https://padlet.com/2138876/z80b8syhprpa7hlm en-us 2023-05-11 19:44:02 UTC 2025-11-26 13:59:29 UTC hello@padlet.com 2138876 https://padlet.com/2138876/z80b8syhprpa7hlm/wish/2587717740 Thomas Paine publishes a pamphlet, “Common Sense,” that argues for American independence. Most colonists consider themselves Britons, but Paine makes the case for a new American. “Europe, and not England, is the parent country of America. This new world hath been the asylum for the persecuted lovers of civil and religious liberty from every part of Europe,” he writes.


]]> 2023-05-11 19:49:27 UTC https://padlet.com/2138876/z80b8syhprpa7hlm/wish/2587717740 2138876 https://padlet.com/2138876/z80b8syhprpa7hlm/wish/2587718190  Congress passes the first law about who should be granted U.S. citizenship. The Naturalization Act of 1790 allows any free white person of “good character,” who has been living in the United States for two years or longer, to apply for citizenship. Without citizenship, nonwhite residents are denied basic constitutional protections, including the right to vote, own property, or testify in court.]]> 2023-05-11 19:49:52 UTC https://padlet.com/2138876/z80b8syhprpa7hlm/wish/2587718190 2138876 https://padlet.com/2138876/z80b8syhprpa7hlm/wish/2587718507 The first U.S. census takes place. The English are the largest ethnic group among the 3.9 million people counted, though nearly one in five Americans are of African heritage.]]> 2023-05-11 19:50:10 UTC https://padlet.com/2138876/z80b8syhprpa7hlm/wish/2587718507 2138876 https://padlet.com/2138876/z80b8syhprpa7hlm/wish/2587719102 Peace is re-established between the United States and Britain after the War of 1812. Immigration from Western Europe turns from a trickle into a gush, which causes a shift in the demographics of the United States. This first major wave of immigration lasts until the Civil War.]]> 2023-05-11 19:50:50 UTC https://padlet.com/2138876/z80b8syhprpa7hlm/wish/2587719102 2138876 https://padlet.com/2138876/z80b8syhprpa7hlm/wish/2587719480  Many of newcomers arrive sick or dying from their long journey across the Atlantic in cramped conditions. The immigrants overwhelm major port cities, including New York City, Boston, Philadelphia and Charleston. In response, the United States passes the Steerage Act of 1819 requiring better conditions on ships arriving to the country. The Act also calls for ship captains to submit demographic information on passengers, creating the first federal records on the ethnic composition of immigrants to the United States.]]> 2023-05-11 19:51:14 UTC https://padlet.com/2138876/z80b8syhprpa7hlm/wish/2587719480 2138876 https://padlet.com/2138876/z80b8syhprpa7hlm/wish/2587719730 America’s first anti-immigrant political party, the Know-Nothing Party forms, as a backlash to the increasing number of German and Irish immigrants settling in the United States.]]> 2023-05-11 19:51:30 UTC https://padlet.com/2138876/z80b8syhprpa7hlm/wish/2587719730 2138876 https://padlet.com/2138876/z80b8syhprpa7hlm/wish/2587719964 Following the Civil War, some states passed their own immigration laws. In 1875 the Supreme Court declares that it’s the responsibility of the federal government to make and enforce immigration laws.]]> 2023-05-11 19:51:48 UTC https://padlet.com/2138876/z80b8syhprpa7hlm/wish/2587719964 2138876 https://padlet.com/2138876/z80b8syhprpa7hlm/wish/2587720351 As America begins a rapid period of industrialization and urbanization, a second immigration boom begins. Between 1880 and 1920, more than 20 million immigrants arrive. The majority are from Southern, Eastern and Central Europe, including 4 million Italians and 2 million Jews. Many of them settle in major U.S. cities and work in factories.]]> 2023-05-11 19:52:13 UTC https://padlet.com/2138876/z80b8syhprpa7hlm/wish/2587720351 2138876 https://padlet.com/2138876/z80b8syhprpa7hlm/wish/2587722419 The Chinese Exclusion Act passes, which bars Chinese immigrants from entering the United States. Beginning in the 1850s, a steady flow of Chinese workers had immigrated to America.]]> 2023-05-11 19:54:46 UTC https://padlet.com/2138876/z80b8syhprpa7hlm/wish/2587722419 2138876 https://padlet.com/2138876/z80b8syhprpa7hlm/wish/2587722810 The Immigration Act of 1891 further excludes who can enter the United States, barring the immigration of polygamists, people convicted of certain crimes, and the sick or diseased. The Act also created a federal office of immigration to coordinate immigration enforcement and a corps of immigration inspectors stationed at principle ports of entry.]]> 2023-05-11 19:55:20 UTC https://padlet.com/2138876/z80b8syhprpa7hlm/wish/2587722810 2138876 https://padlet.com/2138876/z80b8syhprpa7hlm/wish/2587723063 Ellis Island, the United States’ first immigration station, opens in New York Harbor. The first immigrant processed is Annie Moore, a teenager from County Cork in Ireland. More than 12 million immigrants would enter the United States through Ellis Island between 1892 and 1954.]]> 2023-05-11 19:55:40 UTC https://padlet.com/2138876/z80b8syhprpa7hlm/wish/2587723063 2138876 https://padlet.com/2138876/z80b8syhprpa7hlm/wish/2587723261 U.S. immigration peaks, with 1.3 million people entering the country through Ellis Island alone.]]> 2023-05-11 19:55:56 UTC https://padlet.com/2138876/z80b8syhprpa7hlm/wish/2587723261