Immigration In The 20th Century

The United States of America has provided millions of people around the world for several centuries the chance to achieve the American Dream: the opportunity to obtain success and happiness. Because of this, the US population has been rapidly increasing over the decades, especially in the 20th century. From 1890 to 1930, our population more than doubled (Hayes 3/28/18). During this time, America served as a safe haven for so many people who were escaping their home countries because of war, poverty, or prosecution. But while people from all over the world looked to this country for support and relief, American views of immigration were changing. Their attitude towards immigration changed just as fast as people from so many different countries
From the decades of hatred against the Chinese, America passed its first federal immigration restriction policy, the Page Act of 1875: certain individuals from Asia would not be allowed entry due to their immoral occupations, such as prostitution (Hayes 1/24/18). Five years later, the Angel Treaty of 1880 restricted a large percentage of Chinese people from coming here. And finally in 1882, the Chinese Exclusion Act stopped all immigration from China. For the first time, America closed its doors for a group of people, but it would not be its last time. When the federal government obtained full power over immigration in 1891, it opened up possibilities to create immigration laws that would affect the entire country. For example, in their aim to lower wages, American employers during the time were actively recruiting workers from out of country. When immigration became federally operated, “the law made it illegal for employers to advertise abroad for workers” (Rosenzweig 154). And a year later, the first federally operated immigration station, Ellis Island, was opened up to filter immigrants and make sure contagious diseases were prevented from entering. These new immigration policies were just the beginning of the realization of the hatred and hostility harbored by Americans over the
During this time, a scientific, but really discriminatory, concept was spreading not only in Europe but also in America. Its founder, Francis Galton called it Eugenics: the aim to improve and preserve the quality of the human species by passing down positive traits and suppressive negative traits (Hayes 3/28/18). Many prominent men embraced this theory, including Theodore Roosevelt. Eugenic supporters, specifically those in America, believed that in order to maintain the American genetic superiority, America must stop immigrants, especially the Eastern and Southern Europeans and Asians, from coming to this country: “…urged lawmakers to ‘shut the door’ to preserve ‘the pure, unadulterated Anglo-Saxon stock’ that had made America the foremost nation in her progress” (Rosenzweig 342). Federal legislation, such as the Immigration Act of 1924 and other literacy and immigration laws, were directly influenced by eugenics in order to save this American race. While war and fear of communism and other radical beliefs did play a role in this drastic change of perspective toward immigration, eugenics also played a large role to reverse America’s attitude that had been constant over past