Essay On The History Of Colonial Immigration

The history of immigration stretches back before the colonial era, but the United States experienced major waves of immigration during the colonial era, the first past of 19th century and from 1880s to 1920 (Bankston and Danielle, 318). From the 1640s to 1763, hundreds of thousands of African slaves came to America against their will. From its earliest, starting with its original inhabitants, who crossed the land bridge from Asia and North America tens of thousands of years ago, American has been a nation of immigrants. The first Europeans in the 1500s, led by the Spanish and French, had established settlement in United States. In Jamestown, Virginia colony, some first settlers came in search of freedom to practice faith. The Pilgrims fled religious

The Puritans soon followed and lived in Massachusetts Bay Colony. It was estimated 20,000 Puritans migrated to the region between1630 to1640. The earliest African slaves who arrived against their will during the colonial era were approximately 20 in numbers. They were forced into indentured servitude in Jamestown, in 1619 (Bankston and Danielle, 316). By the year 1680, there were about 7000 African slaves in the American colonies and the number climbed to 700,000 by 1790 (Bankston and Danielle, 318). Congress passed a law to outlaw importation of slaves in 1808, but the practice continued (Bankston and Danielle, 6). In 1870, the naturalization Act of 1870 extends naturalization rights to people of African Descent, but excludes other non-whites.
Another major wave of immigration occurred from 1815 to 1865 after the ratification of the U.S constitution (Bankston and Danielle, 235). The majority of these immigrants was Irish and constituted a one third of the population and 53% of urban residents, European immigrants contributed disproportionately to the important role of American intergroup relations (235). In 1790, Congress passed the first uniform naturalization law. For the next 102 years, more than 90% of