Immigrants arrive at Ellis Island. The Library of Congress.

United States 1924

Synopsis

The National Origins Act, sometimes referred to as the Johnson-Reed Act, represented the culmination of early twentieth-century anti-immigration sentiment. The act sharply restricted the total number of immigrants who could come to the United States and established quotas for various nationality groups. The chief purpose of the act was to limit the number of "less desirable" immigrants from southern and eastern Europe and from Japan, many of whom had played a vital role in the nation's industrial development.

Timeline

• 1909: Robert E. Peary and Matthew Henson reach the North Pole.
• 1914: On 28 June in the town of Sarajevo, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip assassinates Austrian Archduke Francis Ferdinand and wife Sophie. In the weeks that follow, Austria declares war on Serbia, and Germany on Russia and France, while Great...