Tying Together the Background

America prides itself in being a country full of immigrants. Some even call it the world’s melting pot. Immigration undeniably played a huge role in the development of America culturally, socially, and economically. However, immigration was not met with open arms. Most Americans were very opposed to immigration and fought hard to stop it all together. Today people are still fighting against immigration, only now it’s a fight against illegal immigration. When massive amounts of immigration started to occur in the late 1800s Americans started to take a stand. In 1882 the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed. This law banned the immigration of Chinese people for ten years. Many Chinese people were coming into the country through Angel Island in California and people were afraid that the Chinese would overpower the Americans. This wasn’t the only time that people were restricted from coming into America. In 1921 and 1923 the government passed the Quota Acts. These laws limited the number of immigrants allowed into America from each country throughout the world. This law is still in effect today and only a certain number of people are allowed to immigrate to America from certain countries. The number of people allowed in is based on things like the number of people from that country already in America and the number of people who want to immigrate. All these laws express the fear that Americans have had about immigration. This fear has been very evident in most of the research found on this blog. Many people have expressed their fears in different ways such as political cartoons or public demonstrations. Most people wouldn’t say that their opposition comes from fear but it is very clear that they are afraid immigrants will “dirty up” America. Even other countries have been afraid of the massive amounts of immigrants in this country. In 1907 President Theodore Roosevelt made an agreement with the leader of Japan and the Japanese government to limit the amount of Japanese coming to the country. The Japanese were afraid that they would lose too many people to America and that the country would suffer. This agreement allowed the Japanese to limit the amount of their citizens entering the country instead of leaving it up to the Americans. This held up pretty well until the Quota Acts were passed and it was no longer needed. Even though this is a country made of immigrants, immigration has not been the best thing in the minds of Americans for many years. America as a whole is still struggling with the idea of immigration, legal and illegal, and it doesn’t seem like there will be an end anytime soon. The fights for and against it in this country will be going on for a while until something can finally be settled in the minds of Americans.

Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882

In 1882 the US took drastic measures in preventing people from entering the country by passing the Chinese Exclusion Act. This law prevented the Chinese people from immigrating to the US for a period of ten years. This act was passed because "in the opinion of the Government of the United States the coming of Chinese laborers to this country endangers the good order of certain localities within the territory thereof." Americans, and even other immigrants, felt that the rapid immigration of such large numbers of Chinese took away many jobs for people already in the US. The government's plan to ban the Chinese was very effective. For ten years no Chinese were allowed to immigrate or even come to America. To make sure this rule held up, the government would even punish any American boat captain who helped the Chinese sneak into this country. The offender could "be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars for each and every such Chinese laborer so brought, and may be also imprisoned for a term not exceeding one year." This is a pretty heavy fine to have to pay just for trying to help someone else out so it made most people not want to risk any sort of punishment. The American government meant business when they said all Chinese were banned for this country. They had no problem punishing "any person who shall knowingly and falsely alter or substitute any name for the name written in such certificate or forge any such certificate, or knowingly utter any forged or fraudulent certificate, or falsely personate any person named in any such certificate." Anyone that tried to create a new American identity for the Chinese sneaking in to our country were punished the same way that any boat captain was in they were caught. The United States was so set on keeping all Chinese out and opening up jobs for Americans that no one from China was even allowed to visit for fear that they would stay in the country and start a life here illegally. The only exception to this rule was if a Chinese government official or diplomat visited the country on business. In that case they would have all their personal servants checked out and make sure that they left with the same number of people they came with. This was a very intense way to filter immigration but I would not be surprised if we see something like this with immigrants from Mexico today since many people feel the same way about those now as they did about the Chinese then.

"Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 11 Feb. 2010. .

A Gentleman's Agreement

In 1907 President Theodore Roosevelt made and agreement with the Japanese government. The agreement that was made was to stop all immigration from Japan to America. The Japanese government was afraid that it would lose to many young men and that the Japanese military would suffer from the small numbers. Japan would only issue passports to the people that were not laborers because they wanted people the go back to Japan if they were to visit. The only exception to this rule was to people who already had family living in the United States or had previous interests in the farming industry in this country. Hawaii was a separate case for the Japanese because it was much closer than the mainland of America. When dealing with those islands it was up to Japan whether or not they wanted to give passports to their people. They decided to "be limited to former residents and parents, wives, or children of residents. This agreement stayed in place until the US tried to limit immigration even more with the Immigration Act in 1924.

"Theodore Roosevelt: Gentleman's Agreement (1907)." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 1 Feb. 2010. .

