Changing Attitudes Towards Immigration

• The National Origins Act 1924 was important in changing attitudes towards immigration in the 1920’s because the Act could not have been passed as smoothly as it was without support from the general public. It demonstrates the hostility that some Americans felt towards people who had even slight culture differences to them, despite the fact that they were still majorily white.
• Speaking about the National Origins Act, Susan-Mary Grant is quoted saying, “From an asylum for the oppressed, America, with this single act, transformed itself into a glorified gated community”
• Restrictions on non-European immigrants were more unforgiving. For example, Eastern Asians were targeted, such as in the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act which forbade Chinese immigrants from entering the state of California, which was a cleverly disguised attempt at preventing immigration from happening at all, as most boats from Eastern Asia ported at Californian docks.
• The 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act is important as it showcases that anti-immigration sentiments already existed before the war, and that racism was the main concept behind it. The further away an immigrant was from being the 'ideal' American (WASPs), the more restrictions they faced when attempting to immigrate.
• The Russian Revolution led to a change in attitudes towards immigrants because it meant that Americans became wary of any immigrants from Eastern Europe because they believed that they had Communist ideals and wanted to replicate the Russian Revolution in America.
• However, the number of Communists in America was actually very small, around 0.01%. This shows that the Communist threat was greatly exaggerated and many in America realised this.
• To give an example of this type of prejudice in action, we look at the case of Sacco and Vanzetti being sentenced to death over a crime they couldn’t have committed, as they weren’t in the area at the time. The two Italian immigrants were arrested for allegedly murdering multiple people in an armed robbery, and were presumed to be guilty by the Jury for the simple fact that they were suspected to be Anarchists.
• The Sacco and Vanzetti case shows that attitudes were changing towards immigration because, if these two immigrants had been WASPs, they would never have been accused of committing the crime. They were targeted due to their presumed political beliefs, which would have been less likely to happen pre-Russian Revolution.
• Across the 1920's, the demographic of people migrating to the U.S.A. changed durastically. The ‘new wave’ of immigrants were mostly from places in Southern/Eastern Europe who did not follow Protestant practices and spoke little English, which was further worsened by the fact that it was spoken with a heavy accent.
• The 'new wave' of immigrants changed attitudes towards immigration because the WASPs were intimidated by the sheer size and diversity shown within the new wave. They were unable to accept that change was occuring and instead showed hosility to those introducing new cultures/ideas.
• To show an example of growing hosility to the new wave, in the book ‘The Passing Of The Great Race’ by Madison Grant, he wrote: “The old stock is being crowded out of many districts of foreigners… they steal his name and they are beginning to steal his women, but seldom adopt his religion or understand his ideals.”
• Some of the American people were so desperate to find a ‘valid’ reason for their resentment of immigrants that they turned to producing, consuming and sharing content about pseudo-scientific racism. The authors of said content were often white men who had little knowledge of any science or public affairs, yet claimed to be ‘race experts’, despite their work containing no scientific evidence.
• Pseudo-scientific racism changed attitudes towards immigration because it supplied ‘evidence’ that racism was ‘scientifically accurate’ and succeeded in changing some Americans’ opinions on the topic of immigration, therefore directly contributing to the rise of hosility towards immigrants
• What are the factors in this essay?

  Isolationism

  Fear of revolution

  Prejudice and racism
• Prejudice and racism was more important than isolationism because isolationism as a whole is rooted in prejudice against people from foreign countries, and if prejudice had not been common and widespread, a lot of backlash would've arisen from these policies being passed.
• Prejudice and racism was more important than fear of revolution because the hosility was based on the assumption that all Eastern Europeans were violent Communist, something which was obviously a nonsensical prejudiced view.