The United States has long been considered a “nation of immigrants,” a place of refuge or opportunity for people worldwide. Yet attitudes toward newcomers have swung between openness and exclusion.
In the early 1600s, European colonists (Spanish in Florida; British in New England and Virginia; Dutch in New York; Swedes in Delaware) came seeking religious freedom and economic opportunity, while hundreds of thousands of Africans were brought as enslaved labor.
The first U.S. naturalization law (1790) reflected the era’s biases, allowing only “free white person[s] of good character” to become citizens. These early rules laid a foundation for immigration debates in the young republic.
19th-Century Immigration: Boom and Backlash
After independence, immigration surged. The Irish (many fleeing the 1840s potato famine) and Germans led a wave from 1820–1860.
Between 1820 and 1860, one-third of U.S. immigrants were Irish (mostly Catholic) and roughly 5 million were Germans, many settling in Midwestern farms and cities like Milwaukee and Cincinnati.
Other British and Northern Europeans continued to arrive as well. These newcomers filled labor needs (building canals, farms, factories), but they also met nativist hostility.
By 1849 the anti-immigrant Know-Nothing Party had formed in protest of increasing Irish and German Catholic immigration.
Meanwhile on the West Coast, a smaller but influential group of immigrants arrived. From the California Gold Rush onward, Chinese laborers came in significant numbers. They worked gold mines, built railroads (especially the Central Pacific), and filled other manual jobs. These achievements stoked resentment and by 1882 Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, the first U.S. law to ban immigration from a specific ethnic group. The Act barred most Chinese from entering the country and denied them citizenship. It “virtually ended Chinese immigration for nearly a century” and signaled a period of growing restriction.
The Great Immigration (1880–1920) and Ellis Island
. The late 19th and early 20th centuries brought the largest immigration wave in American history. Between 1880 and 1920, over 20 million immigrants arrived. Unlike earlier waves, most were from Southern and Eastern Europe – Italians (about 4 million), Jews (about 2 million), Poles, Russians, Greeks, and others – drawn by America’s industrial jobs. Many settled in growing cities and worked in factories, sweatshops, and mines. By 1907, U.S. immigration peaked at about 1.3 million in a single year.
A symbol of this era was Ellis Island, opened in January 1892 as the nation’s first federal immigration station. Between 1892 and 1954 over 12 million people were processed at Ellis Island, often standing in line to have their papers inspected. Newcomers packed New York, Boston, Philadelphia and other ports. They brought new languages, religions and cultures – from pizza and klezmer music to Orthodox churches and Yiddish theaters – reshaping American society. As one historian observes, these immigrants “helped transform American society and culture,” showing that diversity can be a national strength.
Major immigration waves and groups:
-
Colonial era: Europeans (English, Dutch, Swedish, Spanish) and enslaved Africans.
-
Early 19th century: Irish and Germans from Northern Europe.
-
Late 19th–early 20th century: Southern/Eastern Europeans (Italians, Jews, Poles, Russians, Greeks).
-
Post–1965 (modern era): Latin Americans (especially Mexico and Central America) and Asians (China, India, Philippines, etc.).
Immigration Laws and Public Sentiment
Throughout this history, U.S. immigration policy evolved under pressure from public sentiment. Key laws include:
-
Naturalization Act of 1790 – Limited citizenship to “free white” immigrants.
-
Chinese Exclusion Act (1882) – First law to bar a whole ethnic group; reflected anti-Chinese sentiment on the West Coast.
-
Immigration Act of 1924 (Johnson-Reed Act) – Established strict national-origins quotas that heavily favored immigrants from Northern and Western Europe and sharply curtailed Southern/Eastern European entries.
-
Immigration and Nationality Act (1965) – Abolished national-origins quotas and instituted a preference system for families and skilled workers. It opened immigration from Asia and Latin America for the first time and capped Western Hemisphere migration.
-
Immigration Reform and Control Act (1986) – In response to growing undocumented migration, granted amnesty to many long-term unauthorized immigrants, strengthened border enforcement, and imposed employer sanctions for illegal hiring.
These policies often mirrored public attitudes. Late-19th-century nativism (backed by groups like the Immigration Restriction League) led to the 1924 quotas that slashed immigration and even authorized federal deportations of Mexicans during the Depression era. By contrast, the 1965 act reflected civil-rights era values, emphasizing family unity over ethnic origins. In 2002 and later, security concerns after 9/11 spurred stronger enforcement as the creation of the Department of Homeland Security and laws like the Secure Fence Act underscored anxieties about borders.
