America Immigration Flashcards
Describe the 1929 Immigration Act [2]
In 1929 only 120,000 immigrants a year were allowed into the USA and 85% of all places were reserved for Northern and Western Europeans.[1] This demonstrates that it was not necessarily the number of immigrants coming in that America’s objected to, but where they came from, making racism & prejudice a very important factor in understanding the changing attitudes towards immigration in the 1920s. President Coolidge said “America must be kept American”.[1]
Describe how religious prejudice in 1920s America led to immigration controls, specifically for Catholics [3]
Catholics: Before 1830, the USA had been almost exclusively Protestant but by 1860, the number of Catholics exceeded 3 million, which was one tenth of the population. A significant proportion of immigrants were Roman Catholic – Irish, Italians and Hispanics.
Explain how German-Americans were affected by WW1 [3]
In 1917, there were around 8 million German-Americans living in the USA. At the outbreak of war, many were criticised for being too sympathetic towards the German Empire and were immediately suspected as sympathizers of the Kaiser. German-Americans were beaten, tarred and feathered. Families with German sounding surnames changed them e.g. Müller to Miller, Schmidt to Smith. The German dish of sauerkraut became known as ‘liberty cabbage’. German languages were stopped in colleges and schools.
Explain how Irish Americans were affected by WW1 [3]
During World War I, 4.5 million Irish-Americans lived in the USA.[1] Many harboured a deep-rooted hatred towards Britain due to the English oppression they had endured in Ireland since the 17th century.[1] Therefore, they were suspected as being dangerously anti-British and potentially anti-American saboteurs, especially if they were Catholic. [1]
Describe how American’s foreign policy adjusted following WW1 [2]
Involvement in World War I was a break in the tradition of US foreign policy. After World War I, most Americans were weary from fighting in a world war - 117,465 Americans had died & 205,690 were wounded.[1] Most Americans wanted a return to isolationism, which can be shown through the refusal of the USA to join the League of Nations (an organisation that had been suggested by the President Wilson in the first place). They were afraid that membership of the League of Nations would involve them permanently in the affairs of Europe.[1] Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Leader of the Republican opposition to President Wilson [Democrat], successfully led the campaign against the League. Republicans were hostile to Wilson anyway, but they were also concerned to protect American sovereignty and the freedom to act independently. They argued that the decision to go to war should rest solely with the US Congress and not with the League.
List the 4 immigration acts introduced around 1920s America [4]
Immigration law 1917 (Literacy Acts- proof to read English)
Emergency Quota Act 1921
National Orgins Act 1924
Immigration Act 1929 (dates needed for marks)
Describe the human cost of WW1 for America [2]
After World War I, most Americans were weary from fighting in a world war - 117,465 Americans had died & 205,690 were wounded.[1] Most Americans wanted a return to isolationism, which can be shown through the refusal of the USA to join the League of Nations (an organisation that had been suggested by the President Wilson in the first place). They were afraid that membership of the League of Nations would involve them permanently in the affairs of Europe.
Describe the 1917 Immigration Law [1]
It required that all immigrants prove that they could read English
Describe the Emergency Immigration Law Act [3]
1921 [1] allowed only about 350,000 immigrants to enter the USA every year.[1] By carefully organising a quota system, the American Government could make sure that large numbers of people from ‘undesirable’ countries were kept out. This law imposed an annual limit on immigration from any European Country, limiting it to 3% of the number of nationals from that country who were living in the USA in 1911.[1]
Describe the National Origins Act [3]
In 1924, Congress passed the National Origins Act [Johnson-Reed Act], with little opposition. This Act drastically cut down the total of immigrants e.g the proportion from each country allowed to enter the USA each year was lowered to 2% based on the sizes of national groups at the time of the 1890 census and set an absolute limit of 150,000 immigrants per annum. [1] 85% of quotas favoured those from Northern and Western Europe and forbade all Oriental immigration – marked in Japan by a day of National mourning. However, the Act did not apply to Mexicans, as cheap labour was needed during the times of fruit harvest. The law aimed at freezing the country ethnically by sharply restricting the ‘new’ immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe. [1]
Explain why hatred against 3 American groups increased due to WW1 [2]
World War I sped up the process of the movement to limit immigration. During the war, everything was done to ‘sell’ Americans the war and generate hatred towards the Germans. Soon, anyone and anything that smacked of foreign culture became suspect, and patriotism often degenerated into an ugly xenophobia. [1]
World War I revealed that many immigrants in the USA still had some lingering sympathies for their mother country. This of course was a double standard as many ‘old immigrant’ Americans, still talked fondly about Scotland, which was considered acceptable. Former president Theodore Roosevelt denounced “hyphenated Americanism”, insisting that dual loyalties were impossible in wartime [1]
Explain immigrant demographics in 1920s America [2]
The majority of immigrants settled in four large cities: Chicago, Boston, Pittsburgh & New York. These immigrants ‚enclaves‛ became identified by names such as Little Italy, Irishtown and Chinatown.[1] They wanted to be close to other people who spoke their language & felt safer in their own communities who continued the traditions and customs of their home countries. They had their own shops selling their own food, their own forms of entertainment and sometimes their own schools. It was estimated that New York City had twice the number of Irish that Dublin had and more Italians than lived in Naples. Chicago had the largest number of Czechs than anywhere else in the world and the third largest number of poles after Warsaw and Lodz (which are in Poland).
