Immigration In The Late 1800s

Until hundred years after the founding of the nation, in the early days of the country, immi-gration to the United States was not restricted, barred or centrally monitored. The first immi-grants to colonial America were descended from England, France, Germany and other north-western countries in Europe. These foreigners were not only searching for "economic oppor-tunity and political freedom, [they were also relying] upon the labor African slaves working land taken from Native Americans." (Ewing, 2012) Between 1820 and 1930, 60% of the world's immigrants migrated to the United States. In the late 1800s the majority of immigrants came from Italy, Poland, Russia and elsewhere from south-eastern or eastern Europe.
Because of America's midst position of first agricultural, then industrial expansion, the de-mand for cheap labor was immense. The enormous impact of immigrants at that time lead to an accelerated development of the country. In addition, the high fertility and birthrate made the U.S. population grow in a way it has never done before.
Moreover immigrants were not only abused and exploited but also accused of curtailing wages and standards of living. This is the reason why people manifested anti-immigrant movements very early, such as the violent
Between 1917 and 1924 numerous laws were passed attempting to limit the number of new aliens. As a consequence, the quota system was established and “all Asians except Japanese, who had made a Gentle-man's agreement with the U.S.” were banned. (Liebman, 2013) At the same time, Orientals were banned from the United States of America with the consequence that Asians, including Japanese, could no longer apply for U.S. citizenship. By 1924 the total number of immigrants was limited and U.S. Immigration law set restrictions. A completely new quota system was