Some sought freedom to worship, others searched for gold or other forms of wealth, and many were dragged here in chains against their will (Plesser, 3). This was only the beginning. The flow of immigrants into the United States would stay on a steadily increasing pace from this point. The United States encouraged immigration during its first century of existence. Immigrants came into the United States by the multitudes to work in the fields of the farms and to help clear the new frontier. The United States was on the verge of its largest expansion of its history. People were needed to do the work so immigrants were welcomed and many took up the offer of the chance of freedom in the New World. There were only a few immigrants in 1820. Only 8,000 immigrants entered into the United States. Then, the number began to rise slowly, an increase that would continue, with ebbs and flows, for almost a century. From 1820 to 1920, over 51 million Immigrants entered America. One of the first attempts to slow the migration rate was the Oriental Exclusion Act of 1882. In 1882, Congress passed the "first general immigration statute" (22 Stat 214). This legislation established a centralized immigration administration under the Secretary of the Treasury. It also provided for the exclusion of of immigrants convicted of political offences, lunatics, idiots, and people likely to end up on welfare. One example of this procedure involved Chinese immigrants. In the 1870s, the majority of Chinese immigrants were employed during the expansion of the Railroad. The workers, especially the Chinese, were responsible for the building of the Trans-Continental Railroad. This kept the influx of the Orientals as an on going and steady number migrating into the United States. The government was concerned with the rise of the number of immigrants into the nation. Therefore, they exercised greater control of the number of allowed immigrants.
These issues have been debated on for generation. ... The issues of immigration has three important topics: first, the understanding of the history behind immigration. ... Third and finally, the economic issues associated with immigration today. The history of immigration in the United States is quite interesting. ... On a different level, immigration today is causing many environmental and resource issues. ...