The Irish dominated Boston, the Czechs and Poles-Chicago and the Italians took over Brooklyn in New York.
In 1970 the Reverend Jesse Jackson gave an interview to ‘Ebony’ magazine, in which he said America was not a “melting pot” but a “soup with the chopped ingredients visible as separate bits”. By this he meant that people in urban areas lived in separate districts for separate ethnic groups such as ‘Little Italy’ and ‘China Town’.
How did immigration housing lead to an oucry amongst working class ‘native’ Americans? [2]
Immigrants had little money and received low wages so could only afford to live in atrocious conditions, in the cheapest housing in the worst areas of the city. Whole families, sometimes 10 or 12 people lived in one room. They were damp, dark and filthy with no water supply, toilets or drains - rubbish and sewage was thrown into backcourts or streets. However, landlords could still put rents up due to the high competition. Poor Americans were angered by the increased pressure put on already scarce housing by the arrival of immigrants, especially in the poorer areas of the city. This resulted in natives becoming hostile towards immigrants as they struggled to get a home. The areas in which they lived became run down and overcrowded: ghettoes. Immigrants were blamed for these poor conditions which made the country less desirable to live in, even though in reality it was the responsibility of the city authorities rather than the immigrants.
Explain how crime infused hatred against immigration? Do not mention prohibition [2]
The increasing population of cities was accompanied by social problems such as rising crime. The soaring crime rates in neighbourhoods with high concentrations of immigrants were used by journalists, reformers and politicians who favoured restricting immigration as proof of the bad influence of immigrants on their environment. Out of the 17,328 persons arrested in New York in 1858 14,638 were foreigners, 10,477 of these were Irish. In 1910s and 1920s, Italian immigrants were thought to be connected to the Mafia, and high profile gangsters like Al Capone seemed to confirm this image.
Charity organisations and social workers were more realistic in acknowledging that terrible living conditions, sickness, fear and loneliness were the real causes of crime. Most of the immigrant arrests were for crimes of poverty such as drunkenness, vagrancy or petty theft. Social workers argued that the thief who stole small amounts of food, clothing or money was desperately attempting to cope with poverty and hopelessness, rather than responding to an innate criminality. The facts suggest that the criminality of foreign born in America was no larger than that of the native population. Yet the myth of immigrant criminality persisted. This shows America already had preconceived judgements about people of a certain nationality.
Explain how immigrants were linked to prohibition[3]
Many ‘native’ Americans despised the lifestyle of certain immigrant groups especially the Germans and Italians whose cultural traditions involved what seemed to be the large consumption of alcohol. This offended the rigid sensitivities of the native immigrants. As early as 1820s Puritans saw their Sabbaths ignored by drunken Irish navvies fighting, swearing and gambling in the slums of Boston and New York. They regarded the immigrants as lower class.
A growing temperance lobby pushed for a law prohibiting the sale and consumption of alcohol. In 1919 the Volstead Act prohibiting the sale and consumption of alcohol in the USA was passed. Prohibition ended after 12 years when it became apparent that it’s impact had led to a rise in organised crime, bloodshed and no real change in attitudes
Many of the communities that became involved with the illegal trade in alcohol – either through imports of bootlegged alcohol or through illegal brewing - were based in immigrant communities: Catholic-Irish in New Jersey, European Jewish immigrants in New York and Italians in Chicago. This provided work for many new or recent immigrants, but also set them firmly on a path of crime, which only added to the stereotypes held about immigrants.
