When the media reports on America’s history of immigration, they typically begin with Ellis Island in New York. But Ellis Island did not even open until 1892.
My ancestors came to America much earlier. They entered through Castle Garden in the Battery of New York, which opened in 1855. For 35 years Castle Garden served as the chief immigration depot in the United States and was the first formal receiving station anywhere in the world. Prior to Castle Garden there was virtually no regulation of immigration or routine process for dealing with immigrant ships that arrived in New York. US Immigration 1840-1920: Step One.
Which brings me to this post by Ben Railton at Talking Points Memo. No, Your Ancestors Didn’t Come Here Legally:
Prior to 1875’s Page Act and 1882’s Chinese Exclusion Act, there were no national immigration laws. None. There were laws related to naturalization and citizenship, to how vessels reported their passengers, to banning the slave trade. Once New York’s Castle Garden Immigration Station opened in 1855, arrivals there reported names and origins before entering the U.S. But for all pre-1875 immigrants, no laws applied to their arrival. They weren’t legal or illegal; they were just immigrants.
