| 1536 | Spaniards begin to settle in California and in the Southwest. |
| 1565 | Spaniards establish St. Augustine, oldest city in the United States. |
| 1607 | English establish Jamestown, the oldest English settlement in North America. |
| 1619 | Negroes are first brought in as slaves. |
| 1620 | English Pilgrims land at Plymouth Rock. |
| 1624 | Walloons, from Netherlands, settle Fort Orange, now Albany, New York. |
| 1626 | Netherlanders establish New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island. |
| 1628 | Persecuted Protestants establish the Massachusetts Bay Colony. |
| 1634 | Lord Baltimore and a group of English Catholics arrive in Maryland. |
| 1636 | Roger Williams and his followers establish Rhode Island. |
| 1636 | Connecticut is founded by Thomas Hooker and his religious group. |
| 1638 | Swedes and Finns settle along the Delaware River. |
| 1639 | John Mason and his followers come to New Hampshire. |
| 1654 | Twenty-three Portuguese Jews land at New Amsterdam from Brazil. |
| 1662 | Huguenots settle in Massachusetts on the present site of Oxford. |
| 1663 | English nobles, with grant from Charles II, establish North Carolina. |
| 1664 | English capture New Amsterdam and rename it New York. |
| 1664 | Berkeley, Carteret, and others establish New Jersey. |
| 1670 | English make first permanent settlement in South Carolina. |
| 1670 | French fur traders and missionaries come to the Mississippi Valley. |
| 1679 | French Huguenots settle in South Carolina. |
| 1681 | The Quakers, led by William Penn, settle Pennsylvania. |
| 1682 | The first Germans come to Pennsylvania. |
| 1690 | About 200 Scotch-Irish settle in Maryland. |
| 1693 | English help to settle 600 German-Swiss in North Carolina. |
| 1699 | The Acadians come to Louisiana and reach as far as Biloxi in present-day Mississippi. |
| 1700 | The Scotch-Irish settle along the frontiers. |
| 1710 | First German Protestants arrive in New York. |
| 1719 | Acadians establish New Orleans, Louisiana. |
| 1720 | Between 1720 and 1750, 60,000 Germans come to Pennsylvania. |
| 1732 | Oglethorpe founds Georgia. |
| 1733 | German Lutherans, Italian Protestants from Piedmont, Scots, Swiss, Portuguese Jews, and English arrive in Georgia. |
| 1737 | Irish laborers come to South Carolina. |
| 1749 | About 600 Scots settle near Fayetteville, North Carolina. |
| 1750 | Over 4,300 Germans and 1,000 English and Irish arrive in Pennsylvania. |
| 1790 | Between 1790 and 1820, around 234,000 newcomers arrive. |
| 1807 | Slave trade is forbidden. |
| 1817 | 20,000 people come from Europe. |
| 1819 | First United States Passenger Act, marking beginning of systematic immigration statistics. |
| 1842 | Annual immigration first reaches 100,000. |
| 1847 | Annual immigration passes 200,000. |
| 1845 | Large German influx begins as a result of political unrest. |
| 1847 | Irish begin to come in large numbers because of famine and political oppression. |
| 1851 | Annual immigration passes 300,000. |
| 1853 | About 13,000 Chinese laborers arrive to work in the California gold mines. |
| 1855 | Castle Garden, New York, established as principal immigrant station. |
| 1860 | Slavs and southern Europeans begin to arrive. |
| 1870 | More than 15,000 Chinese arrive to work on the railroads. |
| 1880 | Because of militarism and overpopulation in Germany, Germans again begin to arrive in large numbers. |
| 1880 | Between 1880 and 1900, large numbers of Scandinavians arrive because introduction of machinery takes place of men on Scandinavian farms. |
| 1881 | For next 15 years, an average of nearly 500,000 arrive each year. |
| 1882 | Idiots, lunatics, and persons likely to become public charges excluded. |
| 1890 | For next 30 years, Italians, Austrians, Hungarians, and Slavs pour into United States to supply demand for unskilled labor. |
| 1890 | Ellis Island replaces Castle Garden as chief immigrant station. |
| 1891 | More than 1,000 Japanese arrive. |
| 1891 | The office of Superintendent of Immigration is established in the Treasury Department. |
| 1900 | More than 12,000 Japanese arrive. |
| 1900 | Between 1900 and 1914, more than 3,000,000 Italians and about 6,000,000 people from Slavic countries enter. |
| 1905 | Annual immigration first exceeds 1,000,000. |
| 1907 | Immigration reaches all-time peak of 1,285,349. |
| 1907 | Immigration Commission is set up. |
| 1917 | During World War and afterwards thousands of Mexicans cross the border. |
| 1919 | Flow of immigrants from Europe again gets under way. |
| 1921 | Temporary Quota Law, restricting immigration. |
| 1924 | Permanent Quota Law, restricting immigration to 150,000 annually. |
| 1938 | Annual immigration drops to about 70,000. |
The Development of Our Immigration Policy
“Those who have come to our shores, representing many kindreds and tongues, have been welded by common opportunity into a united patriotism.”—Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Long before the Revolutionary War, the colonies enacted restrictive immigration laws. Many of these laws were based on religious prejudices, which, although somewhat softened in intensity, still existed when the new nation was born. Fear and consequent hatred of foreigners and foreign influence were widely prevalent in the early years of the Republic.
John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, Patrick Henry, John Jay, and other prominent statesmen opposed the introduction of aliens into the political or economic life of the country. Thomas Jefferson believed that natural expansion of the existing population would be sufficient to meet the country’s needs. Even George Washington, in 1794, said:
My opinion with respect to emigration, is that except of useful mechanics and some particular descriptions of men or professions, there is no need of encouragement.
The prevailing spirit found expression in stringent naturalization laws which, however, were soon modified.