HIST 221 Chapter reading: Reading Nationalism, Immigration Control, and the Ethnoracial Remapping of America in the 1920s
19 Oct 2018
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Document Summary
The "quota law" is the most important change in official policy. It makes a shift in orientation toward foreign immigration, from normatively open to restrictive. It was not until the 1970s that non-european immigrant groups were studied. Before wwi immigration into the us was relaxed and reflected a tradition of laissez-faire labour mobility from the colonial period. 25 million people, mostly from europe entered the us between 1880 and wwi. In the early 20th century there were no passports. Immigrants who took out their first papers (declaring their intention to become citizens) voted in local elections in nyc and other cities. There was chinese exclusion, they immigrated to the us to participate in industrial expansion. In 1882, chinese and other asians were excluded from immigration and naturalized citizenship. During the progressive era, immigration was linked to the major social problems of the period: industrial class conflict, urban slums and political machines.
