Chelsea Hansen
Professor Dan Johnson
HIST 175-97039
12 May 2017
Immigration Restriction: Challenged by Opposing Views
In the early 1900s, an increase in immigration sparked a debate over whether or not the United States should implement immigration restrictions. There were arguments saying that immigrants were, illiterate, less educated, and were the cause of the rising crime rate. People believed that immigrants lowered the standards of living and were creating an inferior race. Many Americans felt that immigrants were raising unemployment rates and taking American jobs for lower wages. All of these beliefs were countered by the better arguments of those against immigration restriction.
Prescott F. Hall and many Americans in favor of limiting
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The number of juveniles among the population of children of immigrants was considerably higher than the number of juveniles of children of native-born Americans. If citizens were in favor of immigration restriction, they would stop looking there for a valid argument. The reason that the argument against immigration restriction prevails in this situation is because they dive deeper to find out why there were more juveniles among the immigrant born population. It was discovered that the children born to immigrants seemed more juvenile than native-born children was due to the fact that they largely populated the cities, not the rural areas. Crime during this period and even today were far more prevalent in the city than in the suburbs. Those that believed the crime was a reason to reduce the flow of immigrants, also believed education to be a factor. Hall states that "foreign whites are almost three times illiterate as native whites." Although this may have been true, the argument was countered by the fact that children of …show more content…
Citizens in favor of immigration restriction talked about only letting immigrants into the country that would provide a "real benefit to the country," saying that if the United States continued to let in immigrants they believe to be second-class, they would ruin the lives of American citizens. If this is the case, Americans must have forgotten the thousands of immigrants that had bettered American lives, to include, Jacob A. Riis, Nikola Tesla, and Frank Morrison. If the U.S. were to put a limit on the type of person they let in the country, which is what most of the people in favor of immigration restriction were asking for, the U.S. would be completely disregarding the constitution. If all men are created equal, they should be given equal rights and equal opportunities. If immigration is restricted based on wealth, you lose people such as Andrew Carnegie. If it is constrained by religion, people such as Samuel Gompers never make it to the country to change the face of organized labor. As many people against restriction argue, if you screen the type of person you allow into the country, you only get the people who are born great, which is few in
During the 1900’s, it was common for people to immigrate to America. They saw it as a land of freedom and opportunity. Some thought that this was a great way for the US’ economy to boom, but some thought otherwise. With the shortage of jobs, many believed that the immigrants were stealing their precious jobs. Because of the competition over jobs, immigrants became the new public enemy to many.
Immediately following the turn of the century, immigration into the United States began to increase, which led to the creation of many laws restricting the individuals who could be permitted into the country. “The Immigration Act of 1917 was a law passed by Congress on February 5, 1917 that restricted the immigration of 'undesirables’ and required eight-dollar entrance fee and a literacy test for those under the age of sixteen” (Tucker 1). This act created limitations on who would be permitted to enter the United States, making it more difficult for individuals to come start new lives. “Those who were uneducated, poor, or disabled were discriminated against, for the sake of keeping America “pure”. The Immigration Act of 1917 also excluded immigrants from many Asian countries (the “Asiatic Barred Zone”), and was followed by the Immigration Act of 1924, which added Japan to the zone, and limited the number of immigrants permitted in a given year to 2% of the number of residents from that same country residing in the United States” (“Milestones: 1921-1936” 2; Marcus 1). Those within the Asiatic Barred Zone were not permitted to immigrate into the United States, while those in other countries faced quota limitations that restricted the number of persons who could immigrate each year. This two percent quota caused a great decrease in ...
The Untied States of America is commonly labeled or thought of as the melting pot of the world where diverse groups of people flock to in order to better their current lives. In our countries history this has proven to primarily be our way of living and how the people as a nation view immigration. However, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries this open door mentality was quite the opposite to what the majority of people felt towards the idea of welcoming these huddled masses. Immigrants were not seen as equals or people willing to work hard for a better life but rather a diseased parasite that would suck the prosperous and prestigious life that the old immigrants had become accustomed to. American nativist groups during this time period acted in a hypercritical manner with the impression that open immigration would, in the end cause our country to be overtaken and overrun by a far less superior race.
As more and more people traveled from Europe and Asia to America, anti-immigrant hate grew as well. The United States was in the middle of an economic depression, and immigrants were blamed for taking jobs away from the Americans. Racist articles were springing up in the press, making these theories that the immigrants were childish and criminal more and more popular (Wikepedia.com, 2007).
