USA ( ESSAY 1) Flashcards
Background Information Us Essay 1
In the 19th Century, America was seen as ‘The Land of the Free’, and a place where all men were created equal through the eyes of the declaration of Independence.
Many people immigrated to the USA because of it’s raw materials and fertile land, promising a life full of prosperity
Fear or Revolution knowledge
Tsar Nicholas the 2nd and his family were killed in 1918, during the Russian Revolution, and in 1919 the Bolsheviks replaced the monarchy with the world’s 1st communist state.
Sacco & Vanzetti were 2 Italian american men and committed anarchists who , in 1920, were convicted on circumstancial evidence of the murder of two men carrying a payroll to the Slate and Morrill shoe factory.
Fear or Revolution Counter Knowledge
Sweep of 6,000 ‘ Communist activists’ led to the discovery of only 3 guns.
Fear of Revolution Analysis
A - America feared Radical movements Influencing Us politics, so to reduce the chance of a revolution similar to Russia, they limited immigration.
A + - Fear of revolution wasn’t a threat and the Government was Scared about nothing
E - Attorney General Mitchell Palmers had his house blown up by Anarchists, possibly targetting out of revenge rather than genuine fear.
Economic Fears knowledge
Unemployment peaked at 11.1% in 1921, Wartime Industries were no longer needed and returning soldiers fell into an unemployment trap.
Illiterate immigrants were willing to work in any industry in literally any conditions e.g. Sweatshops like tailoring/textile industries for 16 + hour days
Economic Fears Counter Knowledge
Many Immigrants found a job in Improvised trades such as shoemaking, bartending and masonry
Economic Fears Analysis
A - Immigrants used as strike-breakers, the employers benefitted from the low wages they worked for, Worker on strike came back and were forced to work for low wage or risk losing job, in order to maintain standard of living, immigration was limited
A + - Ignorance of Americans stopped them from going into higher paying jobs. Immigrants were skilled enough
Prejudice and racism knowledge
The 1917 Immigration Act was an Act which created a ‘Barred Zone’ which forbade Immigration from most of Asia & Imposed a literacy test
The 1921 Emergency Immigration Act restricted the number of Immigrants to 357,000 per year with only 3% of the total population of any foreign group currently in America in 1910 could come into the USA in 1921, severely affected minority groups.
Prejudice and racism counter knowledge
The 1913 Alien Land law forbade Japanese and other Asian Immigrants from owning farmland in California , 11 other States quickly followed suit. Proved prejudice and racism already around before the 1920’s
Prejudice and Racism Analysis
A - Immigration Laws introduced impacted people other than WASPs, limited immigration to maintain religious and racial 'purity' A + - Location of which the immigrant is immigrating from e.g. around 1920 Russian immigrants would have had a bad welcoming due to the 1919 Russian revolution. E - 1924 National origins act lowered the annual limit of immigrants from each country to 2 percent of the current population from that country living in america in 1890, fear of being condemned to poverty made many working class people hostile towards immigrants.
