Nativism Resurges

Economic concerns and religious and ethnic prejudices led some Americans to push for laws restricting immigration.

• Eventually, the wave of immigration led to increased feelings of nativism on the part of many Americans.

• Nativists opposed immigration for many reasons:

Nativism Resurges (cont.)

− fear that the influx of Catholics would swamp the mostly Protestant United States

− Labor unions argued that immigrants undermined American workers because they would work for low wages and accept jobs as strikebreakers.

• Increased feelings of nativism led to the founding of anti-immigrant organizations such as the American Protective Association.

• Enacted in 1882, a new federal law banned convicts, paupers, and the mentally disabled from immigrating to the U.S.

Nativism Resurges (cont.)

• In the West, Denis Kearney organized the Workingman’s Party of California in the 1870s to fight Chinese immigration.

Nativism Resurges (cont.)

− In 1882, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act.

− The law was not repealed until 1943.

• On October 11, 1906, the San Francisco Board of Education ordered all Asian children to attend a racially segregated school.

Nativism Resurges (cont.)

− Japan took great offense at the treatment of its people.

− In response, Theodore Roosevelt proposed a deal known as the “Gentleman’s Agreement”—he would limit Japanese immigration if the school board would end segregation.

• Although Presidents Taft and Wilson both vetoed legislation to require literacy from immigrants, the legislation eventually passed in 1917.

Nativism Resurges (cont.)

A. A

B. B

C. C

D. D A B C D

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The American Protective Association vowed not to hire or vote for which type of immigrant?

A. German

B. Asian

C. Irish

D. Polish