Immigration

[|The Huddled Masses]

During the 20th century with massive amounts of immigrants moving to America, the Statue of Liberty became a symbol of hope to all who came into America. The statue was originally proposed by a French historian as a gift for freeing the slaves. But after time, Lady Liberty became a symbol of hope, freedom, and opportunity for anyone who came to America.

[|The New Immigrants]

During the late 1800s and at the beginning of the 20th century, there was a flood of immigrants that came to America. In the time span of about 30 years, about 30 million immigrants came to America. New York alone had more foreign born citizens than some major cities from the immigrants home countries. The main bulk of immigrants who came to America came mostly from Eastern and Southern Europe.

[|The Chinese Exclusion Act]

The Chinese Exclusion Act was America’s attempt to bar anyone of Chinese descent from becoming a citizen of the United States. Any Chinese person besides merchants, students, travelers, etc; was barred from entering the country. In 1892, America passed the Geary Act, which made it so that any Chinese alien had to carry a residence card that showed they were allowed to be in the country.

[|Contract Agreement]

In the early 20th century, many foreigners were imported into the United States. These people worked as indentured laborers. Indentured laborers worked under contract for a certain amount of time. Under the contract, the foreign workers were expected to work at least 54 hours a week; in exchange they would receive some compensation for their work. Between 1840 and 1924, some 806,000 foreign workers were imported into the United States or Hawaii.

[|Immigration Restriction]

With the massive amount of immigrants coming into the country; many restrictions on immigration were put into effect. After World War I and World War II, many people feared that their country would be overwhelmed by postwar refugees. Also, people developed a hatred of any foreigner or immigrant. Most early restrictions were aimed at Asian immigrants who were coming into America.

[|United States's Changing Face]

As of the mid-20th century, America started lifting some of the immigration restrictions. Now, America has become one of the first culturally diverse industrial societies. Many immigrants today usually reside where their countrymen do. Since the lift of the immigration restrictions, the number of Hispanic and Asian immigrants has significantly increased.