Attracting immigrants was once the most important diplomatic task of the United States.
At the beginning of the founding of the United States, the total domestic population was only 3.9 million. Except for about 760 thousand blacks, the rest are almost all white, and most of them are from western Europe. Concerned about the Napoleonic Wars in Europe and the domestic employment environment, several governments in the early days of the founding of the United States were full of doubts about immigration policies, and they had formulated some policies to restrict immigration. During the period of 1796- 18 15, the average number of European immigrants to the United States was only about 3,000 per year.
After the Napoleonic Wars, Europe regained peace. With the demobilization of a large number of soldiers, the unemployment problem in European countries is becoming more and more serious, and the number of immigrants to the United States is increasing year by year. At this time, the United States also changed its policy of restricting immigration because of the needs of domestic construction. 1848 after the European revolution, the wave of immigration to the United States is getting higher and higher. From 1820 to 100, the United States accepted about 33.5 million immigrants, which formed a century-long immigration tide in the United States.
What American historians call the "Great Migration Movement" is the first migration climax from 1820 to 1860, during which the total number of immigrants reached 5 million. Immigrants mainly come from western Europe and northern Europe, including about 2 million Irish, 6,543,800 Germans and a large number of African slaves sold to the United States. At the same time, a few immigrants came from Asia, mainly from China, and they came to the United States to look for gold.
The second immigration climax was from 186 1 to 1880, and about 5 million immigrants came to the United States. After the end of the Civil War, the United States ushered in the peak of industrialization, and the demand for labor was strong. In order to attract European immigrants to the United States, 1864, President Lincoln lobbied Congress to pass the immigration encouragement bill. Secretary Seward even issued a circular to American diplomats in Europe, asking them to make attracting European immigrants one of the most important diplomatic tasks. In order to recruit skilled workers from Europe to work in the United States, some enterprises also send delegations to Europe for recruitment. They advertised in many European newspapers and published pamphlets to describe the attractive prospects of the United States to Europeans with immigration aspirations. Some enterprises also provide necessary travel expenses for Europeans who are willing to immigrate to the United States.
The third climax was from 188 1 to 1920, and the number of immigrants soared to 23.5 million. The migration peak is 1907, reaching 1285000. At this stage, the American government has repeatedly legislated to restrict European immigrants and exclude Asian immigrants. The growth of "old immigrants" from northwest European countries such as Britain, Germany and Sweden is limited, while the growth of "new immigrants" from southeast European countries such as Italy and Russia is rapid.
After these three immigration climaxes, 1920, the total population of the United States exceeded 1 100 million for the first time. From 1820 to 1920, the number of immigrants accounted for more than 20% of the annual population growth in the United States.
Immigration changed the fate of America.
These three waves of immigrants in American history not only had a far-reaching impact on the formation of American national character, but also made the United States rise rapidly in just over a hundred years, replacing Britain as the world's number one economic power and laying the foundation for becoming a world superpower in the future. It can be said that the immigration tide has made America strong.
In the tide of immigration, the United States enjoyed success and got thousands of unskilled workers from Europe. According to statistics, during the period of 187 1- 1892, about 23% of the immigrants from western Europe and northern Europe were skilled workers, who brought steel, textiles and other industrial technologies and became an important technical force in the American industrial revolution.
Samuel, who was praised as "the father of American manufacturing" by the seventh president of the United States, Jackson? After Slater immigrated to the United States, he successfully copied an efficient cotton spinning machine in the United States with the secret of British textile industry he stole, and established a cotton spinning mill, which sounded the horn of American industrial revolution. Alexander, inventor of the telephone? Bell and Samuel, the father of the telegraph? Morse and others are also immigrants or descendants of immigrants. In addition, immigrants from China, Japan and the Philippines in Asia brought agricultural and horticultural technologies, while Italian immigrants made great contributions to municipal construction technologies such as gas, electricity and tap water.
Among these immigrants, 85% are between the ages of 14 and 44, and most of them are men. These immigrants are in their prime, providing labor for the cotton textile industry, mining industry and construction industry in the United States. Irish, Germans, Italians and Nordic people are the main forces of tunnel and railway engineering in the eastern United States. In the "westward movement" that changed the early political structure and social outlook of the United States, the role of Chinese workers cannot be underestimated.
In this movement centered on railway construction, China laborers successfully completed the construction of the western section of the Pacific Railway across the United States at the expense of blood, sweat and life under extremely harsh conditions. Up to now, you can still see a metal plaque inscribed in Chinese along the California railway, which reads "California Railway, North-South Connection". China spirit, flesh and blood. As Crocker, who advocates recruiting workers from China, said, "The timely completion of this railway is largely due to the poor and despised working class in China-due to their loyalty and hard work." This sentence later became a famous "one-sentence history" in the history of American immigrants.
During the American Civil War, immigrants also contributed to saving the Union and abolishing slavery. After the European 1848 Revolution, a large number of German immigrants with rich military experience came to the United States. Many of these German immigrants, known as "1848 people with lofty ideals", became the backbone of supporting the party and Lincoln. They helped organize the federal army and defended the system to the death. One of the most famous is Carl? Major General Schultz. After the failure of the German Revolution, he moved to the United States on 1852 and took an active part in the anti-slavery movement. 186 1 year, was appointed as the U.S. ambassador to Spain. After the civil war broke out, he took the initiative to lead the troops to fight. In order to encourage German immigrants to support Lincoln, he also made speeches in American states, with a total journey of nearly 40,000 kilometers.
The wave of immigration triggered a counter-current of xenophobia.
In the migration tide of 100 years, foreign immigrants have experienced one kind or another of exclusion. As far as the American government is concerned, its immigration policy is not static. From 18 15 to 1882, the United States government implemented a completely free immigration system. However, since 1882, great changes have taken place in American immigration policy. Laws restricting and excluding immigrants have been introduced one after another. The regulations are even stranger, such as prohibiting idiots and weak-willed people from entering the country. After 1920, the United States completely ended the era of free immigration and began to implement a restrictive immigration policy with quotas.
Due to the contradiction between employment, religion and nationality, American xenophobia reached its peak in the period of 1880- 1920. China, Japanese, Jews, Italians and Hungarians have all become targets of arbitrary exclusion and persecution by local American workers and immigrants from northwest Europe. What's more, in May of 1882, the US Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, which specifically prohibited Chinese workers from entering the United States, and it was not abolished until 6 1 year later. During this period, American Patriot Union and American Alliance, which were composed of native Americans and immigrants from northwest Europe, came into being. Among them, the "American Conservation Association" established by 1887 has the greatest influence, fanning the flames everywhere, and blaming the arrival of new immigrants for the political corruption, lagging municipal construction, rising crime rate and declining people's living standards in American society during this period.
After World War II, with the rationalization of American people's attitude towards immigrants, the contribution of immigrants to the United States was gradually recognized by most Americans. As US Secretary of Labor Zhao Xiaolan said, "The United States wants to thank immigrants for their contributions. The huge wave of immigrants has brought rich cultural heritage to the United States and provided impetus for its development. "