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Immigration to North America
Emigration to North America slowed between 1760 and 1815. -
First National Census
At the time of the first national census of the United States in 1790, more than two-thirds of the white population was of British origin, with Germans and Dutch next in importance. -
1790 Census
The 1790 census indicated that 20 percent of the American population was of African origin. -
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Northwestern Europe
For the first half of the 1815-1913 period, most migrants continued to come from northwestern Europe. -
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Immigration Increases
Between about 1815 and the start of World War I in 1914, immigration tended to increase with each passing decade. -
US legislation
The United States passed its first major legislation to restrict immigration in the 1920s. This limitation, coupled with the Great Depression of the 1930s and World War II in the 1940s, cut immigration to a fraction of its annual high in 1913. -
1913
By 1913, well over four-fifths of all immigrants were from these areas of Europe, especially Italy, Austria-Hungary, and Russia. -
Arrivals Increase
Since 1945, the number of arrivals has increased somewhat. -
Laws
Far more liberal immigration laws were passed in the 1960s -
Migrants
In the late 1980s, Mexico, the Philippines, and the West Indies provided the greatest number of migrants to the United States.