Some anthropologists believe humans first migrated to the western hemisphere from Siberia about 35,000 years ago via a land bridge; and some anthropologists suggest humans may have followed the northern Pacific coast by boat down to the Americas from Siberia. Regardless of how they got to the continent, it is believed that as these early humans trickled into the continent, and split into branches that spread south and east. By at least 4,200 years ago descendants of these early humans had migrated to populate the entire Western Hemisphere… but why did these early people (who, in the fifteenth century, Christopher Columbus misnamed “Indians”) migrate in the first place? … The answer is quite simple: some were fleeing perceived intolerable living conditions and others were in search of food. In reality, overall, they were evolving and surviving in an unforgiving world.
Fast-forward to the fifteenth century- why did the British, the French, and other Europeans take to sail across the Atlantic Ocean? Were they looking for adventure, or were they purely seeking to escape the ravages of nearly constant warfare in both Europe and Britain in the late 1400’s? Well, it turns out it was both. It would not be an easy endeavor, however; the British, the French, and other European’s saw promise and opportunity for a better life in a newly discovered land. The first few attempts at establishing settlements in America were unsuccessful. Sadly, people eager to make a home in the New World- succumbed to the harsh untamed land. Although the actual fates of the earliest colonial settlers in America is not known, this did not deter thousands of others to follow in their footsteps; in fact, in some ways it made those who came later even more determined to succeed.
In the eighteenth century, after the defeat of Britain in the American Revolution (1775-1783), the First United States Congress passed an immigration law titled the “1790 Naturalization Act.” This law established a set of rules (or principles) for immigrants to follow if they wanted to become a naturalized citizen of the United States of America. In 1795, the Third United States Congress repealed the 1790 Naturalization Act and replaced it with the 1795 Naturalization Act; this new law built upon the 1790 law; then in 1798 Congress passed the Alien and Sedition Act. Nevertheless, why did the United States of America’s government feel compelled to establish any laws related to people coming to the United States of America in the first place? Were the laws an attempt to protect the country, or were they trying to keep certain people out of the country? Furthermore, why did the founders of the Constitution insist on having sovereign borders? To these questions, one must understand why and how the United States of America came to be, as well as understand the extreme hardships and suffering people endured in order to establish the United States of America.