(a) Describe the main changes in immigration to the United States between 1900 and 1965. [5] (b) Explain why the United States restricted immigration throug...

(a) Main changes in immigration to the United States between 1900 and 1965

Between 1900 and 1914, the United States received approximately 13 million immigrants, mostly from southern and eastern Europe, including Italians, Poles, Russians, and Jews fleeing poverty and persecution. The Emergency Quota Act of 1921 introduced the first numerical limits on immigration, restricting annual arrivals based on nationality.

The Johnson-Reed Act of 1924 further reduced quotas and established the national origins system, which heavily favored immigration from northern and western Europe (particularly Britain, Germany, and Scandinavia) while virtually excluding Asians. Immigration dropped sharply during the Great Depression and World War II, both because of economic conditions and restrictive policies. The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 abolished the national origins system entirely, replacing it with a preference system based on family reunification and professional skills, opening immigration to people from Asia, Latin America, and Africa on a much more equal basis.

(b) Why the United States restricted immigration through legislation in the 1920s

Nativist sentiment had been growing since the late nineteenth century, driven by fears that immigrants from southern and eastern Europe were culturally and racially different from earlier arrivals and could not be assimilated into American society. World War I intensified suspicion of foreigners and fueled demands for '100 percent Americanism.'

The Red Scare of 1919-1920, triggered by the Russian Revolution and a series of anarchist bombings in the United States, associated immigrants with radical political movements such as communism and anarchism. Labor unions feared that immigrants would accept lower wages and undercut native-born American workers. Pseudo-scientific racial theories, promoted by writers like Madison Grant in 'The Passing of the Great Race' (1916), claimed that southern and eastern Europeans were racially inferior to northern Europeans, providing an intellectual veneer for prejudice.

The revived Ku Klux Klan, which attracted millions of members in the 1920s, campaigned against immigrants, Catholics, and Jews. Rural and small-town Americans perceived immigration as a threat to traditional American values and the cultural dominance of Protestant, Anglo-Saxon society. These overlapping fears - economic, racial, cultural, and political - combined to create overwhelming political support for restrictive legislation.

(c) 'Immigration policy between 1900 and 1965 was driven primarily by racial prejudice.' How far do you agree?

Evidence supporting the statement: The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 had explicitly targeted a specific racial group, establishing a precedent. The Johnson-Reed Act of 1924 used the national origins formula to favor northern and western Europeans over southern and eastern Europeans, reflecting a racial hierarchy promoted by eugenicists. Asian immigration was effectively banned. The racial categorization of different European nationalities as 'superior' or 'inferior' had no scientific basis and was rooted in prejudice. The Immigration Act of 1965, which ended the racial quota system, was driven partly by recognition that the old system was indefensible on moral and democratic grounds.

Evidence challenging the statement: Economic concerns were genuine: labor unions and working people legitimately feared wage competition from immigrants willing to work for less. National security anxieties, particularly during and after World War I, led to concerns about the political loyalty of immigrants from enemy nations. The Red Scare added legitimate (if exaggerated) fears about political radicalism associated with some immigrant communities. Cultural anxieties about language, religion, and social customs played a role that overlapped with but was not identical to racial prejudice. The 1965 Act was motivated partly by Cold War concerns about America's international image, not solely by changing racial attitudes.

Balanced conclusion: Racial prejudice was the most important single factor, particularly in determining which nationalities were favored and which were excluded. The racial theories underpinning the quota system had no scientific validity and served primarily to dress up prejudice in respectable language. However, economic, security, and cultural concerns also contributed, and the full picture requires recognizing these multiple, overlapping motivations rather than attributing the entire policy to a single cause.