Assimilation requires newcomers to give up their distinctive culture.
More than five million entered in the 1880s, swelling urban populations. In 1882 nearly 2,100 arrived each day. Many originated from the southern and eastern European countries of Italy, Croatia, Slovakia, Greece, and Poland. Poor and illiterate, they settled largely in northern urban areas and placed new demands on social welfare systems. The first federal legislation restricting immigration was targeted at limiting the entrance of Chinese into the United States.