AMERICAN IMMIGRATION POLICY FROM 1790 TO 2016
Political cartoon illustrating Know-Nothing Party members advocating for denying immigrants work in Brooklyn; Image: Library of Congress
THE 19TH CENTURY
EARLY IMMIGRATION POLICY Before the 20th century, United States immigration policy primarily focused on those migrating from Europe—and, as the decade progressed, how to keep them out. The Naturalization Act of 1790 allowed “any free white person of ‘good character,’ who [had] been living in the United States for two years or longer to apply for citizenship.” This act was followed by the Steerage Act of 1819, also called the Manifest of Immigrants Act, which required more humane and improved transatlantic travel conditions for those individuals. “The act imposed a stiff penalty—$150, or $3,000 in 2019 dollars—for each passenger in excess of two people for every five tons of ship weight. It also laid down minimum provisions—60 gallons of water and 100 pounds of ‘wholesome ship bread’ per passenger—but only required those rations for ships leaving U.S. ports for Europe, not immigrant vessels arriving in America”—but these “regulations” were rarely followed. Captains were also required to submit a manifest of demographic information on all passengers, including age, sex and occupation, country of origin and final destination. Despite any good intentions, this requirement became the first attempt “to track the national origin, of immigrants and would later lead to quotas and bans of certain ethnic groups”—an issue that would come to a head in the early 20th century.
12 ROUNDABOUT THEATRE COMPANY
The collection of demographic information was quickly followed by waves of anti-immigrant sentiment. The first of these came in the formation of the “Know-Nothing Party” in the 1840s. The political party was founded in response to the rising numbers of German and Irish immigrants. In 1882, anti-immigrant beliefs became policy with the Chinese Exclusion Act, completely banning all Chinese people from entering the U.S. This was followed by the Immigration Act of 1891, which banned “the immigration of polygamists, people convicted of certain crimes, and the sick or diseased.”
To more formally process immigrants, the United States’ first immigration station was opened in January 1892 at Ellis Island, just off the coast of Manhattan. Ellis Island served as an active port of entry into the United States for immigrants, mostly European, from 1892 until 1954. In that time, more than 12 million immigrants entered America through Ellis Island.
THE 20TH CENTURY Immigration became further restricted and codified by policy in the 20th century. In February 1907, President Theodore Roosevelt signed the “Gentlemen’s Agreement” with Japan. Due to anxieties in California that the rapid rise in Japanese immigrants would lead to job loss and wage deflation, Japan agreed to limit emigration to only business and tradesmen. In turn, President Roosevelt requested that San Francisco schools desegregate Japanese students from their white peers. Ten years later, a literacy requirement was put in place for immigrants to the U.S., which halted immigration from most Asian countries.
Perhaps the most well-known act of immigration control policy is the Immigration Act of 1924, which established the infamous “quota” system. Under this system, “the United
1921 political cartoon demonstrating the practical results of the “Quota System”; Image: Library of Congress
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