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The Naturalization Act
The Naturalization Act was basically a time period in which a person had to wait in order for them to be allowed to officially call themself a citizen. In order for a person to become a citizen they had to be in the United States for 14 years. This act was the first one that was established in order to keep track of who was a citizen and who wasn't. Prior to this act it was hard for the government to keep track of how many legal citizens the U.S. had. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naturalization -
The Alien and Sedition Act
This act was passed roughly a month later after the Naturalization Act. The Alien and Sedition Act gave the president the right to kick anyone out of the U.S. in which he thought was dangerous or harmful. This act was important because, if the president thought that someone in the U.S. was a war threat or could cause possible issues he wa allowed to have them removed from the U.S..If the President thought that they were a threat he could deport the. http://www.ushistory.org/us/19e.asp -
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Potato Famine
Potatoes were a huge part in the Irish's diets. The problem came in the year 1845 when there was a huge sickness that broke out in Ireland. However, it all went bad when the potatoes were no longer good causing roughly 1.5 million people to flee Ireland. Many were getting very ill and some even dying from starvation. Many of these people fleed to the U.S. which caused a huge increase of illegal aliens in the U.S.http://www.historyplace.com/worldhistory/famine/introduction.htm -
The Gold Rush
The Gold Rush was a huge breakout when gold was found in Coloma, California. When people found out about the gold outbreak everyone wanted to come to California to get their own. Roughly 300,000 people came to claim their own. Some came by foot while some came with ships. This brought several illegal immigrants into the U.S.. This was a very dangerous time as everyone was willing to fight eachother for the gold. There was no rule against who could take the gold.http://www.history.com/topics/gold -
The Chinese Exclusion Act
This act was passed to stop the number of illegal aliens coming from China. This act was put into play to prevent so many Chinese people from fleeing into the U.S.. This act basically stated that if you did not already have a family member in the U.S. you were not allowed to come. This act was mainly established because so many Chinese were fleeing to the U.S. https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?doc=47 -
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The Mexican Revolution
The Mexican Revolution started as a result of the entire middle class of Mexcio rising against Porfirio Diaz. He however, established a political system in which a lot of Mexico's people did not agree with. Diaz threw a bunch of money into the society. He increased the prices on things such as trading and railroads. Many people were outraged by this. http://www.historytoday.com/alan-knight/mexican-revolution -
Alien Land Laws
This act was passed to prevent illegal aliens from having the ability to purchase their own land. These illegal aliens were also not allowed to lease any property any longer than 3 years. For some cultures land was a huge part for them. By certain cultures not being allowed to have their own land they struggled. This was very difficult for them as land was a huge part in their culture back in China. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_land_laws -
Immigration Act
This act was passed originally however, not many people appreciated what it stood for. Woodrow Wilson the president at the time passed this so anyone that was gay, homosexual, alcoholic, criminal etc. were legally allowed to be deported.The literacy was a huge thing during this time. It took 4 attempts in order for congress to pass this act. http://library.uwb.edu/static/USimmigration/1917_immigration_act.html -
Immigration Act of 1924
The immigration act of 1924 limited heavely who could enter and come in to the U.S.. The immigrants that were allowed to enter the U.S. went down to about 2%. The people that were allowed to enter were wives, children under the age 18, and people who had a loved one that is a U.S. citizen. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_Act_of_1924 -
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World War II
As a result of World War II the government had to alleviate and change their immigration law a little. The government had to hire Mexican workers to help with the farming. Since the government needed as many people fighting in the war as they could they needed to hire Mexican workers to maintain the farms and agriculture. http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/world-war-ii-history -
Smith Act
The Smith Act was put into action when the goverment decided that they needd to keep record of aliens that were coming into the U.S.. They wanted the aliens to get fingerprints as well as having their records so the government knew their background and if they would be a threat to the U.S. government. The government set criminal laws for those aliens that seemed to be of any issue or threat to the government. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_Act -
McCarran-Walter Act
This was an act that was passed because multiple U.S. citizens were frusstrated by how Mexican workers were taking up U.S. citizens jobs. These Mexican workers were hired at a point to help however, after a couple of years the people started to get annoyed that their jobs were being taken. http://library.uwb.edu/static/USimmigration/1952_immigration_and_nationality_act.html -
The War Brides Act
This act gave wives and children of army soldiers to enter the U.S.. This was limited to about 100,000. Those however entering the U.S. had to go through medical examinations to show that they were not going to bring any deadly or harmful sickness to the U.S. http://library.uwb.edu/static/USimmigration/1945_war_brides_act.html -
Immigration and Naturalization Act
This law was first talked about in 1965 but was not enacted until 1968. This act basically stated that there was a limit as to how many aliens could come from each area. They noticed that there were to many people coming from certain areas so they basically had to re-establish a law back from 1920. By limting the amount of people that could enter the U.S. the government had an easier time keeping track of who was in the U.S. https://www.uscis.gov/laws/immigration-and-nationality-act -
National Origins Act
This National Origins act was a finalization of the original act in 1924. This ultimatley limited the amount of immigrants that could be admitted to the U.S.. Roughly only 150,000 could be admitted. However, 70% of the immigrants that were admitted were reserved from North and West of Europe. The other 30% were reserved for the Southern and Eastern part of Europe. It made it a lot harder for Southern and Eastern Europe people to get into the U.S.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_Act_of_1
