Thank You Steerage Act!

Here is an interesting, though slightly inaccurate article on the act of Congress that has resulted in the incredibly useful US passenger manifests that genealogists have come to love (and sometimes hate).

It is worth understanding that, in the 3 decades leading up to the passage of the Steerage act (1790 - 1820), the United States received something like one million immigrants. It wasn't until after the passage of the Steerage Act that immigration really took off. The United States received nearly one million immigrants in the 1840's alone, but more significantly, in the subsequent 40 years (1850 - 1890) the United States received something approximating 14 million immigrants! That's ten times more per year, on average, than in the years leading up to the passage of the Steerage Act.

Also, it was not until 1855 that Congress passed a law requiring that the passenger manifests designate which passengers were just visitors, and which intended remain permanently as immigrants.