America's founders experienced a higher legal immigration rate

New legal permanent immigrants, annual share of US population, 1700-2026

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Sources: U.S. Bureau of the Census, A Century of Population Growth: From the First Census of the United States to the Twelfth, 1790–1900 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1909), Part 2; Aaron S. Fogleman, "From Slaves, Convicts, and Servants to Free Passengers," Journal of American History 85, no. 1 (June 1998); SlaveVoyages website, 2025; Hans-Jürgen Grabbe, "European Immigration to the United States in the Early National Period," Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 133, no. 2 (June 1989); Department of Homeland Security, "Yearbook of Immigration Statistics,"; DHS, "Legal Immigration and Adjustment of Status Report," July 25, 2025; 2026 is based on my predicted flows in: David J. Bier, "Trump Has Cut Legal Immigration More Than Illegal Immigration," Cato Institute.