Immigration
Spring 1920
The Influx flamed nativist fears
Demands for immigration restrictions intensified:
- Number of popular books promoted the social Darwinian view - Race determined quality of a civilisation
- Xenophobia was rife in America
- Many believed that the US's anglo saxonism was being polluted
- Southern and Eastern Europeans were seen as less intelligent and weaker than the 'superior' Nordic people
US received 5 000 immigrants per day from the war-ravaged Europe
Immigration Restriction Act
First Temporary Measures
No more than 3% of the total foreign born population of each nationality recorded in the 1910 census
Total immigration was limited to 357 000 per yer, a third of the annual average before the war
First quotas introduced in 1921
3 years later
Reduced to 2% of the 1890 census
Favoured British and Western European immigrants
Limited visas to Eastern and Southern Europeans
Restrictions on Asian immigrants was heavy:
- Japan also became included in this
Immigration Bill
Signed by president Clavin Coolidge
He declared that "America must remain America"
Restricted entry of Jews:
-> Only a few thousand managed to escape persecution because of this
Chinese Exclusion Act
Passed in 1882
Banned all Chinese immigrants for the next 10 years
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