Voice of Anti-Immigration

The anti-immigration movement started around 1870 when many immigrants started coming to America. Between 1870 and 1920 America took in 27 million immigrants from Southern and East Central Europe. These immigrants were different from the normal Anglo-Saxon culture. Many people did not like these new people and tried fighting against it. "Anti-immigration activists sought to keep certain classes or races of people out of the United States, fearing that the Anglo-Saxon culture of the country would dissolve in the influx of new people." These people were so afraid that they went to Congress to try and stop the immigrants from coming in. In 1921 and 1923 Congress passed the Quota Acts which limited the amount of immigrants allowed in the country each year from any one certain country. Many of the Americans in this time period were against of the people they referred to as "polygamists" and "anarchists" because they did not want the religion and culture they had established in the US to be dirtied or changed in any way. Many people also believed that the immigrants would not be able to assimilate into America. "It was tied to attempts to "Americanize" immigrants with citizenship classes, literacy classes, and even cooking classes." The only way that the American citizens would allow in immigrants was if they were able to take away all of their foreign culture and bring them up to the Anglo-Saxon norm. "Ultimately, all immigrants experienced some assimilation, with such groups as Scandinavians becoming completely Anglo-Saxonized" Even today many people still feel that we should not allow immigrants into this country legally or illegally. In the 1980s and 1990s political figures asked for "renewed restrictions on immigration, especially in the light of increased illegal immigration from Mexico and Cuba." Even though there are not as many people trying to immigrate into this country as there were about 100 years ago, there is still a big issue with the idea of new citizens. As long as people continue to immigrate, there will always be a big debate and loud voices from anti-immigration activists.

"anti-immigration movement." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 1 Feb. 2010. .

America's Biggest Fear

This cartoon depicts the biggest fear that Americans had not only had back when this was published in the 1860s, but it shows the fear that many Americans still have today. As a country we are afraid that immigrants will come in and take away the jobs that we feel should be reserved for Americans. Many people also believe that immigrants will dirty up the culture of our country. This cartoon depicts an Irish man on the left and a Chinese man on the left. Both of these men are swallowing Uncle Sam. This cartoon represents how the American people were afraid that all of the immigrants would swallow up all of the American culture. Cartoons like this were, and still are, used as a way to scare the American people into keeping immigrants out.

ID: 290653

Teach Me About Immigration

This first article that I read about immigration shows the same pattern occurring over and over again. Foreigners move in, Americans get mad, Foreigners are kicked around and treated awfully, Americans accept them, and new foreigners come in and the cycle starts all over again. This country prides itself on being a nation born of immigrants but it never said how the immigrants were treated. It never mentioned what they went through to become true Americans, which according to this article doesn't happen until you become second, third, or fourth generation American. Americans were so scared of the huge intake of immigrants that they were convinced the country would never be the same. "In fact, the Pledge of Allegiance was first introduced as a means of reinforcing traditional American values in the face of overwhelming immigration." Now the Pledge doesn't mean much too that many people. It's just another thing that is forced upon us in the mornings as a way to keep our children American. If you were to ask just about any student today why we say it most of them will not be able to tell you it was because of paranoia of new people coming in to help our country grow culturally and economically.

Immigration was so feared in this country that our government put quotas on the number of people allowed in from each country. Some people weren't even allowed in at all. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was a law passed that, for ten years, banned the immigration of the Chinese people. The American people believed that if they were able to reduce the number of immigrants that came into this country they would not have to fight for jobs and space to live. Today people are very upset about the amounts of immigrants in this country, mostly the ones that are here illegally. The main argument against them is that they are taking away jobs for well deserving American citizens. If this were the case then I guess we should start seeing more and more people working at fast food restaurants and day labor jobs. Everyone is so afraid that they will lose their jobs to these immigrants but the only way that would happen is if they work the jobs that nobody else wants since those are the only jobs we give these immigrants. "Illegal immigrants provide significant economic benefits to society. It is estimated, for example, that between 30% and 50% of the seasonal farm workers in California are illegal aliens. Without them, many crops in California and similar states would go unharvested or be forced up so dramatically in price."

People can complain all they want about the immigrants in our country, illegal or not. What they don't realize is that these people come to this country to work hard and make a life for themselves. Many Americans feel like since they are born in this country and are already given citizenship and all the rights reserved for them in the Constitution that they don't need to work as hard to survive. If this attitude keeps up then we might as well get rid of all immigration quotas since the immigrants would be the only people in this country willing to work and keep our economy moving.


"immigration." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 29 Jan. 2010. .