United States Immigration

Immigration has always been a topic of interest in the United States since early explorers came to America. The United States is referred to as the melting pot for this reason; most every person is the descendent of an early American immigrant. The US has always been a place of refuge or a place that people migrate to for one reason or another. Many who come to the US seek a better life whether it is to become free from dictatorship or just the many opportunities that are here. Immigration during the turn of the century was a large part of the growth of the United States and impacted the culture, population, and economic change in the cities. Looking back at the history of the United States there were many things that impacted the cities …show more content…
American cities more than increased in size due to the rush of people coming in search of something better. During the times of increased immigration Ellis Island was established and became the gateway into the US. There were new laws that were in place due to the rush of people and the laws were left to the states to regulate. These laws eventually became more strict due to the rise in immigrants and at one point in time it was required that immigrants over the age of 16 were required to pass a literacy test to enter and there were new quotas put into place for individuals coming in due to the large numbers of immigrants. Cities began to flourish with all of the new individuals entering into America legally and all was going well, new jobs are created and more workers are able to make this happen but when WW1 happened immigration numbers decreased. Then again during the Great Depression and WWII the numbers dropped drastically decreased again. During this time all of the people who had come for the better life and new jobs were experiencing the downfall of the economic crisis and fell victim to the poor conditions felt throughout the entire United States. All of the changes in the economy in these times were difficult on these now larger cities and with all of the new people living here there were more people going without and this caused great difficulty for everyone. The rise and fall of the economy paired with …show more content…
These cities began to have smaller cultural neighborhoods that came to be with all of the immigrants finding themselves locating in areas that were populated with others that were from their homeland and that were of the same origin. For example, the increase in immigrants from Italy began to form small but growing neighborhoods that were mostly populated by other Italian immigrants. This made life a bit easier for those who came without family to an unfamiliar country with an unfamiliar language. In these areas they were able to speak in their native language and engage in their cultural routines or rituals. Cities became more diverse with many sections that housed different cultures of individuals. For instance there is China Town in New York that is like that of China. There are Chinese restaurants, shops, and is predominately populated of individuals of Chinese decent whether they are American born or have immigrated here from China, they reside here because it is molded after their culture and structures that are found in their home land. Many cities began to have “towns” and seemed to be segregated by culture. Irish individuals tended to live among others from Ireland. This was the beginning of the times that made America known as the melting pot, because it was made of all types of individuals from all over the world