Context to immigration in America Flashcards
Before 1920, the US operated which kind of policy regarding immigration?
An ‘open-door’ policy
How many acts were passed before 1920 and who did they target?
3 and they targeted disabled people and Chinese people
How did Americans typically feel about immigrants?
Accepting of immigrants which was reflected by the poem based on the Statue of Liberty (The New Colossus)
How many immigrants arrived in America during the 19th century annually?
170,000
What did immigration rise to by 1901 compared to 1882?
1882 = 650,000 / 1901 = 1.2 million
Where did most immigrants come from at the start of the 20th century?
Southern and Eastern Europe
What percentage of immigrants were from Southern and Eastern Europe in 1901 compared to 1882
1882 = 13% / 1901 = 82%
Where did most immigrants live in America and why?
Cities due to industrialisation
What was the purpose of the Dillingham Commission?
Investigate the impact of immigration on America from 1907
When was the Dillingham Commission’s report published?
1911
What did the report state?
Immigration posed a serious threat to American society and culture
How did it view ‘new’ immigrants from southern and eastern Europe?
Saw them as racially inferior and not adapting
What did the Dillingham Commission lead to?
The Emergency Quota Act of 1921
What belief led to legislation to control immigration?
Isolationism and it allowed less contact with the rest of the world and was something the government could control easily
