The United States’ government instilled a closed door policy with the creation of many immigration laws in an effort to make America a melting pot of similar ethnicities. However, the prejudice of American society that was enforced by immigration policy forced immigrants to form their own communities for the purpose of survival and protection, turning America into a mosaic of different cultures. The Burlingame Treaty of 1868 and Naturalization Act of 1870 both created a false image of acceptance for immigrants while simultaneously restricting immigration. The United States’ government only began clearly restricting immigration with the Page Act of 1875 and Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. The Burlingame Treaty of 1868 encouraged Chinese immigration for work on railroads and southern plantations while simultaneously withholding the privilege of naturalization. This encouraged the emergence of ‘coolie’ laborers, whose passage into the United States was paid for under the agreement that they would work as indentured servants for a pre-determined period of time. Although the Chinese helped build the transcontinental railroad, their unusual style of dress still created prejudice against their ethnicity. This lead to the creation of Chinatowns as a necessary cultural barrier used for protection against the rest of society. After encouraging Chinese immigration, the government realized that these immigrants would procreate and needed to decide what immigration status children born in America would hold. The Naturalization Act of 1870 was the solution to this question, declaring any child born in the United States a citizen of the country, regardless of the race of the child. This necessarily lead to more immigration restrictions since a... ... middle of paper ... ...d not assimilate to accepted American culture. However, by the time society learned which ethnicities were ‘unassimilable’, the cultures had already begun to take root in America. At first America had a knee-jerk reaction to this realization and began passing more resolutions preventing ‘non-whites’ from entering the United States. However, as America experienced the increase in cultural communities in reaction to prejudice formed by immigration laws, the government learned that only through a loosening of immigration law and lessening of prejudice would America become a true melting pot. The mid-1900s saw this manifestation in America, as immigration laws allowed more people from around the world to immigrate. As prejudice lessened, the cultural communities sprinkled throughout America that created a mosaic became less prevalent and have begun to form a melting pot.
Beginning in 1882 with the Chinese Exclusion Act, the United States stopped being a nation of immigrants and instead became a new type of nation, a gate-keeping nation. For the first time in its history, the United States did not welcome immigrants with open arms. As a result, the United States began to exert federal control over immigrants, which would change the ways Americans viewed and thought about race, immigration, and the nations’ identity as a whole.
These immigrants were coined the “new immigrants” and were composed of 23.5 million people, mainly from Southern, Central and Eastern Europe with other immigrants from Japan (LeMay 14-15). Many Jewish people immigrated from the Ukraine and Poland due to political unrest in Russia (Vigdor 36). From the other side of Europe “the largest single country-of-origin group of the early twentieth century, Italians, constituted the largest cohort of “job-seeking” migrants” (Vigdor 36). With the nativist mindset from the previous period many felt that these new immigrants were inferior and therefore unable to assimilate into society, leading to an intense xenophobic mindset (LeMay 21). Other immigrant groups fell into cultural roles such as Japanese immigrants becoming fruit and vegetable farmers and Mexican immigrants working in factories (Gerber 84). Immigrants as an entire group sent home millions of dollars from their work in the United States (Gerber 79). However, as a lot of the available land from the early 1800’s was taken, many more workers became birds of passage as opposed to permanent immigrants (Gerber 82). This period began with the start of some restrictions, as called for the end of the Open-Door Cycle (LeMay 6). The Chinese Exclusion Act was created as a response to the Open Door Cycle in hopes of controlling increasing numbers of Chinese immigrants looking for land
As America continued to recruit workers from other countries, they continually worried about an immigration problem. In 1924, the Federal government passed the Immigration Act which officially barred further immigration from Asia and Europe to the U.S.
-Despite the already severe legal and social restrictions on Asian immigration, some European Americans felt that immigration should be forbidden altogether with a specific Asian Exclusion Act. In arguments which seem familiar to modern followers of the immigration debate, Asians were accused of taking white jobs and causing social
One reason that the old immigrants had such negative feelings toward open immigration was the amount of jobs that would be taken from them due to the cheap labor these new immigrants provided. In a resolution letter to congress from the AFL the unstated motive to denying Chinese immigrants from entering our country was not that they would increase crime or corrupt the politica...
The Unites States now, is a place of opportunity, that is assimilated and made up of different races, cultures, religions, etc. in which we once used to call “immigrants”. Within the 1800s and early 1900s, the place we all know and love, “America” was also then referred to as the Melting Pot. The term “Melting Pot” basically referred to the idea that all different kinds of people from a widespread of places came together to create one, and overtime, that’s exactly what happened to our country. In spite of the fact that some people, such as Bourne and Zangwill felt as if this was a substantial event that occurred within this time period, others, like Schultz disagreed and in fact, thought this was a careless idea that would soon corrupt the U.S. and all it had become.
