. "Unleashed (Immigrant Professionals)." Forbes 26 Jan. 1987108.Mandel, Mic hael J. "The Immigrants How They are Helping to Revitalize the U.S.Economy." Business Week 13 July 1992 114-18."Immigration," Microsoft (R) Encarta. copyright (c) 1994 Microsoft Corporation.Copyright (c) 1994 Funk & Wagnalls Corporation."Pending Legislation", www.usbc.org/surveys/npg-poll.htmRumbaut, Ruben, "Origins and Destinies Immigration to the United States sinceWorld War II," Sociological Forum 94 (1994), pp. 583-621."The New Americans Yes, Theyll Fit in too." The Economist 11 May 1991 17-20.