Colonial America and American population

The early history of the settlement of the American continent is connected with the Indians, who came 20 000 years BC from Asia. The very first European who landed in North American was a Norse Viking Leif Ericson (the son of Erik the Red) about 1000. He established a Norse settlement Vinland, nowadays Canada. In 1492 an Italian explorer Christopher Columbus was sent by the Spanish queen Isabella of Castile to explore new route to India. Columbus, convinced he really found India, named inhabitants Indians. In 1507 a German geographer called the New World America in honour of Amerigo Vespucci, who was the first one to realize it is a new continent.

States that colonized America were Spain (Mexico, Caribbean islands Cuba and Jamaica, California and Florida), France (Canada, Great Lakes, river Mississippi and St. Lawrence), Holland (New York,  Hudson river that flows though it was named after a famous Dutch explorer in 1609. The original name of city was New Amsterdam established in 1626 but in 1664 taken by the British and renamed New York. Dutch ships were the first to take slaves from Africa), Portugal (South America) and Great Britain (along Atlantic coast). The colonies were quite different and set for different reasons. France did not support its inhabitants to settle down in America, they came in small numbers and sought fish and furs. The aim of Spanish colonies was to accumulate wealth. On the contrary, from the beginning people who came from England were especially people who really wanted to settle down and start new life in the new promising country with religious freedom.

Europe in the 16^th century was full of religious quarrels because of the wealth and pride of the Catholic Church so reformers rose to form Protestant churches. Namely, Martin Luther (a German monk) who said: ″We don´t need the Pope or the priests of the Catholic Church to enable us to speak to God.″ And John Calvin (a French lawyer and theologian) with his statement: ″Everybody is directly and personally responsible to God.″ In 1532 Henry VIII Tudor found the Church of England as a protest against Pope who did not want to allow him divorce. However, Church was still rich, had too many bishops, and it still resembled Catholic Church with rich decorated churches. Puritans wanted church to be purified and simpler but were persecuted. They found religious freedom in Holland; nevertheless, some of them still could not find security so they decided to sail to America.

Sir Walter Raleigh financed two voyages, the first one on ship The Speedwell in 1585 was not successful since ships went out of supplies and after 3 years when they got back they found that this colony disappeared, maybe then mangled with Indians who helped them survive hard winter. The Mayflower that sailed on 16 September 1620 with 102 passengers plus crew was finally successful. Their voyage took 65 days before they reached Cape Cod in 9 November and they also carried wine across the sea between France and Britain. They set from Plymouth to New Plymouth in America. They were called the Pilgrims because they came to America to find the religious freedom and Fathers since they become most influential founders of the future USA = the Pilgrim Fathers.

The ship carried the Mayflower Compact = an important document written on the deck of Mayflower, in which the Pilgrims agreed to work together for the good of all and agreed to set up a government to make ″just and equal laws″ . There are not titles signed – no aristocrats, nor women. One of the signers, John Carver, was the first Puritan governor of Plymouth Colony. Other significant signers were Miles Standish and William Bradford who wrote History of Plymouth Plantation. They imagined freedom and beautiful landscape but got harsh climate. They were city people of middle or upper-middle class who were used to some comfort such and had to suddenly survive in wilderness, look for the food and water so a lot of them died. The original relationship with Indians was good because they traded food and got seeds of corn to plant. Then they realized sailors had alcohol and food but they wanted woman so they were trading relatives.

Thanksgiving is a traditional North American holiday created in 1621, a form of harvest festival nowadays kept on every third Thursday in November as thanks to God that Pilgrims survived in America the first winter. Puritans wore black and white clothes (colours were expensive), preached, were going to church on meetings about what needed to be done. There was a severe special punishment for not obeying their rules, they could read only Bible and they must work hard.

The very first colonial state was Virginia and the first permanent English settlement in 1607 Jamestown. The first real American story was created by Captain John Smith who was saved by Indian woman Pocahontas when captured whose father was a chief. However, in reality it was not such a romantic story since she was older and in the end marries another Englishman. Smith was also a leader of Jamestown.

Colonies were divided into three parts. New England was an area of Pilgrims in the northeast corner of USA, consisting of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean and Canada.

Middle colonies consisted of New Jersey, New York, Delaware and Pennsylvania (city Philadelphia). King Charles II handed over a large piece of land to William Penn to satisfy a debt he owed to Penn's father. This land included present-day Pennsylvania and Delaware. Penn was very peaceful, did not fight with Indians and was buying new land from them because of his Quakers believe (Church of Friends, very tolerant). His colony was prosperous, he did not force settlers to follow rules and read bible so many new settlers came. Middle colonies were more cosmopolitan and tolerant society and stood as the centre of American Revolution.

