U.S. Immigration Policy 1790-2010

Naturalization is the acquistion of citizenship or nationlity by somebody who was not a citizen or national of that country when he or she was born.
In general, basic requirements for naturalization are that the applicant hold a legal status as a full-time resident for a minimum period of time and that the applicant promise to obey and uphold that country's laws, to which an oath or pledge or allegiance is sometimes added. Some countries also require that a naturalized national must renounce any other citizenship that they currently hold, forbidding dual citizenship, but whether this renunciation actually causes loss of the person's original citizenship will again depend on the laws of the countries involved.
Nationality is traditionally based either on jus soli("right of territory") or on jus sanguis ("right of blood") or jus matrimonii ("marriage to a national").

1790 Naturalization Act - Congress establishes a process of naturalization and a two-year residency requirement for "free white" persons of 'good character.'

1798 Alien and Sedition Acts - The acts increase the residency requirement for citizenship to 14 years and give the president the authority to deport
aliens deemed dangerous to the nation's "peace and safety"

1800 U.S.population hits 5.2 million.

1819 Steerage Act - the act requires ship captains to provide a list of their passengers to customs officials at the port of entry, including the age, sex and occupation of each passenger.

1845 Irish potato famine - the failure of potato crop begins suddenly as a result of an airborne fungus. It lasted for 6 years and nearly one million Irish leave their country to come to the United States.

1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hildalgo
After the Mexican-American war, negotiations extend citizenship to about 80,000 Mexicans nationals living within the new boundaries of the United States.

1849 California Gold Rush The discovery of golds spurs massive immigration from both Europe and Asia.

1850 Know Nothing Movement
Also known as the Native American Party, the movement fears Irish-Catholic immigration and seeks to curb immigration and naturalization. It's popular name comes from its semi-secret organizational structure.

1862 The Homestead Act - The measure awards 160 acres of free land in the west to settlers who agree to live on it for five years, spurring more immigration from Europe.

1882 Chinese Exclusion Act - the measure barred both skilled and unskilled Chinese laborers from entering the country for 10 years and is the most significant limit on free immigration in U.S. history.

1889 Hull House founded in Chicago - Jane Addams, and Ellen Gates Starr establish this settelement house offering day care, a jobs bureau, and English and citizenship classes to recently arrived European immigrants.

1891 Bureau of Immigration established - Congress establishes the bureau and adds health qualifications to restrictions on immigration.

1892 Ellis Island opens - Over the next 62 years more than 12 million people enter the United States through the immigration center on the small island in New York harbor.( to be continued )