The ethnic, religious, and cultural diversity brought by immigrants in the
nineteenth and twentieth centuries has shaped American history and
politics.
Three Waves of Immigration
Political scientists divide immigration to the United States into three
major waves:
-
Early immigration (1700s–1850): Immigrants from western
and northern Europe arrived in great numbers for economic, political, and
religious reasons. Germans and Irish, in particular, came to the United
States in the 1830s and 1840s. European settlers imported millions of
African slaves as well.
-
Second wave (1850–1970): Immigrants came primarily from
southern and eastern Europe to escape violence and political instability in
the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Several million Jews also
immigrated to the United States before and after World War II.
-
Recent immigration (1970–present): Large numbers of
people have come from Mexico, China, Korea, India, and the Philippines, as
well as other parts of Latin America and Asia.
The following chart lists the top ten countries of origin for American
immigrants, from 1820 to 2000:
Origin for American Immigrants
|
Country
|
Approximate Number of Immigrants
|
| Germany | 7 million |
| Mexico | 6 million |
| Italy | 5 million |
| Great Britain | 5 million |
| Ireland | 5 million |
| Canada | 5 million |
| Austria and Hungary | 4 million (total) |
| Russia (former Soviet Union) | 4 million |
| The Philippines | 2 million |
| China and Sweden | 1 million (each) |
Effects of Immigration
Immigration has profoundly shaped American politics and culture.
Immigrants not only provided labor for the growing economy but also gave the
United States a distinctly unique social and political culture. These effects
continue today.
Example: The urban political machine
is one example of how immigrants helped shape the American political system.
Many immigrants in the late nineteenth century were welcomed by political
parties and given homes and jobs; in return, the political parties asked for
the immigrants’ votes and political support. This trading of votes for
services is known as machine politics, which dominated many cities for
decades.
Controversies over Immigration
In 2006, immigration became a hot topic as politicians debated about how
to handle the large number of illegal immigrants in the United States. But these
debates are nothing new. Historically, Americans have frequently scorned new
arrivals, despite the fact that their ancestors were also immigrants. In the
late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, for example, Congress passed laws
regulating how many immigrants could enter the United States from each country,
excluding Asians entirely until the 1960s.
Example: The Chinese Exclusion Act of
1882 was the first immigration law aimed at a specific ethnic group.
Congress passed the act to keep Chinese laborers out for ten years but
renewed the act in 1892 and finally made it permanent in 1902. The act was
not repealed until 1965. Many Americans at the time favored the act because
they resented the growing number of Chinese laborers working on the
railroads in the West.
