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Period: to
US Immigration
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Naturalization Act 1790
Required immigrants to have lived in the US for at least 2 years before they could become naturalized citizens. -
ALien and Sedation Act 1798
required 14 years of residency before citizenship and provided for the deportation of "dangerous" aliens. Changed to five-year residency in 1800. -
First significant federal legislation on immigration
Includes reporting of immigration and rules for passengers from US ports bound for Europe -
Potato Famine
Irish of all classes emigrate to the United States as a result of the potato famine. -
Free Africans
Dred Scott decision declared free Africans non-citizens -
Contract Labor Law
Allowed recruiting of foreign labor. -
14th Ammendment
Africans gained citizenship -
Immigration Laws
Henderson v. Mayor of New York decision declared all state laws governing immigration unconstitutional; Congress must regulate "foreign commerce." Charity workers, burdened with helping immigrants, petition Congress to exercise authority and regulate immigration. Congress prohibits convicts and prostitutes from entering the country. -
Entering the US
The U.S. population is 50,155,783. More than 5.2 million immigrants enter the country between 1880 and 1890. -
Chinese Exclusion Act
First federal immigration law suspended Chinese immigration for 10 years and barred Chinese in U.S. from citizenship. Also barred convicts, lunatics, and others unable to care for themselves from entering. Head tax placed on immigrants. -
Contract Labor Law
Unlawful to import unskilled aliens from overseas as laborers. Regulations did not pertain to those crossing land borders. -
Expulsion of Aliens
For the first time since 1798, provisions are adopted for expulsion of aliens. -
Jane Addams
Found Hull-House on Chicago's Near West Side. -
Treasury Department
Steamship companies were ordered to return ineligible immigrants to countries of origin. -
Chinese Exclusion Act
Chinese exclusion act was renewed -
Tax Raised
People with physical or mental defects, tuberculosis, and children unaccompanied by a parent are added to the exclusion list. Japan agreed to limit emigrants to US in return for elimination of segregating Japanese students in San Francisco schools. -
immigration Act
Act provided for literacy tests for those over 16 and established an "Asiatic Barred Zone," which barred all immigrants from Asia. -
Ineligablitiy
Japanese made ineligable for citizenship -
Immigration and Nationality Act
Japan's quota was set at 185 annually. China's stayed at 105; other Asian countries were given 100 a piece. Northern and western Europe's quota was placed at 85% of all immigrants. Tighter restrictions were placed on immigrants coming from British colonies in order to stem the tide of black West Indians entering under Britain's generous quota. Non-quota class enlarged to include husbands of American women. -
Western and Eastern Hemispheric Immigration
Separate ceilings for Western and Eastern hemispheric immigration combined into a worldwide limit of 290,000. -
Three Years as an Immigrant
A bill gives permanent status to non-immigrant registered nurses who have lived in US for at least three years and met established certification standards. -
USA Patriot Act
the Immigration and Nationality Act to broaden the scope of aliens ineligible for admission or deportable due to terrorist activities to include an alien who is a representative of a political, social, or similar group whose political endorsement of terrorist acts undermines U.S. antiterrorist efforts
