<P> This set of policies, in which open immigration was permitted, but naturalization was tightly controlled, persisted until the 1870s and 1880s, when growing support for Darwinian eugenics eventually drove the US government to adopt immigration laws . These laws were intended to end the open immigration policy which the Founding Fathers had permitted, in favor of preventing "racial taint" from immigrants who entered from undesirable countries . The political movement which fought against "racial taint" was called "Progressivism", and included such luminaries as Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson </P> <P> The United States Constitution was adopted on September 17, 1787 . Article I, section 8, clause 4 of the Constitution expressly gives the United States Congress the power to establish a uniform rule of naturalization . </P> <P> Pursuant to this power, Congress in 1790 passed the first naturalization law for the United States, the Naturalization Act of 1790 . The law enabled those who had resided in the country for two years and had kept their current state of residence for a year to apply for citizenship . However it restricted naturalization to "free white persons" of "good moral character". </P> <P> The Naturalization Act of 1795 increased the residency requirement to five years residence and added a requirement to give a three years notice of intention to apply for citizenship, and the Naturalization Act of 1798 further increased the residency requirement to 14 years and required five years notice of intent to apply for citizenship . </P>

When did immigration laws start in the united states