Nativism and Immigration Restriction in the 1920s

1. Agenda – 1/25/11 • Stamp 7.1 & Section Assessment • Go over both • Start 7.2

2. A Clash of Values • Nativism Resurges – During the 1920’s, anti-immigrant and racist feelings increased • what was nativism? (p.179) • A preference for native-born people

3. 7.1 Study Guide • In the early 1920s, many Americans saw the millions of immigrants as a threat to stability and order and to the four million recently demobilized service men and women searching for work in an economy with soaring unemployment and rising prices. • As anti-immigration fever rose, nativists emboldened their arguments against immigration with eugenics, a pseudo-science that emphasized that human inequalities were inherited and warned against breeding the “unfit” or “inferior”.

4. 7.1 Study Guide • This science fueled the nativists' argument for the superiority of the "original" American stock— white Protestants of Northern European descent.

5. Controlling Immigration • Fearing new Immigrants, the federal government enacted several laws to limit immigration “The hardest quota cases were those that separated families. When part of the family had been born in a country with a quota still open, while the other part had been born in a country whose quota was exhausted, the law let in the first part and deported the other part. Mothers were torn from children, husbands from wives. The law came down like a sword between them.” —quoted in Ellis Island: Echoes from a Nation’s Past

6. According to the 1921 Emergency Quota Act, only 3 percent of the total number of people in any ethnic group already living in the United States, as indicated in the 1910 census could be admitted in a single year. • The 1924 National Origins Act tightened the quota system, setting quotas at 2 percent of each national group residing in the country in 1890. • The immigration acts of 1921 and 1924 greatly reduced the available labor pool in the United States.

7. Examples of the Quota Acts • 1921 Emergency Quota Act (3% of 1910) • 10,000 Polish Immigrants living in US in 1910 • In 1921 only 300 new immigrants would be allowed into US from Poland • 1924 National Origins Act (2% of 1890) • 6,000 Polish Immigrants living in US in 1890 • In 1924 only 120 new immigrants would be allowed into US from Poland

8. The New Morality • An emphasis on youth and personal freedom led to a more relaxed moral attitude. • New morality included: • Women in the workforce, • women going to college • the automobile – which allowed young people to go out with their friends and find privacy away from home

9. 7.1 Study Guide • Many groups that wanted to restrict immigration also feared the "new morality" that glorified youth and personal freedom. • The flapper personified women’s changing behavior in the 1920s. • While flappers pursued social freedoms, other women sought financial independence by entering the workforce.

10. Flappers doing the Charleston

11. The Fundamentalist Movement • Fundamentalists promoted the authority of the Bible and defended the Protestant faith.

12. 7.1 Study Guide • To many Americans, the modern consumer culture, relaxed ethics, and growing urbanism symbolized America's moral decline. • Fundamentalists focused on defending the Protestant faith against ideas that implied that human beings derived their moral behavior from society and nature, not God. • Evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson conducted her revivals and faith healings in Los Angeles in a flamboyant theatrical style.

14. Prohibition • Congress passed the 18th Amendment and the Volstead Act to prohibit alcohol, but the laws largely failed to create positive social change. • The Volstead Act was passed along with the 18th to give the Treasury Department the responsibility to enforce the 18th Amendment.

15. 7.1 Study Guide • Many people believed the prohibition of alcohol would help reduce unemployment,domestic violence, and poverty. • The Eighteenth Amendment specifically granted the federal government, as well as the state governments, the power to enforce prohibition.

16. Section Assessment – p.413#1 - Vocab • Anarchist – people who oppose all forms of government • eugenics – false science that deals with improving heredity • Flapper – young, dramatic, stylish, unconventional woman who personified women’s changing behavior in the 1920s. • Evolution – Darwin’s idea that humans developed from lower life forms • Creationism – the belief that God created the world as described in the Bible • Policepowers – a gov’t’s power to control people and property in the interest of public safety. • Speakeasy – secret bars where people could purchase liquor

17. Section Assessment – p.413#2 – People and Terms • Ku Klux Klan (KKK) – a group targeting African Americans, Catholics, Jews, immigrants and others believed to represent “un-American” values • EmergencyQuotaAct – established a temporary quota system, limiting immigration in 1921 • Fundamentalism – a religious movement embraced by many people in rural, small towns who were afraid that the country was losing its moral values.

18. Section Assessment – p.413 • The 18th was appealed because people recognized that it was not successful. • With the passage of the 18th and the Volstead Act the government’s role changed as it obtained police powers to enforce the law. • Immigrants from Mexico were not included in the quota system set by the immigration acts because they provided cheap labor in the US.

19. Section Assessment – p.413# 6

22. Section Assessment – p.413 • The barrels of alcohol were destroyed in public in order to intimidate people, with the hope that it would make them fearful and submissive in the face of federal authority.