Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Lindsey Stobaugh
Department of History
HIS 305
June 20, 2016
Immigration has been a discussion in American politics ever since the countrys inception
in 1776. In the early years of American society, immigrants were welcomed and were allowed to
establish themselves within that society.1 Over time, however, a restrictionist ideology began to
emerge among Americans and they began to place barriers on immigrants wishing to enter the
country. There were many different economic, social, and political reasons as to why the United
immigrate, to America from all over the world from Asian, European, and Latin American
countries. These immigrants experiences in attempting to enter the Unites States and upon
arrival varied greatly, and perhaps the groups that were most readily accepted by the American
people were those from Northern and Western Europe. In contrast, the groups that were the least
accepted by Americans were those from Asian countries, especially China. Other groups, like
Mexicans, were accepted as a labor force from large corporations but were rejected from entering
any other portion of American society. While America was claiming to be the greatest country in
the world, they were restricting access of people who wished to experience that greatness.
Restriction in America was not a phenomenon that came about over night. Many attributes
contributed to this rising ideology in American society, and these attributes continued to change
and evolve over time. The American people gravitated toward a more restrictionist mentality
regarding immigration as they entered the twentieth century, and their justifications came from
social, political, and economic influences. The group of people to face the earliest of these
restrictionist attitudes were those of Asian descent, specifically Chinese. Mae Ngai argues that
the main reason Americans wanted to restrict Chinese immigration was due to anxieties about
these immigrants getting in the way of Americans who were attempting to establish themselves
1 Reed Ueda The Legacy of Restriction, Postwar Immigrant America: A Social History (1994): 18.
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in the Western frontier.2 While this is an accurate argument, another possible reason might be that
these white American men were afraid of Chinese immigrants surpassing them within the
industrial expansion that was taking place at the time. Reed Ueda makes a similar argument to
Ngai, but he also argues that exclusion was a xenophobic reaction of the American people who
did not believe Chinese immigrants could assimilate to the American way of life.3 While Ngai
looks at immigration from a nationalist point of view, Ueda pulls in many different reasons for
restriction in his argument, such as the nativist ideologies of Americans at the time. However,
both perspectives are necessary to a full understanding of why Americans decided to exclude an
As a result of these restrictionist ideologies, the Chinese Exclusion Act was implemented
by congress in 1882, and it attempted to exclude all Chinese laborers from entering the United
States. After this act, the Gentlemens Agreement was passed in 1907, which limited Japanese
and Korean immigration as well. Asian exclusion went further in 1917 with the Immigration Act
in which congress created an Asiatic Barred Zone, which encompassed much of the South East,
including Afghanistan, India, Arabia, and sections of East Asia.4 Subsequently, another
Immigration Act was passed in 1924, which declared that no person of Asian decent could gain
American citizenship.5 This meant that those Asian immigrants who had managed to enter the
United States would never receive citizenship, and would never be able to participate fully in
American society. One important difference in Ngais and Uedas arguments as to why
2 Mae. N. Ngai Nationalism and Immigration in the 1920s, Major Problems in American Hisory 1920-1945:
Documents and Essays (2011), 161.
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Americans began to become so restrictive toward immigrants, especially Asians, is the inclusion
of the effects that World War I had on the mentality of the American people. Ngai argues that the
surge in nationalism in the United States during and after World War I, succeeded by the Red
Scare in 1919-1920, had a large impact on the way Americans viewed the outside world.6 In
contrast, Ueda presents restrictionist ideology as one that was based predominantly on racial
superiority of white Americans. He often calls restrictionists, xenophobic and racist, and
while these were no doubt significant contributors for shaping their ideology, one cannot dismiss
the impact that the international events of the early twentieth century had on Americans beliefs.7
While people of Asian decent may have been the first to be restricted from immigrating
to the United States, they were most definitely not the only group. In 1907 the U.S. Immigration
Commission was created, which declared that New Immigrants from Southern and Eastern
European decent were highly unassimilable, and Americans saw them as the source of
degeneration within American society.8 Due to this claim by the Commission, it was established
in the Immigration Act of 1917 that immigrants to the United States would be required to pass a
literacy test. This was enacted in hopes to prevent the entry of people of Southern and Eastern
European decent.9 Subsequently, in 1924 with the passage of the Johnson-Reed Act, only
155,000 immigrants were allowed to enter the country and the quotas were dispersed in a way
as to mirror the national origins of the existing American population.10 This statement is
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reflective of the ideology of the American people, as they only wanted individuals that would
maintain a homogeneous population within their country. Mae Ngai argues that these barriers
restriction reached its peak at the same time eugenics became a large-scale ideology and practice
among Americans. Many Americans wanted to oust those individuals who they deemed to have
undesirable traits and who they believed were the source of degeneration from the country, and
Perhaps the organization that was the most fervent in supporting Southern and Eastern
European immigration restriction was the Ku Klux Klan. According to Nancy MacLean, while
the Klan supported restriction of immigration on a racial basis, their support had in large part to
do with immigrants influences in business and economics. The Ku Klux Klan, made up mostly
of white middle-class individuals, feared that Jews and Catholics from Southern and Eastern
European countries like Italy and Greece were going to overtake American markets. The Klan
believed this would result in socialism or communism, and threaten the autonomy of the
American people.12 It is evident that the foreign affairs of the United States had a direct impact
on the Ku Klux Klan and their ideology. They had seen Russia go through a Communist
revolution, and they believed that if Jewish and Catholic immigrants continued to enter America
and take over the business sector, the same thing might happen to their own country. MacLean
includes a quote from the Klans Imperial Wizard Simmons stating that the success of early
American democracy was attributable to the homogenous interests of the small property-holders
11 Mae. N. Ngai Nationalism and Immigration in the 1920s, 164.
12 Nancy MacLean The Class Anxieties of the Ku Klux Klan, Major Problems in American History 1920-1945:
Documents and Essays (2011), 166.
