Keith Mack
Nativism is an ideology, governmental policy, or political stance that prioritizes the interests and well-being of native-born or long-established residents of a given country over those of immigrants, typically by advocating or enacting restrictions on immigration. In the United States, nativist movements have existed since before independence, with the term nativism first used by 1844. Over the years, various laws have been enacted due to nativist sentiments, including the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798, the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the Emergency Quota Act of 1921, and the Immigration Act of 1924, each seeking to restrict immigration and protect the perceived interests of native-born citizens.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Time Period | Late 19th century to early 20th century |
| Targeted Ethnicities | Chinese-Americans, Japanese-Americans, German Americans, Irish Americans, Hispanic Americans |
| Laws and Treaties | Alien and Sedition Acts (1798), Alien Act, Naturalization Act, California Alien Land Law (1913), Emergency Quota Act (1921), Immigration Act (1924), Chinese Exclusion Act (1882), Gentlemen's Agreement (1907) |
| Opposition to Immigration | Belief that immigrants take jobs from native citizens, lower wages, do not pay sufficient taxes, and are a burden on social welfare systems |
| Political Factors | Fear of immigrants bringing their own ideologies and radicalism, such as socialism and anarchism |
| Social Factors | Desire to protect interests of native-born citizens, preserve cultural values, and prevent cultural change |
| Economic Factors | Competition for jobs and resources, belief that immigrants create surplus labor and drive down wages |
| Education | Opposition to German-language schools and promotion of literacy tests for immigrants |
| Political Parties | American Party (1854), Republican Party, Tea Party Movement |
| Notable Figures | Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Donald Trump |
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What You'll Learn
The Emergency Quota Act (1921)
The Emergency Quota Act of 1921 was the first law to place numerical quotas on immigration to the United States. It was passed by Congress in response to lobbying from the nativist movement, which opposed immigration on the basis of national, cultural, and religious identity. The Act capped immigration at 357,803 for those arriving from outside the western hemisphere, a drastic reduction from previous years. This was a temporary measure, with a more permanent resolution following in the Immigration Act of 1924, which further reduced the number of immigrants able to enter the country.
The Emergency Quota Act was motivated by fears of increased immigration after World War I and the spread of radicalism. It drew on eugenics research and the recommendations of the Dillingham Commission (1907-1911) to impose quotas based on immigrants' countries of birth. Annual quotas for each country were set at 3% of the total number of foreign-born people from that country recorded in the 1910 census. This formula was later revised by the Immigration Act of 1952 and replaced by the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which introduced a system based on immigrants' skills and family relationships with US citizens or residents.
The Act mandated that non-citizens seeking to enter the US obtain and present a visa from a US embassy or consulate before their arrival. This caused confusion and disarray among aspiring immigrants, who were abruptly denied entry once the annual quota allocations were filled. The number of new immigrants admitted fell from 805,228 in 1920 to 309,556 in 1921-22. The Act did not fully restrict immigration, but it considerably curbed the flow, especially from Southern and Eastern Europe.
The nativist movement in the United States has a long history, with specific antagonisms varying in response to changing conditions and minority groups. Racially, American nativists have targeted a wide range of ethnicities, including Chinese-Americans, Japanese-Americans, German Americans, Irish Americans, and Hispanic Americans. Nativism has also influenced politics in other countries, including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and continental Europe.
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Immigration Act (1924)
The Immigration Act of 1924, also known as the Johnson-Reed Act, was a United States federal law that severely restricted immigration from Asia and set quotas on the number of immigrants from every country outside Latin America. The Act was passed at the height of the eugenics movement and growing nativism following World War I. Nativism, in the context of American politics, refers to the opposition to immigration based on fears that immigrants will threaten or distort existing cultural values.
The Immigration Act of 1924 was not the first legislation to restrict immigration in the United States. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the Gentlemen's Agreement of 1907, and the Emergency Quota Act of 1921 all preceded the 1924 Act and contributed to the growing anti-immigration sentiment in the country. However, the 1924 Act was notable for cementing Asian exclusion and establishing a national origin quota system that favoured immigrants from Western and Northern Europe while severely curtailing arrivals from other regions, particularly Southern and Eastern Europe.
