# data[].attributes.body
1620 - Pilgrims fled religious persecution in Europe and arrived in Plymouth, MA

1630-1640 - Puritans established Massachusetts Bay Colony seeking religious freedom

# data[].attributes.body
Many Europeans wanted to immigrate to America but it was expensive so many became indentured servants.

# data[].attributes.body
1619 - First “slaves” 20 Africans arrived in Virginia
Since then, African slaves were steadily brought into the country

# data[].attributes.body
From Northern and Western Europe, mostly Irish and German.
Ireland was facing a famine so they came to America and mostly settled on the East Coast.
Germans mostly settled in the Midwest and became farmers.

Mid 1800s, Asian immigrants came to the US because of the California gold rush. About 25,000 Chinese had immigrated by the early 1850s

Effect: anti-immigrant sentiment/rise of Nativism, Know-Nothing Party

# data[].attributes.headline
Immigration slowed down after the Civil War in the 1870s

# data[].attributes.subject
Immigration slowed down after the Civil War in the 1870s

# data[].attributes.body
First piece of federal legislation that restricted immigration based on race. Banned Chinese laborers because native-born Americans in California were blaming the Chinese, who were cheaper labor, for the decline in jobs opportunities and wages.

# data[].attributes.body
Most immigrants were from Southern and Eastern Europe (Italians and Jews fleeing religious persecution)

1907 was a peak year in which 1.3 million immigrated to the US.

WWI (1914-1918) caused a decline in immigration

1917 - Congress passed legislation that required immigrants to pass a literacy test

# data[].attributes.body
Because of the influx of immigration in, Ellis Island was designated as a federal immigration station. More than 12 million immigrants entered through Ellis Island.

# data[].attributes.body
Created quotas that restricted entry to only 2% of immigrants from each nationality to enter

# data[].attributes.body
Immigration plummeted after the Great Depression

# data[].attributes.body
Legislation passed to allow refugees from Europe and Soviet Union to enter the US

1965 - Immigration and Nationality Act got rid of quotas based on nationality

Most immigrants come from Asia and Latin America now