Immigration To The USA

Question 1

By 1919 how many immigrants had arrived in the USA?

Answer 1

40 million

Question 2

As a result, there was a mixture of different …

4

Answer 2

Races, cultures, religions, languages

Question 3

What was created in the nineteenth century and why?

Answer 3

Open door policy in order to make entering the country as easy as possible

Question 4

Who were the first European immigrants to arrive in the USA, from where, and what did they have when they arrived?

Answer 4

WASPS - White Angelo Saxon Protestants
North and West Europe - Britain, Germany, Scandinavia
Had the best jobs, most money and political power

Question 5

List the 6 factors why people wanted to move to the USA + including two relating to Russia - why?

Answer 5

• to escape poverty in their own country
• wishing to escape political and economic persecution (Russia became a communist country in 1917)
• A promise of religious tolerance
• Attraction of plenty of land
• Hope of creating a better life
• Sense of adventure

Question 6

How did most immigrants arrive? Where did most land and how many (%) arrived there?

Answer 6

Ellis Island, New York

70%

Question 7

During the busiest times, how many went through the immigration management process and what did this process consist of & how long?

Answer 7

5000persons a day
Medical and legal examinations
3-5 hours

Question 8

As the number of immigrants rose, what did the Americans start to do?

Answer 8

Doubt the open door policy

Question 9

Traditionally, where did the immigrants tend to come from?

Answer 9

North and west Europe

Britain Ireland Germany

Question 10

Between 1900-14, how many immigrants arrived and mainly from where?

Answer 10

13 million
south and east Europe
Italy
Austria Hungary 
Russia
Poland
Greece

Question 11

Where did the immigrants move to and what was happening in result to this?

Answer 11

To cities where they’d live with people from their own country of origin
Ghettos developed

Question 12

Intolerance began to grow why?
What did the Americans feel?
What were the new immigrants accused of?

Answer 12

The ‘new’ immigrants would take jobs and work for low wages

Responsible for increases in crime, drunkenness and prostitution

Question 13

When the USA began involved in WW1, what happened? And what did the involvement result in?

Answer 13

German immigrants increased
Many Americans feared future involvement in European affairs
They wanted to restrict immigration

Question 14

What was the ideal citizen for many Americans on 1920s?

Answer 14

WASP

Question 15

Why didn’t Americans like Asians and how what were most of the r cent European immigrants?
What did this result in?

Answer 15

Asians weren’t white
Many recent were Catholics, Greek Orthodox or Jewish (aka not WASPS)
Racial tension began to grow

Question 16

What did Americans fear?

Answer 16

That immigrant would bring with them dangerous political beliefs, especially communism

Question 17

List four reasons why people began to resent the new incomers

Answer 17

They were often poor
Many couldn’t speak English
Many were catholics or Jews
The trauma of the First World War and a fear of communism during the red scare of 1919 scared Americans

Question 18

Immigration was restricted by a series of measures. Name the 4

Answer 18

Literacy Test - 1917
Emergency Quota Act 1921
National Origin Act 1924
Immigration Act 1929

Question 19

What was the Literacy test and when was it introduced? And how did this restrict immigration?

Answer 19

Immigrants had to succeed in a series of reading and writing tests
Those for Eastern Europe were poorer, and weren’t educated and therefore failed the test and refused entry
All immigration was banned from Asia
Immigration fee of $8

Question 20

What was the Emergency quota act and what did it do?

Answer 20

Fixed a maximum of 357,000 immigrants a year
only 3% of the total population of any foreign group were in the USA
Designed to restrict people coming in from poor countries

Question 21

National origin act, when was it made and what did it consist of?

Answer 21

The quota was reduced to 2% of the 1890 census

Allows people from the Western Europe to enter the USA but not the Eastern Europe

Question 22

Immigration act, when was it introduced and what did it do?

Answer 22

Restricted immigration to 150,000 per year
No Asians at all
Northern and Western Europeans were allocated to 85% of places
By 1930, immigration from japan, China and Eastern Europe has basically stopped

Question 23

What was the act of restricting immigrants called and what changed?

Answer 23

Limitation to entry

Open door policy became the closed door policy

Question 24

What was the red scare?

When did it occur?

Answer 24

The red scare was an almost hysterical reaction from many us citizens to developments in Europe in 1917-1919, especially the fear of communism

Question 25

What happened to Russia and when? What group led to the establishment?

Answer 25

In 1917, the Bolshevik Revolution led to the establishment of a communist government.

Question 26

What happened in Germany in January 1919?

Answer 26

A group of communists attempted to seize power

Question 27

What did Americans think the immigrants brought?

Answer 27

That revolutionary ideas were brought by them

Especially from Eastern Europe

Question 28

What did Americans tend to see any political ideas, especially radicalism and anarchism as?

Answer 28

Branches of communism

Question 29

What were the people who believed in communism classified as?

Answer 29

Reds, communists

Question 30

A communist party was formed in the USA, when? What did it result in?

Answer 30

1919

Americans feared that there would be a revolution in their own county

Question 31

Why was the fear of communism greater in 1919-1920?

Answer 31

3,600 strikes were organised in 1919

They were protests against poor working conditions and low wages

Question 32

What were strikes represented as?

Answer 32

Anti-American activities

Question 33

What happened in September 1920?

Answer 33

A bomb exploded in Wall Street killing 38 people

Question 34

What did Wall Street represent?

Answer 34

USA’s money

The ideology for capitalism

Question 35

What happened in May 1919?

What did this make Americans think?

Answer 35

36 letter bombs were sent to famous Americans

Americans were afraid that the USA was in danger due to such actions

Question 36

What was the Palmer Raids?

Answer 36

An overreaction to a largely imaginary threat

Question 37

Outside who’s house did a bomb explode? What was he?

Answer 37

The Attorney General’s house
The boss of the FBI, the police and the courts in the USA
Head of the justice system

Question 38

Who did the Attorney General blame for this event? What did he do to act upon this and when?

Answer 38

The communists

New Years Day 1920, he organised a series of raids against left-wing groups

Question 39

What was the result of the raids on New Year’s Day 1920?
Who were the majority?
How many people were deported?
What were most of those deported?

Answer 39

6000 people were arrested and put in prison
The majority were immigrants
Around 600 immigrants were sent back to where they came from (deported)
Most were Jews, catholics, trade unionists and black people

Question 40

What proved that most immigrants were peaceful?

Answer 40

During the raids, only three pistols were found and there was no sign of any explosive devices

Question 41

What was The Sacco and Vanzetti case and what did it show?

Answer 41

Nicola Sacco and Bartolommeo Vanzetti were arrested and accused of stealing from a shoe factory where two people died.
They were italian immigrants.
61 witness said they were seen doing it, 107 said they were elsewhere
It was said to have shown the intolerance of American society. Victims of racial discrimination&denied rights
Unfairness of the legal system - convicted on small evidence