The Impact of Immigration on Labor and Culture
Immigrants have been central to America’s economic growth. In the 19th century, they supplied the labor that built the nation’s infrastructure. For example, Chinese and Irish workers did the toughest work on the Transcontinental Railroad (completed in 1869): at one point about 90% of the Central Pacific’s workers were Chinese. More broadly, studies show that immigrants and their children were the majority of factory workers by 1920 – over half of all manufacturing labor in that year. Without this manpower, the U.S. industrial revolution (steel mills, railroads, textiles) would have been far slower.
Culturally, immigrants reshaped American life. They brought new foods, languages and traditions: for example, Italian-American and Irish-American heritage influenced music, cuisine and festivals across the country. Over time, many immigrant communities blended into an American “melting pot,” even as they preserved ethnic neighborhoods (Little Italy, Chinatown, etc.). The United States’ very identity – its folklore, religious diversity, and artistic expressions – has been enriched by successive waves of newcomers. As noted above, the “newcomers helped transform American society and culture”, demonstrating that diversity itself can be a source of national vitality.
Immigration also influenced politics and labor movements. Immigrant workers helped organize unions in factories and mines; immigrant voting blocs (e.g. Irish Catholics in cities, Mexicans in the Southwest) became political forces. At times, economic competition fueled backlash as labor leaders in the late 19th century argued that low-wage immigrants undercut American workers. But even so, business interests often relied on immigrant labor, making harsh restrictions politically difficult. By the mid-20th century the large untapped labor pool in the U.S. South began to fill some industrial jobs when immigration slowed.
Modern Immigration and Ongoing Debates
In recent decades, the profile of new immigrants changed again. After 1965, Latin Americans became the largest source – especially migrants from Mexico and Central America, along with a surge of Asians (from India, China, the Philippines, etc.). In 2022 foreign-born residents numbered about 46.2 million – roughly 13.9% of the U.S. population (up from 4.7% in 1970). Immigrants today include a mix of family-based migrants, skilled professionals (H‑1B visa holders in tech and medicine), and refugees from conflicts (e.g. Southeast Asians in the 1970s, Cubans in the 1980s). Meanwhile, unauthorized immigration (especially from Latin America) has been a polarizing issue, leading to occasional amnesty programs (1986) and stricter enforcement at the border.
Throughout American history, immigration has had a profound influence on national identity. The country’s culture, cuisine, languages, and labor force have all been shaped by the many peoples who arrived – willingly or forcibly – over the centuries. Each group brought its own traditions, adding to a pluralistic society. As one historian notes, despite tensions, America’s immigrants “demonstrated that diversity, as well as unity, is a source of national strength”. Immigration debates continue today, but the deep imprint of past waves is evident in every aspect of American life – from its cities to its values – reflecting a story of constant renewal and change.
Notes
-
History.com Editors. “U.S. Immigration Timeline.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, https://www.history.com/topics/immigration/immigration-united-states-timeline
-
Library of Congress. “Immigration and Relocation in U.S. History.” https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/immigration/
-
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). “Overview of INS History.” https://www.uscis.gov/about-us/our-history/overview-of-ins-history
-
National Archives. “Chinese Immigration and the Chinese Exclusion Acts.” https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/chinese-exclusion.html
-
Migration Policy Institute. “U.S. Immigrant Population and Share over Time, 1850-Present.” https://www.migrationpolicy.org/programs/data-hub/charts/immigrant-population-over-time
-
Pew Research Center. “Modern Immigration Wave Brings 59 Million to U.S., Driving Population Growth and Change Through 2065.” September 28, 2015. https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2015/09/28/modern-immigration-wave/
-
Lee, Erika. America for Americans: A History of Xenophobia in the United States. Basic Books, 2019.
-
Daniels, Roger. Guarding the Golden Door: American Immigration Policy and Immigrants since 1882. Hill and Wang, 2004.
-
Ngai, Mae M. Impossible Subjects: Illegal Aliens and the Making of Modern America. Princeton University Press, 2004.
-
U.S. Census Bureau. “Foreign-Born Population: 2022.” https://www.census.gov/data/tables/2022/demo/foreign-born/cps-2022.html