When President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Immigration Act of 1965, also known as the Hart-Celler Act, he said, “[t]his bill that we sign today is not a revolutionary bill”, underestimating the change that would come about from the signing of this law. The Immigration Act was passed in the midst of much reform and civil rights activism in the United States and banned discrimination in the issuance of visas due to “‘race, sex, nationality, place of birth, or place of residence’”(Fitzgerald, Cook-Martin, 2015). It counteracted the immigration policy that had been in place since the 1920’s. This policy was the National Origins Act, which restricted the immigration of foreign-born people into the United States based on nationality. Most immigrants
Since the creation of the United States of America, the country has been a place that attracts immigrants from all around the world. As a result, The United States became a culturally and ethnically diverse country. This is due to the large-scale migration from many culturally, racially, and ethnically different countries throughout the history of the United States. The recent generations of culturally diverse immigrants see themselves assimilating to the American culture differently than the immigrants who came to the US two or three hundred years ago. The effect of assimilation caused some people to embrace the American identity, and detach from their original cultures. Assimilation caused some
Obama Administration proposed what is called Comprehensive Immigration Reform. It is composed of six sections aimed at fixing the current immigration system. It includes enhanced border enforcement, interior enforcement and the most controversial section; an amnesty program to legalize undocumented immigrants. In other words, it creates a pathway to citizenship for unauthorized immigrants that is fair and feasible. Many argue that even though Comprehensive Immigration Reform is good for America because it addresses important issues like creating a committee to adopt the number of visas available to changing economic times, preventing people from working without permits and creating programs aimed at helping immigrants adjust to life in America. Yet it rewards violators of current U.S. laws who entered the country illegally, and those who entered the country legally but overstayed their visas. Opponents of the Comprehensive Immigration Reform proposal claim that immigrants have a negative impact on the economy; overwhelming social services of many states, and posing a threat to American workers as a result of big corporations exploiting immigrants with low wages and poor working conditions. With the recent economic downturn and the severe recession that hit the U.S, many individuals blame immigrants for their economic misfortune and lack of employment. For both the opponents and proponents of the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Proposal, for the millions of the undocumented immigrants and their families, and lawmakers; immigration has become an emotional political issue. Despite the resistance of many, America should embrace comprehensive immigration reform.
...accomplished the assimilation into one race, it consists of people sharing a similar identity. In the words of Richard Rodriguez, ?We are gathered together-but as individuals?we stand together, alone,? thus people will assimilate but as individual ?Americans?.
Immigration has been a topic that has caused multiple discussions on why people migrate from one country to another, also how it affects both the migraters and the lands they go. Immigration is the movement from one location to another to live there permanently. This topic has been usually been associated with sociology to better explain how it affects people, cultures and societies. Sociology has three forms of thinking that are used to describe and analyze this topic. There are three forms of thinking that are used to tell and describe immigration to society; structural functionalist, symbolic interactionist, and conflict theory. Each of these theories uses different forms of thinking and rationality to describe and explain socio topics.
Today, in most cases, people don’t spend very much time thinking about why the society we live in presently, is the way it is. Most people would actually be surprised about all that has happened throughout America’s history. Many factors have influenced America and it’s society today, but one of the most profound ways was the way the “Old Immigrants” and “New Immigrants” came to America in the early to mid 1800s. The “Old Immigrants were categorized as the ones who came before 1860 and the “New Immigrants” being the ones who came between 1865 and 1920. The immigrants came to the United States, not only seeking freedom, but also education. Many immigrants also wanted to practice their religion without hindrance. What happened after the immigrants
In “An Architecture of Race in American Immigration Law,” Ngai explained that the act defined the world by country, nationality, and by race, distinguishing between white people from white countries and so-called colored races. Immigration policies on Mexican immigrants were also strictly enforced. Ngai stated. “In 1929, the United States consuls in Mexico began more strictly to enforce existing provisions of the immigration laws - the ban on contracting laborers, the literacy test, and the provision to exclude any person who may commit crime to refuse visas to all Mexican laborers save those with prior residence in the United States” (Ngai, pg. 90). The term “illegal” became a negative racial word not just for Mexican immigrants, but also for Mexican Americans. Later, the restrictive policy created illegal immigration problems that would become the center of the Mexican race
Throughout the past centuries, immigration has had many positive and negative impacts on our country and society. Law and order have been the founding cornerstone of our democracy, and the mandate of the U.S. Constitution is for Congress to do the work of the people and that of the nation. Immigration has continuously been a passionate debate within our society. This particular topic will always be a sensitive subject due to Americans personal beliefs and morals.
The expansion of the West increased as railroads were distributed and precious minerals were discovered. With this expansion, Americans ran into a problem with the Native Americans living in the Great Plains. There were battles between the Indians and Americans, resulting in Americans pushing the natives out of their lands. The Dawes Act was passed, encouraging Indians to become civilized men and copy Americans. Attempting to change the native’s views and behavior failed, and threats multiplied towards them. Along with the natives, immigrants were not given the best opportunities and living. What can a country do when around one and a half million people immigrate in the span of 30 years? The “new” immigrants coming in were destitute and lacked education; their secluded communities made it tough for them to be suited in the American culture. Overcrowding, spread of disease, and lack of open jobs forced the federal government to establish the policy of The Immigration Act of 1882. This act required all aliens to pay a 50 cent tax upon arrival, as well as “passengers who appeared to be convicts, lunatics, idiots, or unable to take care of themselves were not permitted onto land.” The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was also passed, not allowing Chinese immigrate to America for 10 years. Disputes thrived over this act, saying the act was either