| Dates |
Indiana Events |
Relevant Immigration Policies |
| 1850-1859 |
Cannelton
Textile Mills recruits workers from the Eastern United States
Thousands
of Irish settlers arrive in Indiana, fleeing famine in Ireland
Wabash
and Erie Canal finished (1853)
|
Indiana
adopts a State Constitution (1851); the property rights of married
women are protected; the rights of Free Blacks to live in this state
are severely restricted
The
strong presence of Irish immigrants in the state (and the Indiana
state legislature) is credited with causing the state constitutional
convention in 1850-51 to ease voting requirements for most immigrants.
|
| 1860-1869 |
Indiana
legislature legalized entry by Black students into the public education
system (1869), after the Civil War
German
is allowed by the state legislature to be taught as a language in
the public school system (1869)
|
The
Homestead Act (1862) indirectly encouraged immigrants to come to
the United States because it promised land grants to small farmers.
The
Act of 1864 made pre-emigration contracts binding among immigrants
and factories, in an effort to encourage employers to hire more
laborers to support the war effort
The
President appoints a new commissioner of immigration (1864)
|
| 1870-1879 |
|
Collectors
of Customs at American ports forward statistics on immigration to
the federal Treasury Department
The
Act of March 1875 introduces restrictions of certain immigrant groups,
initially targeting Chinese workers
|
| 1880-1889 |
Increased
Irish immigration due to famine and political unrest in Ireland |
Congress
passed the first Federal laws (1882) regulating immigration; a 50
cent head tax is imposed on all immigrants -the money was used to
pay immigration inspectors
Chinese
Exclusion Act (1882) suspends immigration of Chinese laborers; made
permanent by Congress in 1902
|
| 1890-1899 |
The
tribal status of the Miami nation is terminated (1897) |
Ellis
Island Immigration Station opens as a new portal for immigrants
(1892)
The
Immigration Act of 1891 added to the list of those who were denied
entry in the United States: paupers, idiots and the insane, as well
as diseased persons, convicts, polygamists, and those whose passage
had been paid by another. The Immigration Bureau now had jurisdiction
over medical examinations and inspections of immigrants.
Additional
bills passed (many subsequently vetoed) requiring immigrants to
be fully literate and requiring immigrants not to have been recruited
in foreign lands by American businesses
|
