We live in the 90's the age where scandalous and controversial topics cover the news headlines. Such subject matters as homosexuality, A.I.D.S, and abortion are fiercely debated upon. Sides are always taken, with the conservatives battling the liberals. One such argument that has always been debated upon since the founding of this nation has been immigration. The fact that it has been argued over for so long makes it seem ironic. A country founded by immigrants perpetually arguing over immigration. The basis of this dispute runs deep and that is what will be discussed in this following paper.
Anti-immigrant sentiments have been circulating since the Alien Act of June 25, 1798 . The Act was the first federal legislation that dealt with the expulsion of aliens in the United States. Another landmark case was the notorious Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. That clause revoked all Chinese immigrants to emigrate to the States for a period of ten years.
United States
First page of the US Chinese Exclusion Act
Dennis Kearney (1847-1907), Irish-American politic...It is so infamous due to the fact that it was the first bill that discriminated against any one particular race. Restrictions on immigration may seem to have been eradicated from current history but that is an oversight. Even in the 'politically correct' society we live in today allows for these discrepancies, for in the Immigration Act of 1990 which brought up controls for immigration.
Behind all these legal documents there are reasons that spurred these causes. Certain prejudices against certain races or religion. The prejudices were not always a color issue as the current immigration problems are. In the beginning it was primarily Europeans. In particular the Irish and German were thought of negatively. The percentage of the Irish in the Mid-Atlantic went from 45.9% in 1870 to 48.5 in 1930. Germans in 1870 went from 31.4% to 35.6% in...