Southern colonies had warm climate fit for huge plantations of tobacco and cotton so they needed slaves, first slaves were those who were not able to pay for journey and work to pay it. It consisted of Virginia, North and South Carolina, Maryland and Georgia. In 1690 first black slaves from Africa arrived. However, the colony was full of males and they found out they needed women so 1690 came first women. However, what decent lady would come to wild horny settlements? Only prostitutes and England needed to get rid of them. It was different with the Puritans since Puritan woman must follow husband. The greatest floe of immigrants came during Cromwell’s rule in Britain when his opposition of Cavaliers came and brought their wealth to America.

History of immigration

The total white population in 1790 was about 80% British ancestry and roughly doubled by natural increase every 25 years. Population expansion pushed the frontier to the Pacific by 1848. There was relatively little immigration from 1770 to 1830; although there was significant emigration to Canada, looking for better farms in Ontario. Large scale immigration resumed in the 1830s from Britain, Ireland, Germany and other parts of Central Europe as well as Scandinavia. Most were attracted by the cheap farm land. The Irish Catholics were unskilled workers who built most of the canals and railroads, and settled in urban areas.

Between 1841 and 1850, immigration nearly tripled again, including 780 000 Irish, 435 000 Germans, 267 000 British and 77 000 French immigrants. The Irish, with the Potato Famine driving them, emigrated to escape poverty and death. After 1870 steam powered larger and faster ships with lower fares. Meanwhile farming improvements in Europe created more populations. As usual, young people age 15 to 30 predominated among the newcomers. 25 million Europeans made the voyage: Italians, Greeks, Hungarians, Poles, included among them were 2.5 to 4 million Jews. They flocked to urban destinations, making possible the emergence of such industries as steel, coal, automobile, textile and enabling the United States to leap into the front ranks of the world’s economic giants.

Between 1840 and 1930, about 900 000 French Canadians left Quebec to immigrate to the United States and settle, mainly in New England. Considering that the population of Quebec, this was a massive exodus. The Canadian Agreement of 1894 extended immigration restrictions to Canadian ports. The 1910s marked the high point of Italian immigration but a third returned to Italy, after working an average of five years in the U.S. Also 1.5 million Swedes and Norwegians immigrated to the United States within this period, due to opportunity in America.

Over two million Central Europeans, mainly Catholics and Jews, immigrated between 1880 and 1924. People of Polish ancestry are the largest Central European ancestry group in the United States after Germans. Immigration of Eastern Orthodox ethnic groups was much lower. New immigration was a term from the late 1880s that came from immigrants from Russia (areas that previously sent few immigrants) and some Americans feared the new arrivals. This raised the issue of whether the U.S. was still a melting pot or if it had just become a "dumping ground," and many worried about negative effects on the economy, politics and culture.

At the end of World War II, immigration almost immediately increased as refugees from war torn Europe started immigrating. After the war, there were jobs for nearly everyone who wanted one, including immigrants, while most women employed during the war went back into the home. After the start of the Korean War, the Internal Security Act banned admission of any foreigner who was Communist. After Korean War, significant Korean immigration began, totalling 848 000.

In 1954, Operation Wetback forced the return of thousands of illegal immigrants to Mexico.  Citizens of Mexican descent complained of police stopping all Mexican looking, including deportation of American-born children who by law were citizens. The 1956 Hungarian Revolution, before being crushed by the Soviets, forged a temporary hole in the Iron Curtain that allowed 245 000 Hungarian families. After the Cuban revolution of 1959, led by Fidel Castro drove the middle classes to exile as 409 000 families emigrated.

In 1986, the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) was passed, creating, for the first time, penalties for employers who hired illegal immigrants. The United States admitted more legal immigrants from 1991 to 2000, ten million legal immigrants. Contemporary Immigrants settle predominantly in California, New York, Florida, Texas, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Illinois. The top emigrant countries are Mexico, China, Philippines, India, Cuba, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Vietnam, Jamaica and South Korea.

Approaches to accepting immigrants

The Immigration and Naturalization Act (INA), law governing current immigration policy, provides annual limit of 675 000 permanent immigrants with certain exceptions for close family members.  Congress and the President determine a separate number for refugee admissions. 

Historically, immigration to the United States has been based upon three principles: the reunification of families (480 000), admitting immigrants with skills that are valuable to economy (140 000) and protecting refugees (80 000). In order to qualify for U.S. citizenship, an individual must have had a green card for at least 5 years, must be at least 18 years old, demonstrate continuous residency, demonstrate good moral character and pass English and history exams.