IB History of the
Americas
U.S. Immigration Policy
U.S. Immigration 1830-2000
National Origins Acts
(Quota Acts)
“Open” Immigration
Immigration &
Nationality Act
Gentlemen’s Agreement
Chinese Exclusion Act
Why do people immigrate?
 Push Factors: Reasons why migrants
leave their homelands.
 Pull Factors: Reasons why migrants are
attracted to certain areas.
Three Waves of U.S. Immigration
 First Wave (Old Immigrants) 1840-1860
 Second Wave (New Immigrants) 1880-1920
 Third Wave (Newest Immigrants) 1965-
Present
First Wave (Old) Immigrants
 Arrived: 1840-1860
 Origins: Ireland &
Germany
 Most were Catholic
 Push Factors: Potato
Famine, Religious &
Political Persecution
and Instability
 Pull Factors: Jobs in
northeastern factories
A Nativist Political Cartoon
Discrimination Against Asians
 Chinese laborers recruited
for railroad construction in
the West
 CA excluded from mining
 Chinese Exclusion Act
(1882): Prohibited Chinese &
Korean Immigration to U.S.
 Gentlemen’s Agreement
(1907): Japan would not
allow its citizens to migrate
to the U.S.
By Thomas Nast (1882)
Second Wave (New) Immigrants
 Arrived 1880-1920
 Origins: Southern &
Eastern Europe
 Diverse Languages &
Religions (Catholic, Jewish,
& Eastern Orthodox)
 Push Factors: Religious
persecution, economic &
politicl instability
 Pull Factors: Jobs created by
industrialization
Second Wave Immigration 1880-1920
Third Wave (Newest) Immigrants
 Arrived 1965-Present
 Origins: Everywhere... (Esp.
Latin America, Asia,
Eastern Europe)
 Push Factors: Lower
standard of living, ethnic or
religious persecution
 Pull Factors: Jobs &
economic prosperity
A Naturalization Ceremony
for New Citizens
Nativism
 Nativism: Anti-Immigrant Feelings
 The Know Nothings: Anti-
Immigrant Group in the 1850s…
mainly targeted Irish & Germans
 Anti-Chinese discrimination &
violence in the 1880s
 The Ku Klux Klan: In the 1920s,
northern faction mainly targeted
immigrants (mainly Catholics &
Jews)
 The Quota Acts were clear examples
of Nativist legislation.