Answer:
THE FIRST WAVE: 1607-1830
Total Immigrants: approximately 1.2 million
From the first Colonial settlements in Jamestown and Plymouth, America grew quickly from an estimated population of 250,000 in 1700 to an estimated 2.5 million in 1775, when the Revolution began, to a population of 9.6 million in the 1820 census.
The early immigrants were primarily Protestants from northwestern Europe, as can be seen from the ethnic breakdown of the U.S. population in the first census of 1790: English 49%, African 19%, Scots-Irish 8%, Scottish 7%, German 7%, Dutch 4%, French 3%, other 3%.
Due to a labor shortage in the colonies and the early republic, there were no restrictions or requirements for immigration. The first federal law requiring ships to keep records of immigration wasn’t passed until 1819. Thus, the first wave of immigrants were all “undocumented aliens.”
THE SECOND WAVE: 1830s-1880s
Total Immigrants: 15.3 million.
As the population of the United States exploded from 13 million to 63 million between 1830 and 1890, a second wave of immigrants landed in America. The port of entry for the vast majority of these people was New York City. From 1855 on, arrivals were processed at Castle Garden, the first immigration center established by New York State.
Second-Wave immigrants were primarily Irish and German. Because they arrived in large numbers and differed from the existing Anglo-American society in religion and culture, they became the first immigrant groups to experience widespread hostility and organized opposition.
Until 1830, immigrants had never arrived in large numbers in the USA, averaging only 6,000 per year and totaling only about 1.5% of American society. Then, beginning in 1832, there was a sudden increase to 50,000 immigrants, with a peak year of 428,000 in 1854. Following a lull during the Civil War, immigration surged again in the late 19th century, with 5.2 million arriving in the 1880s alone. By 1890, nearly 14% of Americans were foreign-born.
THE THIRD WAVE: 1890s-1920s
Total Immigrants: 22.3 million
The population of the USA increased from 63 million in 1890 to 106 million in 1920, as immigration hit its peak. For three decades after 1890, an annual average of 580,000 immigrants arrived on American shores, and 1907 set a record of 1.3 million newcomers in a single year. On the eve of World War I, the foreign-born had swollen to 15% of the US population. With 75% of Third Wave immigrants coming through the Port of New York, the old state immigration center, Castle Garden, was overwhelmed. This led to the construction of the first federal immigration center, Ellis Island, which served as the main port of entry for American immigration from 1898 to 1924.
THE FOURTH WAVE: 1965-Today
Total Immigrants: estimated 30+ million
US Population: 315 million+
The current wave of immigration is by far the largest in American history in absolute numbers: over 30 million legal immigrants have entered over the last four decades, supplemented by an illegal immigration of anywhere from 8 to 20 million. Primarily from Latin America and Asia,
The Fourth Wave is revitalizing and reshaping American society. As in the past, as the number of immigrants has grown it has produced a new anti- immigrant backlash and a debate about our immigration laws.