Nowadays, United States is the country that has variety of cultures, races, etc. mixing together by having immigrants in their countries. However, they need to control these group of people also. More people out of country are trying to stay in the U.S. However, this is not an easy process to deal with. There is an immigrant policy that they have to go through. In the past, United States is wide open for people to settle down on this land. There is no process of immigrants. However, in the middle of 1840 to 1880, immigrants started to come in the U.S. such as Irish and Chinese because of demanding of unskilled and cheap labors. In the 1920, automation replaced unskilled labors as a result immigrant’s policy is limited quotas for immigrants
Immigration has always been a major part of America. In fact, without immigration the creation of America would not have been possible. The majority of immigrants came to America for religious freedom and economic opportunities. However, for the most part before the 1870’s most immigrants were Protestants from northern and western Europe. These immigrants often migrated to the United States as families and usually lived on farms with family or friends who had already migrated beforehand. A lot of immigrants came to America with a plan or goal in mind. They often had saved up money for the long immigration overseas, were skilled in a certain trade, or had already been educated at a high level. Sadly, this would not last. Immigration became so prominent in America between 1870 and 1900 that the foreign-born population of the United States had almost doubled. A lot of German and Irish Catholics had immigrated in the 1840’s and 1850’s, and more decided to immigrate after the Civil War. A portion of Americans were biased against Catholics. Thankfully, the Irish spoke English and the German Catholics reputation was improved because of their Protestant countrymen’s good reputation. However, their children often lacked any skill or education, but they were able to blend in quite well with the American society. More and more immigrants would migrate to the United States without any skill or education and on top of that they were usually poor. These immigrants were called “new” immigrants and they came from all over the world including Italy, Greece, Poland, Hungary, and Russia. However, you cannot blame immigrants for migrating to America. Many immigrants faced religious persecution in their home countries which pushed them away, otherwi...
Immigration has been a key factor of the success of the United States from the start. More specifically, without the influence of immigrants our country would not be the place that it is today. There is, however, great controversy surrounding the idea that immigration, whether legal or illegal, should be accepted or denied. Since the beginning of time, immigration has played a large role in the history of the United States. Immigration to the U.S. has been a popular desire since before the world wars (Archiv 141). The desire continues even today. One of America's most influencial leaders, George Washington, said:
During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, many American nativist groups opposed free unrestricted immigration. Although racism is a main reason, there were many others. Economic, political, social and moral standards seemed to be threatened by these newcomers. The immigrants were unfamiliar of the language and customs that we take for granted in our everyday lives. The fear that gripped the nation was why people reacted so strongly against immigrants. The people feared change might distort the course of our prospering country. We did not want to become what those immigrants were fleeing.
It was unjustified for congress of the United States to pass the Immigration Act of 1924 to limit the immigration in 1920s. During 1917, congress of United States passed a law that every immigrants whoever want to entry into United States Also people should be accepting to the immigrants because the United States was a place that thirteen colonies overthrew the British government and created United States. All Americans are immigrants because no American is native to United States. People all came here from other places. People should not have discrimination to any immigrants.
Throughout the past centuries, immigration has had many positive and negative impacts on our country and society. Law and order have been the founding cornerstone of our democracy, and the mandate of the U.S. Constitution is for Congress to do the work of the people and that of the nation. Immigration has continuously been a passionate debate within our society. This particular topic will always be a sensitive subject due to Americans personal beliefs and morals. Some citizens believe that illegal immigrants should not be able to work in the United States for any reason, while others believe illegal immigrants are helpful to our economy.
In the early 1900’s United States many people argued for immigration restriction to improve their
When the native work force went on strike many workers feared that many immigrants would displace them in the workplace. Another concern was that immigrants were hard to "Americanize." These people came to American with their own culture, traditions, and language; many of them didn’t even know English. Many nativists resented immigrants because they permeated the city and made it unsafe and dirty. Their slums were breeding grounds for disease and violence. Nativists regarded immigrants as an inferior class of people. One of the theories to support this dispute was eugenics. Eugenics is the study of human heredity, aimed at "improving" the genetic quality of the human stock. The eugenics movement was an effort to grade races and ethnic groups according to their genetic qualities. Eugenicists claimed that immigrants were inferior to Anglo-Saxons and were polluting the "pure" American bloodstream. The sheer number of immigrants entering the country also scared many people. A. P...
As we enter a new era, immigrants will have more impact on society than ever before (Feldmeyer, 2009). There can be numerous reasons to believe immigrants are more prone to commit crimes, for example, they have to learn to adapt to the cultural traits and social patterns of the harboring country, as natives do not (Desmond & Kubrin, 2009). However, despite such claims, empirical studies have revealed that immigrants are understated in criminal statistics. Throughout the years, many texts and scholarly articles have been published further analyzing and proving that immigrants are less prone to committing crimes than their native peers. Furthermore, researchers examine the reason as to why immigrants are weighed as a whole, even though ethnic groups among immigrants have different rates of crime.
Today, in most cases, people don’t spend very much time thinking about why the society we live in presently, is the way it is. Most people would actually be surprised about all that has happened throughout America’s history. Many factors have influenced America and it’s society today, but one of the most profound ways was the way the “Old Immigrants” and “New Immigrants” came to America in the early to mid 1800s. The “Old Immigrants were categorized as the ones who came before 1860 and the “New Immigrants” being the ones who came between 1865 and 1920. The immigrants came to the United States, not only seeking freedom, but also education. Many immigrants also wanted to practice their religion without hindrance. What happened after the immigrants
Immigration poses an ongoing debate in which people are becoming increasingly unsure as to whether immigrants are benefiting their society. This paper will examine three of the main benefits of immigration: the increase in diversity it provides, the rise in skills and labor and the benefits to the economy. Immigration leads to cross-cultural integration, therefore increasing ethnic variety. This increase in diversity is beneficial as it leads to improvements in society, as well as educational development. Increased immigration also means there are more skills and experts available to the hosting countries, as well as extra workers to take up jobs that need filling. Immigration also leads to improvements in the economy as taxes are paid and employment and wages increase.