Evolution of the national citizenry

By skidwell001

  • American Independence

    Thomas Paine published "Common Sense", fighting for American independence from Europe/ Great Britain.

  • Citizenship

    Congress passes The Naturalization Act, which explains who can and cannot become US citizens. This also only included free white people, not those from African descent.

  • Irish and German Immigrants

    With peace being re-established between America and Great Britain/ Europe, this causes an influx of the Irish and Germans to immigrate to America.

  • Steerage Act of 1819

    The United States passes an act for ships that require better conditions for passengers, as well as the captains submitting demographic information on the passengers arriving to America

  • Know-Nothing Party

    The first anti-immigration party was established due to the significant increase in German and Irish immigrants.

  • Immigration Laws

    The Supreme Court declares that it's the federal government's responsibility to enforce immigration laws.

  • Industrialization

    With America starting to industrialize and urbanize, this also allowed for a large increase in Italians and Jewish immigrating to the US.

  • Chinese Exclusion Act

    This act prevents Chinese immigrants from entering the country and created the first restrictions on certain groups of immigrants.

  • The Immigration Act of 1891

    This act extended the discrimination between certain groups of people trying to immigrate to America. Some examples of these types of people were the sick and diseased, polygamists, and certain criminals.

  • Ellis Island

    Immigrants must go through America's first immigration station known as Ellis Island for processing.

  • The Gentleman's agreement

    Japan and the United States sign an agreement stating that there will be a limit to Japanese emigrants to men of professional and business titles and occupations. With this agreement, President Theodore Roosevelt urges an end to segregation in schools between white children and Japanese children.

  • The Immigration Act of 1917

    This act requires literacy from immigrants trying to enter the country. This effects the ability for most Asian populations able to come to the United States.

  • The Immigration of 1924

    This act limited the number of immigrants allowed into the country for the year. This act mostly favored Western European countries since the number of immigrants allowed was based off the total number people from different nationalities within the country. This also caused an increase in illegal immigration, and the National Border patrol was established to crack down on the illegal immigration.

  • Labor Shortages

    The US allowed Mexican agricultural workers to enter the country temporarily to fill in for the labor shortages due to World War II.

  • Refugees and Resettlement

    The United States passes the first refugee and resettlement law to handle all the European immigrants looking to permanently reside in the US are World War II.

  • The McCarran-Walter Act

    This act officially ended the exclusion of Asian immigrants to the US.

  • Hungary Immigrants

    The US takes in refugees from Hungary during the Cold War.

  • Operation Peter Pan

    The US took in many unaccompanied children from Cuba in an anti-communism effort.

  • Immigration and Nationality Act

    This act ended the national origin quotas implemented in the 1920's that favored some racial and ethnic groups over others.

  • Mariel Boatlift

    Approximately 125,000 Cubans arrive to Florida seeking political asylum.

  • Simpson-Mazzoli Act

    Ronald Reagan signs this act that grants amnesty to millions of immigrants living in the United States illegally.