Immigration Timeline

The French and Indian War started because the British controlled thirteen colonies in America and were looking to expand further west. Now French on the hand occupied Canada and were looking to expand south. Both sides eventually met one another at the Ohio River Valley. The Ohio River Valley area was a major port for trading and connecting to the Mississippi River. The French and Indian War was special because a prominent figure in America history took part in this war. His name was George Washington and before becoming the first president of the United States. Washington was a young twenty-one-year-old lieutenant colonel for the British army. In 1754, Washington was given commands to protect a British fort outside of what is now called Pittsburgh. While on his way a French military unit met Washington and his men. The two sides fought in the first ever battle of the French and Indian War. This battle was called the Battle of Jumonville Glen. The French and British were fighting against each other for the next two year. Both sides had an idea that it would be best to find allies among the Native American. The French recruited the Pottawattamie, Winnebago, Ojibwe, Mississauga, and Huron. The British only had one ally with the Native America, and they were called the Iroquois Confederacy. With more allies and better supplies, the French were dominating the war. The British were destined to lose and probably give up their colonies to the French. But in 1757, British Secretary of State William Pitt poured in a lot of money to improve the British army. This would play a significant part in the war ended and French being defeated in Quebec. The war officially ended with the signing of Treaty of Paris in 1763.

On December 16, 1773, Samuel Adams and a band of American Colonists boarded three British ships in the Boston Harbor. They disguise themselves as Native Americans, and the sole mission was to destroy the tea that was on the ship. The reason why Americans wanted to get rid of the tea is that American was getting tired of being tired of being heavily taxed by the British. The Boston Tea Party was a direct defiance by the American against the British Parliament rights over imposing unnecessary taxes. For almost a decade and a half the British tax several items from food to playing cards. In 1773, the British Parliament passed the Tea Act of 1773. This requires that Americans can only buy tea from the British. Even though the tea was cheaper than other teas, it still was taxed. Americans were fed up with the British and their greedy ways. American Samuel Adams and the group of colonists threw three hundred and forty-two chests of tea overboard into the Boston harbor. The British were furious losing almost one million dollars in today’s money. The British closed all Boston ports from trading. This sparked conflict between the two sides, and within sixteen months the American Revolutionary War began.

On June 11, 1776, Continental Congress selected Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston to draft an official statement justifying the break with America and Great Britain. The statement will later be known as the Declaration of Independence. These five men or “Committee of Five” as they were called came together and began working on the Declaration of Independence. The men all agreed that Thomas Jefferson should write most of it since he was known for being an expressive speaker. Jefferson wrote a draft of the Declaration of Independence and gave it to Congress on July 1, 1776. For next three days, Congress revised about one-fifth of the text but did not takeout Jefferson’s words. Congress officially adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.

The first wave of immigrants started about a decade before the start of 19th century. This first group of people was mainly from England.

On March 26, 1790, Congress passed the United States Naturalization Law. This law provided the first rules to be followed by the United States in the granting of national citizenship. This law limited naturalization to immigrants who were free white persons of good character. The law did exclude Native Americans, slaves, and Asians. Free blacks were allowed citizenship, but that was on a state to state basis. It also provided for citizenship for the children of U.S. citizens born abroad, stating that such children "shall be considered as natural born citizens," the only US statute ever to use the term. Naturalization Law was repealed in 1795 that extended to five-year requirement then again 1798 to fourteen years residence. Congress finally decided that five-year qualification would be best when they passed the Naturalization Law of 1802.

The United States declared war on Britain in 1812. It did so because Britain refused to stop seizing American ships that traded with France. France was Britain's most prominent enemy in Europe. On August 24, 1814, British forces led by General Robert Ross and Admiral Sir George Cockburn, took a group of men to the Capitol and set fire to it, shortly after the two commanders went to the White House to burn it. This was known as the Burning of Washington. In the summer of 1814, the two countries opened peace talks at Ghent, in Belgium. The United States and Britain agreed late in December of 1814 to end the war between them. The peace treaty that was called the Treaty of Ghent was signed on December 24, 1814.

During that early 1800’s, tens of thousands immigrants were coming to North America by the boatloads. This new wave of immigrants coming to North America lasted until the early decades of the nineteenth century when mass migration began. The fresh newcomers from Europe took advantage of improvements in transportation to immigrate to the United States. Many of the immigrants were steerage passengers; these were people who paid lowest fares to travel and was considered to be people with little to no money. To help those people, Congress passed the Manifest of Immigrants Act better known as the Steerage Acts in 1819.

The second wave of immigrants consists of about 7.5 million people. The people arriving in North America were mainly from northern and western
Europe. Also, the immigrants are now entering the United States through New York City instead of Philadelphia.

From 1845 to 1852, a wave of Irish immigrants arrived in North America escaping famine and diseases that plague their country. During this time, about one million people died and a million more relocated to other places. This period was known as The Great Hunger.

The California Gold Rush started on January 24, 1848, in Coloma, California. On that day, James W. Marshall found about four or five pieces of gold in Suttter's Mill. The news spread thought out the country and the world. Over 300,000 people would migrate to California from the rest of the United States and overseas.