Ellis Island

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Ellis Island

Ellis Island was 'the door to America' which was opened on January 1st, 1892. Immigrants came here from their countries to stay in ours. It was a major immigration station for the United States from 1892 to 1943. It has been part of the Statue of Liberty since 1965. Between 1880 and 1900 9 million immigrants arrived in America, which was the largest number of arrivals in a 20 year period. The immigrants mostly stayed in the New England areas, such as New York and Massachusetts. This alarmed older Americans, because they feared that the country and system would fail because of the new 'impurities' in the land. In other words the shift in nationalities. The first immigrants to come to Ellis Island were from Ireland, Germany, England, and Scandanavian countries. By 1896, Italy, Russia, Poland, Spain, Greece, and Eastern Europe started to come, until 1924 when an immigration restriction law was imposed. This was a means of protecting the American wage that was earned. Congress also passed this act to provide for the examination of immigrants to exclude convicts, polygamists (which is someone who is married to two or more people at the same time) , prostitutes, people suffering from diseases, an people liable to public charges.

While on Ellis Island the immigrants had to go through many different tests and examinations. Doctors would check for diseases, and the slightest problems made the immigrants go back to their home countries. The immigrants often came back...

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