Apush Dbq Essay On Immigration

From 1880 to 1925, an era deemed New immigration, vast numbers of foreigners sought better lives as Americans. However, rather than a welcoming embrace, the expanding populations of immigrants were confronted with growing disdain of immigration. Many Americans assumed immigrants came to America as the poorest and most vagrant people of their country. Thus, many worried that immigrants would pollute America’s genetic stock and become financial burdens to the country. In response to growing anti-immigrant sentiment, Nativists demanded that America belong to “natives” and advocated restrictions on immigration to keep jobs for real Americans. And rather than protect immigrants from heavy discrimination, the American government responded by limiting

Emma Lazarus’s poem suggests that America welcomed “huddled masses yearning to breathe free” (Doc. C) and Document A suggests that America shielded newcomers from anti-immigrant slander; however, the American government was alarmed at the large rates of immigration and also regarded foreigners as burdens. The government passed legislation that severely restricted the numbers of immigrants and made immigration exclusive to certain ethnic groups. In the Emergency Immigration Act, as referenced in Document J, the American government prohibited the numbers of incoming immigrants from exceeding 3% of the total immigrants of that nationality currently in America. To further discourage immigration, the government also required literacy tests, as Document I illustrates, for entry to America. Also, the American government viewed certain immigrant groups deemed as undesirable. Senator Henry Cabot Lodge assured Congress that “the immigrants who would be shut out… are those who bring the least money to the country and come most quickly upon private charity for support” (Doc. F). Influenced by racial prejudice, the government also restricted immigration by ethnicity. In response to growing anti-Chinese sentiment, the government decided that “the coming of Chinese laborers to this country endangers the good order”; in accordance with the Chinese Exclusion Act, the government decided that “it shall not be lawful for any Chinese laborer to come… to remain within the United States” (Doc. B). America also excluded the Japanese after “an understanding was reached with Japan that the existing policy of discouraging emigration of its subjects of the laboring classes to the continental United States should continue” (Doc. H). The government expressed distaste towards immigrants as it viewed the large influx of foreigners as