Immigration in U.S. History

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During the early years of American history, less than a million Europeans immigrated to the U.S. However, immigration steadily increased after 1820 due to better knowledge of the Atlantic Ocean and improvements in oceanic voyages. Between the mid 1800's and the early 1900's, millions of Europeans immigrated to America. It was the largest wave of immigrants in U.S. history, and during this period, a high percentage of Americans were bilingual, if not trilingual for business and social purposes. After this great influx, Congress passed an act in 1924 that limited immigration significantly. A much greater influence for subsequent decline was the Great Depression of 1929 that caused foreigners to doubt their chances for prosperity in America. Immigration remained low in the 1940's and 1950's.

In 1965, Congress passed immigration act amendments that removed restrictions and facilitated a new wave of millions of immigrants. This time, large percentages migrated from Asia, Africa, South America and Eastern Europe. In recent years, Congress has limited the ingress of legal immigration to over 500,000 per year. These days, the majority of new arrivals obtain visas due to family unification rather than humanitarian issues or employment outreach.