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Emigration to North America
Emigration to North America slowed between 1760 and 1815. -
Two-thirds population in 1790 census
At the time of the first national census of the United States in 1790, more than two-thirds of the white population was of British origin, with Germans and Dutch next in importance. -
20 percent of American population was African
The 1790 census indicated that 20 percent of the American population was of African origin. -
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Immigration increased
Between about 1815 and the start of World War I in 1914, immigration tended to increase with each passing decade. -
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Migrants came from northwestern Europe
For the first half of the 1815-1913 period, most migrants continued to come from northwestern Europe -
U.S. Bureau of the Census
Within a century after that, the frontier reached the Pacific Ocean, and by 1890, the U.S. Bureau of the Census was able to announce that the American settlement frontier was gone entirely. -
Four-fifths of immigrants were from these areas
By 1913, well over four-fifths of all immigrants were from these areas of Europe, especially Italy, Austria-Hungary, and Russia. -
U.S. passed major legislation
The United States passed its first major legislation to restrict immigration in the 1920s -
Liberal immigration laws passed
Far more liberal immigration laws were passed in the 1960s. -
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Farm population
Between 1960 and 1987, for example, the farm population fell from more than 15 million to under 6 million. -
Migrants to the U.S.
In the late 1980s, Mexico, the Philippines, and the West Indies provided the greatest number of migrants to the United States. -
U.S. population
In 1990, the United States had a population approaching 250 million, with a density of roughly 235 people per square kilometer.