Immigration To The USA Flashcards
By 1919 how many immigrants had arrived in the USA?
40 million
As a result, there was a mixture of different …
4
Races, cultures, religions, languages
What was created in the nineteenth century and why?
Open door policy in order to make entering the country as easy as possible
Who were the first European immigrants to arrive in the USA, from where, and what did they have when they arrived?
WASPS - White Angelo Saxon Protestants
North and West Europe - Britain, Germany, Scandinavia
Had the best jobs, most money and political power
List the 6 factors why people wanted to move to the USA + including two relating to Russia - why?
- 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
How did most immigrants arrive? Where did most land and how many (%) arrived there?
Ellis Island, New York
70%
During the busiest times, how many went through the immigration management process and what did this process consist of & how long?
5000persons a day
Medical and legal examinations
3-5 hours
As the number of immigrants rose, what did the Americans start to do?
Doubt the open door policy
Traditionally, where did the immigrants tend to come from?
North and west Europe
Britain Ireland Germany
Between 1900-14, how many immigrants arrived and mainly from where?
13 million south and east Europe Italy Austria Hungary Russia Poland Greece
Where did the immigrants move to and what was happening in result to this?
To cities where they’d live with people from their own country of origin
Ghettos developed
Intolerance began to grow why?
What did the Americans feel?
What were the new immigrants accused of?
The ‘new’ immigrants would take jobs and work for low wages
Responsible for increases in crime, drunkenness and prostitution
When the USA began involved in WW1, what happened? And what did the involvement result in?
German immigrants increased
Many Americans feared future involvement in European affairs
They wanted to restrict immigration
What was the ideal citizen for many Americans on 1920s?
WASP
Why didn’t Americans like Asians and how what were most of the r cent European immigrants?
What did this result in?
Asians weren’t white
Many recent were Catholics, Greek Orthodox or Jewish (aka not WASPS)
Racial tension began to grow
What did Americans fear?
That immigrant would bring with them dangerous political beliefs, especially communism
List four reasons why people began to resent the new incomers
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
Immigration was restricted by a series of measures. Name the 4
Literacy Test - 1917
Emergency Quota Act 1921
National Origin Act 1924
Immigration Act 1929
What was the Literacy test and when was it introduced? And how did this restrict immigration?
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
What was the Emergency quota act and what did it do?
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
National origin act, when was it made and what did it consist of?
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
Immigration act, when was it introduced and what did it do?
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
What was the act of restricting immigrants called and what changed?
Limitation to entry
Open door policy became the closed door policy
What was the red scare?
When did it occur?
The red scare was an almost hysterical reaction from many us citizens to developments in Europe in 1917-1919, especially the fear of communism
What happened to Russia and when? What group led to the establishment?
In 1917, the Bolshevik Revolution led to the establishment of a communist government.
What happened in Germany in January 1919?
A group of communists attempted to seize power
What did Americans think the immigrants brought?
That revolutionary ideas were brought by them
Especially from Eastern Europe
What did Americans tend to see any political ideas, especially radicalism and anarchism as?
Branches of communism
What were the people who believed in communism classified as?
Reds, communists
A communist party was formed in the USA, when? What did it result in?
1919
Americans feared that there would be a revolution in their own county
Why was the fear of communism greater in 1919-1920?
3,600 strikes were organised in 1919
They were protests against poor working conditions and low wages
What were strikes represented as?
Anti-American activities
What happened in September 1920?
A bomb exploded in Wall Street killing 38 people
What did Wall Street represent?
USA’s money
The ideology for capitalism
What happened in May 1919?
What did this make Americans think?
36 letter bombs were sent to famous Americans
Americans were afraid that the USA was in danger due to such actions
What was the Palmer Raids?
An overreaction to a largely imaginary threat
Outside who’s house did a bomb explode? What was he?
The Attorney General’s house
The boss of the FBI, the police and the courts in the USA
Head of the justice system
Who did the Attorney General blame for this event? What did he do to act upon this and when?
The communists
New Years Day 1920, he organised a series of raids against left-wing groups
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?
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
What proved that most immigrants were peaceful?
During the raids, only three pistols were found and there was no sign of any explosive devices
What was The Sacco and Vanzetti case and what did it show?
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
