Students will analyze debates over immigration in the early twentieth century to understand the tension between the need for labor and anxiety over immigrants' political and cultural qualifications for citizenship.Â
As the 20th century began, millions of immigrants from southern and eastern Europe poured into Chicago, Detroit, Pittsburgh, and other U.S. cities. In New York, the nation's largest city, more than half of the population was foreign-born. Many immigrants came in search of economic opportunity, fleeing depressed economies, high land prices or prejudices in their old countries.Â
Immigrant labor powered the rapid industrialization of the late 19th and early 20th century. Employers were eager to hire the new immigrants and happy to pay them less than most American-born workers would accept. Many politicians wooed new voters with favors and jobs in exchange for votes; consequently, political machines exercised great power in urban areas with large immigrant populations.Â
Other native-born Americans, however, were wary and often hostile towards new immigrants. They worried that cheap labor undercut their own economic security. They feared their diminished political power. And they were often prejudiced against the darker complexions and unfamiliar religions--the great majority of "new" immigrants were Catholic or Jewish--of the newcomers. Â
Debates for and against immigration played out for decades, finally culminating in a nativist push to restrict immigration from southern and eastern Europe. U.S. Congress passed quota laws in 1921 and 1924 that remained in place until 1965. Â
Step 1: (Optional: The teacher may want to introduce the topic by reviewing current immigration debates and push/pull factors for immigrants, documented and undocumented, to the United States today.) Pass out copies of the cartoon analysis worksheet and the cartoon. Also project the cartoon on overhead or Smartboard. Ask a volunteer to read the description of the cartoon out loud and the title/caption. Ask for volunteers to read each of the quotes from the cartoon (typed out on the worksheet in Part I) from each of the various characters: contractor, politician, etc.
Step 2: Allow students to work individually or in pairs to complete Part II of the worksheet by analyzing the cartoon. After students have had time to complete the worksheet, lead a share-out and discussion of the cartoon, making sure that everyone understands its content. Before moving to Step 3, review the key points:
In the early twentieth century, people did not agree about whether immigration was good or bad for the United States.
In the early twentieth century, people were unsure whether or not new immigrants were "fit" for citizenship.Â
Step 3: Now pass out the two written documents, the anti-immigration pamphlet and the speech from President Cleveland. Ask students to underline or highlight specific arguments for and against immigration in each document. (The teacher may vary this portion by giving half the students one document and half the other, or by reading both documents aloud with students as they highlight arguments.) Ask students to share out what pro and con arguments they found. After reading the documents, discuss:
Given that there were so many objections to immigration at the time, why do you think it took legislators until 1924 to restrict immigration?
How was the immigration debate of the 1900s different than the immigration debate today (especially considering today's idea of "illegal" or "legal" immigrants)? Â
Step 4: After reading and discussing the documents, ask students to individually respond to the question on the back of the worksheet (Part III): Given that there were so many objections to immigration at the time, why do you think it took the U.S. Congress until 1924 to restrict immigration from Europe?
1790 Naturalization Act
* Passed by the first U.S. Congress
* Provided that any “free white person” residing in the U.S. for two years was eligible for citizenship
* Required that naturalized citizens “be of good character” and willing to swear an oath of allegiance to the United States
* Granted citizenship to children (under age 21) of naturalized citizens
1868 Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
* Passed during Reconstruction, it provides that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States are citizens of the United States”
1870 Naturalization Act
* Initially proposed to expand eligibility for naturalized citizenship to all “persons”
* Majority of Congressmen insist that it should exclude Asians, so the wording is changed to “white persons and persons of African descent”
* Overturned in an 1898 Supreme Court case, Wong Kim Ark v. United States. Wong, a Chinese American (born in San Francisco) was denied re-entry to the United States after an 1895 trip. He sued, claiming his right to citizenship under the 14th Amendment, and the U.S. government argued that U.S.-born Chinese were not citizens because their parents, as Chinese in the U.S., were not eligible to become naturalized citizens. The Supreme Court ruled that all persons born in the U.S. are citizens.
1875 Page Law
* Bars entry of Chinese and Japanese prostitutes, felons, and contract laborers (also known as “coolies”)
1882 Chinese Exclusion Act
* Merchants, teachers, diplomats, students, and travelers are exempt from the law
* Laborers who were already in the U.S. were allowed to leave and re-enter, but they had to get a “Certificate of Registration” when they left so that they could get back in.
* In 1888, Congress revokes all “Certificates of Registration,” stranding any Chinese who left the U.S. intending to return
* Prevents Chinese from becoming naturalized citizens
1882 “Head Tax” Enacted for Arriving Immigrants
* Intended to finance enforcement of federal immigration laws
* Begins at fifty cents per person; rises to eight dollars per person by 1917
1891 Immigration Act of 1891
* Denies entry to immigrants judged to be mentally defective, mentally ill, poor or “likely to become a public charge,” sick with contagious diseases, criminals, and polygamists
* Establishes Bureau of Immigration under the Department of the Treasury to administer immigration laws
1892 Geary Act
* Renews 1882 Exclusion Act
* Requires that all Chinese in the U.S. register with the federal government
* In 1902, Congress makes 1882 Exclusion Act permanent
1917 Immigration Act of 1917
* Establishes a “barred zone,” denying entrance to immigrants from much of eastern Asia and the Pacific Islands
* Denies entry to all immigrants over the age of sixteen who are illiterate in their native languages
* Congress had previously (1895, 1897, 1913, 1915) passed laws requiring immigrants to be literate but three different presidents (Cleveland, Taft, and Wilson) had vetoed them; the 1917 version passed over Wilson’s veto.
1924 Johnson-Reed Act
* Imposes a total quota on immigration of 165,000—less than 20 percent of the pre-World War I average
* Creates national quotas based on the percentage of each nationality recorded in the 1890 census—a blatant effort to limit immigration from southern and eastern Europe, which mostly occurred after that date
* Stipulates that aliens ineligible for U.S. citizenship were not permitted to enter the United States, thus barring all Asians from entry to the U.S.
1943 Chinese Exclusion Repeal Act
* Congress repeals immigration laws excluding the Chinese, but extremely low quotas remain
* Grants Chinese the right to become citizens
1952 Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (McCarran-Walter Act)
* Ends total exclusion of racial and national groups from immigration and naturalization
* Preserves national origins quota system from 1924
1965 Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 (Hart-Celler Act)
* National origins quotas are replaced by hemispheric limits (170,000 visas per year from countries in the eastern hemisphere, 120,000 visas per year from countries in the western hemisphere)
* Unlimited number of visas granted to reunite families
1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (Simpson-Mazzoli Act)
* Grants amnesty to undocumented immigrants who entered the United States before January 1, 1982 and had resided the U.S. continuously
* Makes it illegal to knowingly hire or recruit undocumented immigrants and requires employers to attest to their employees’ immigration status