Restricting entry

• During 1907, 1.25 million people were processed on Ellis Island
• Traditionally, immigrants had tended to come from northern and western europe-WASPS (white anglo saxon protestants)
• Between 1900 and 1914, 13 million arrived, mainly from southern and eastern europe
• People started feeling angry towards these 'new' immigrants because:

  • They were often poor
  • many were illiterate and could not speak english
  • many were roman catholics or jews, therefore from a different cultural and religious background
• the fear of communism spread following the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 and the trauma of ww1, worried many Americans and contributed to the red scare in 1919
• US congress passed laws to restrict immigrants and each law was more severe than the previous one