a reply to:
sapien82
I don't see much point arguing your views on Europe. Even if mine are different, you're entitled to your opinion.
As for "no immigrants from Europe from 1965 onwards," that isn't what I was trying to say. I said up until 1965, the US only allowed immigration
from Europe. According to Wikipedia
History of laws concerning
immigration and naturalization in the United States, that's not altogether true. "Immigration is distinct from naturalization. For the first
century of the United States' history, immigration to the country was unrestricted." "Congress in 1790 passed the first naturalization law for the
United States, the Naturalization Act of 1790. The law enabled those who had resided in the country for two years and had kept their current state of
residence for a year to apply for citizenship. However it restricted naturalization to "free white persons" of "good moral character"."
So people could come here but naturalization (right to vote or hold office) was tightly controlled. "In 1870, the law was broadened to allow blacks
to be naturalized.[2] Asian immigrants were excluded from naturalization but not from living in the United States. There were also significant
restrictions on some Asians at the state level; in California, for example, non-citizen Asians were not allowed to own land." Over the years the law
was revised frequently. "The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (the McCarran-Walter Act) revised the quotas again, basing them on the 1920
census. For the first time in American history, racial distinctions were omitted from the U.S. Code."
"The Immigration and Nationality Act Amendments of 1965 (the Hart-Celler Act) abolished the system of national-origin quotas. There was, for the first
time, a limitation on Western Hemisphere immigration (120,000 per year), with the Eastern Hemisphere limited to 170,000. The law changed the
preference system for immigrants. Specifically, the law provided preference to immigrants with skills needed in the U.S. workforce, refugees and
asylum seekers, as well as family members of U.S. citizens. Family reunification became the cornerstone of the bill. At the time, the then-chairman of
the Senate Immigration Subcommittee Edward Kennedy remarked that "the bill will not flood our cities with immigrants. It will not upset the ethnic mix
of our society. It will not relax the standards of admission. It will not cause American workers to lose their jobs." (U.S. Senate, Subcommittee on
Immigration and Naturalization of the Committee on the Judiciary, Washington, D.C., Feb. 10, 1965. pp. 1–3.)"
Basically, at first people were allowed in but only free white people of good character were allowed to become citizens. As time went by, immigration
became more controlled with quotas but naturalization gradually opened up.
The practical effect of all this was as of 1965, the US remained 90% white.
edit on 27-9-2018 by toms54 because: spelling