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and skilled workers who made up the citizenry.13 One can see in this statement a clear
connection to the overpowering nativist tone of American society during this time in history. The
belief that America should be controlled by American citizens, and that no immigrant should
hold an influential position in American society. A connection can be seen between the Klans
reasons for excluding Eastern and Southern European immigrants, and of early American
settlers reasons for excluding Asians. Americans wanted to ensure that they stay on top, in both
In contrast to the experiences of Asians and Southern and Eastern Europeans attempting
to enter the United States, immigrants from Northern and Western Europe had a much better
chance of entering successfully. According to Mae Ngai, the quotas of the Johnson-Reed Act in
1924 established far greater quotas for immigrants coming from Northern and Western European
countries like Great Britain, Ireland, and Germany.14 This can be seen in both the Quota Acts as
200,000 out of a total of 355,000 visas were given to Northern and Western Europeans under the
First Quota Act, and 141,000 out of 165,000 under the Second Quota Act.15 According to Reed
Ueda, the reason for this was to maintain the historic ethnic character of the nation.16 This is
another example of the eugenics and nativist ideologies that swept the American nation during
the 1920s. Americans believed individuals from Northern and Western European were more
similar to them in terms of race, ideology, and experience. Unlike other Europeans, they had not
been influenced greatly by Communism, and their skin tones were closer to those of white
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Americans. Thus, Americans believed they were assimilable to the American culture, unlike
Immigrants were not only coming to the United States from the Eastern Hemisphere, but
they were attempting to enter from the Western Hemisphere as well, especially from Mexico.
Mexicans had a different experience than immigrants from Europe and Asia at first, however a
restrictionist attitude began to evolve around them as well later in the twentieth century. In fact,
the Johnson-Reed Act, which established quotas for European and Asian immigrants in 1924,
declared there would be no quotas for Western Hemisphere immigrants.17 David Montejano
argues the main reason for this was that Mexicans provided cheap labor for agricultural
growers.18 This did not mean that Mexican immigrants were accepted into American society,
though. Smaller farmers and those who worked in Urban areas saw Mexicans, like Southern and
Eastern Europeans and Asians, to be un-American and promoted restrictions upon their entering
While Mexican immigrants may have not faced restrictions, the Immigration Act of 1924
required a passport, visa, head tax, and inspection at an official port of entry for Mexicans.
Many Mexicans could not afford the cost of these requirements, however, and they entered the
country illegally and deportations began to increase.19 In addition to this, Mexicans were also
barred from obtaining work beyond that of agriculture, as, according to David Montejano,
Agribusinessmen, after all, only wanted laborers, not neighbors or fellow citizens.20 Those who
17 Mae. N. Ngai Nationalism and Immigration in the 1920s, 163.
18 David Montejano The Mexican Problem, Major Problems in American History 1920-1945:
Documents and Essays (2011), 173.
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feared Mexican immigrants were not afraid of them spreading communist ideals like European
and Asian immigrants, but were more hesitant of another inferior race entering the United States.
David Montejano states Eugenicists pointed out with alarm that Mexicans were not only
intellectually inferiorthey were also quite fecund.21 It is evident that the discussions about
Mexican Immigration restriction came about and were influenced by eugenics and nativist ideals.
These people did not want Mexicans, just like they did not want Europeans and Asians,
It is evident that immigration has been one of the most debated topics in American
history. While the United States claimed to be welcoming of outsiders when it was established,
the country quickly evolved to a very different stance on immigration. A country that was
founded on the idea of the melting pot ended up abandoning that idea due to the fear of outsiders,
combined with the spread of nativist and eugenics ideals. Reed Ueda argues, immigration
restriction was neither inevitable nor irresistible.22 However, America was created on the basic
belief of White European supremacy, and that, combined with the melting pot ideology, was a
recipe for the evolution of immigration restriction. Aside from this, Reed Uedas article, The
Legacy of Restriction looks at many different immigrant groups and discusses the specific acts
that restricted them from arriving in the United States. While he provides many helpful facts
about restriction, he also challenges these restrictive acts and looks at the various loopholes that
immigrants were able to squeeze through to enter the country. Each of the articles discussed
looks at immigration and the reasons for restriction from a different perspective, and each of
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those perspectives are necessary to gaining a complete understanding of why and how these
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Bibliography
MacLean, Nancy. The Class Anxieties of the Ku Klux Klan. Major Problems in American
History 1920-1945: Documents and Essays (2011):166-173.
Montejano, David. The Mexican Problem. Major Problems in American History 1920-1945:
Documents and Essays (2011): 173-182.
Ngai, Mae M. Nationalism and Immigration in the 1920s. Major Problems in American
History 1920-1945: Documents and Essays (2011): 161-165.
Ueda, Reed. The Legacy of Restriction. Postwar Immigrant America: A Social History (1994):
18-38.