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changing attitudes USA - Coggle Diagram
changing attitudes USA
prejudice and racism
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old immigrants feared the large number of new immigrants coming over as the feared their culture and religion would be replaced
fear of revolution
American was as a captalist and democratic place feared people bringing undemocratic views from their home country such as communism
in 1917 russia suffered 2 communist revolutions and with a large amount of russians coming over many feared a similar event taking place in america if they didnt further isolate themselves further
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there was only around 1500000 communists in America which made up around 0.1% making them pose less of a threat
social fears
immigrants tended to crowd together in poor areas within cities where they could find work whilst living in close to people with people who shared a language and culture
key figures such as al capone an italian immigrant ran the mafia who were involved in gang welfare and other illegal activities gave many new immigrants a bed reputation
WASPs blamed new immigrants for disease and high crime rates and found they were competing for houses as landlords found they could raise and exploit rents
many new immigrants did not live in ghetto areas and most tensions within the city were between blacks and whites rather than new and old immigrants
isolation and WW1
america stayed out the great war until 1917 and when they did eventually join on the side of the allies it soon emerged that sympathies within the country were mixed, with 8 million germans supporting their home country
after the war many americas were weary about joining in another european war with 120000 americans dead and 200000 wounded
showed divisions with in the country caused directly by immigration at a time when the country had to pull together
fear was seen to be exaggerated as it was racist anti-german propaganda that increased tensions and created dislike within the US rather than the low numbers of homeland supporters
economic fears
after ww1 america suffered an economic recession as factories that produced weapons and other supplies cut back their production
the return of soldiers home led to too many men chasing far too few jobs and unemployed increased by 11% by 1921
new immigrants received much of the blame for stealing jobs and anger towards immigrants who would work for cheaper increased
many new immigrants were working class poor which meant they could not do the skilled jobs available to which were then taken by skilled WASPs