Immigration Past and Present:
A Nation of Immigrants
24 August 2015
by
Sigrid B. Wangsness
The Beginnings

Native Americans

European explorers and
missionaries (Spanish,
French, English)

In the 1500s: The first settlers from
Europe (Spanish, French, Dutch)
The Foundation: The First Colonies

1607: Jamestown, Virginia (English)

1619: The first black slaves were
imported from Africa

1620: The Pilgrim Fathers, Boston, Mass.
The first Thanksgiving

The English, Spanish, French and Dutch battled
each other and Native Americans for territory
The First Wave of Immigration:
1680 – 1776

In 1680: 80% of the population English

By 1776: The English only 52% of the
population due to new
immigrants from Ireland,
Scotland, Germany and France
American Independence and Revolution

1776: Independence: The United States
of America

1776-1783: American War of Independence
from Britain (= The American Revolution)
The 13 colonies → states
Territories → states

1776-1820:Few new immigrants to the USA: The
Anglo-American culture firmly established.
English as the official language
The Second Wave: 1820 – 1880/1890

“Old” immigration (from northern / western
Europe)

Britons, Germans, Scandinavians, Irish, Jews

Pioneering, farming
The Third Wave: 1890 – 1920/30

“New” immigration (from eastern / southern
Europe):
Italians, Russians, Hungarians, Austrians,
Poles, Jews, Czechs, Greeks, Portuguese
( + Syrians, Mexicans, Japanese)
The Third Wave: 1890 – 1920/30

East coast, cities, factory workers

1921 and 1924: Restrictive immigration
laws
Quotas favouring north-western
Europeans

1929: Oriental Exclusion Act
The Fourth Wave: 1930s – today

1930s: Little immigration due to
the Depression

1940s: Second World War and
Cold War refugees

1950s: Mexican contract (farm) workers
The Fourth Wave: 1930 – today

Major change: 1965 and 1990: Expansive
immigration laws

Increase in non-European immigration

The 1990 Act: 700,000 immigrants per
year + people with special
skills (European “brain drain”)
National and Cultural Identity

Assimilation ("the melting pot ")
= Americanization
Institutions of assimilation:

Preservation ("the salad bowl")
= Integration (?)
Is the U.S.A. still a nation of immigrants?
Immigration today:
1. Legal immigration
 Around 900,000 legal
immigrants come to the USA every year,
mostly Hispanics and Asians.

Most of these go to California, Florida,Texas,
Arizona, New Jersey, New York, and Illinois.
2. Illegal immigration

There are around 11 million
illegal immigrants in the USA
today (more than half from
Mexico).

Demonstrations - both in favour
and against illegal immigrants
(cf. the video about illegal
immigrants in Georgia).
What are the main arguments?
How to reduce illegal immigration?

Suggested measures to reduce illegal
immigration:
- Increase funding for border
security
- Build more fences
- Improve the policing of the border and use
the National Guard as border patrol
Suggested measures to reduce illegal
immigration:
-
Allow state police to check a person’s
immigration status while enforcing other laws
- Allow a state to arrest and drive out illegal
immigrants (= make illegal immigration a serious
crime)
- Grant “guest worker” status and a path to
citizenship for illegal immigrants already in
America (amnesty)
Suggested measures to reduce illegal
immigration:
-
Have clear conditions linked to guestworker programme (e.g. learn English,
pay taxes for years back)
-
Make tamper-proof identity cards
-
Hold employers to account
Other possible measures?
Why did/do so many people want to go to the USA?
(In the 19th and 20th centuries, but also today?)

Push factors

Pull factors

Factors that discourage immigration

Gains and costs of immigration (for the
immigrants themselves)