The Act established the first numerical limit on immigration in US history, with a total cap of 165,000 immigrants from the Eastern Hemisphere. This was an 80% reduction from the yearly average before 1914. The quota system was based on census data from 1920 and was heavily skewed towards countries with predominantly White populations. While the Act did not explicitly mention Japanese aliens, it was aimed primarily at restricting their immigration, along with other non-White populations.
The Immigration Act of 1924 also expanded the role of consuls in immigration enforcement and authorized the creation of the country's first formal border control service, the US Border Patrol. The Act defined the term "immigrant" and designated all other alien entries as "non-immigrants" or temporary visitors, with specific classes of admission for such non-immigrants. It established preferences under the quota system for certain relatives of US residents, including their unmarried children under 21, spouses over 21, and dependent children under 16.
The Immigration Act of 1924 had a significant impact on US immigration policy and contributed to the growing anti-immigration sentiment in the country. It reflected the nationalist sentiments prevalent in the post-World War I era and the pervasive nativism among many White Americans who viewed immigrant groups as a threat to the established social order.
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Alien and Sedition Acts (1798)
The Alien and Sedition Acts, passed in 1798, were a set of four United States statutes that aimed to restrict immigration and limit the First Amendment's protections for freedom of speech. These acts were passed in anticipation of a potential war with France, with the belief that French military successes in Europe were influenced by their revolutionary ideals. The Federalists, led by Alexander Hamilton, feared that non-citizens living in the United States would sympathise with the French during the war.
The four acts included:
- The Alien Act
- The Naturalization Act
- The Sedition Act
- The Alien Enemies Act
The Alien Act and the Alien Enemies Act aimed to restrict immigration and tighten restrictions on foreign-born Americans. The Alien Act, approved on June 25, 1798, allowed aliens ordered to be removed from the country to take their belongings with them and gave them the right to dispose of their remaining property as they wished. The Alien Enemies Act, approved on July 6, 1798, authorised the president to detain or deport citizens of an "enemy" nation during wartime or in the face of a threatened invasion.
The Naturalization Act and the Sedition Act aimed to limit freedom of speech and criticism of the government. The Sedition Act, signed into law by President John Adams on July 14, 1798, was particularly controversial. Benjamin Franklin Bache, editor of the Philadelphia Aurora, was the first to be arrested under this act and charged with libelling President Adams. He died of yellow fever before the trial. The prosecution of journalists under the Sedition Act rallied public support for the opposition Democratic-Republicans, and they won the elections in 1800.
The controversies surrounding the Sedition Act trials provided some of the first tests of the limits of freedom of speech and press. After the 1800 elections, Thomas Jefferson was elected president, and he pardoned those still serving sentences under the Sedition Act. The new Congress also repealed most of the anti-immigrant legislation, with only the Alien Enemies Act remaining in force.
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Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)
The Chinese Exclusion Act was approved on May 6, 1882, and was the first significant law to restrict immigration into the United States. The Act was passed by Congress and signed by President Chester A. Arthur, and provided an absolute 10-year ban on Chinese labourers immigrating to the US. The Act defined labourers as "skilled and unskilled... and Chinese employed in mining", which meant that very few Chinese people could enter the country under the new law.
The Act was the culmination of growing anti-Chinese sentiment and violence, and various policies targeting Chinese migrants. It followed the Angell Treaty of 1880, which allowed the US to restrict Chinese immigration. The Angell Treaty was a set of revisions to the US-China Burlingame Treaty of 1868, which had allowed unrestricted Chinese immigration.
The Chinese Exclusion Act also placed new requirements on Chinese people who had already entered the US. If they left the country, they had to obtain certifications to re-enter, and they were required to carry a certificate identifying their status as a labourer, scholar, diplomat, or merchant. The Act also denied Chinese residents the ability to become citizens, and they could be deported.
The Act was renewed and extended several times, and was not fully repealed until 1943. It set a precedent for restricting immigration based on ethnicity and nationality, and shaped 20th-century immigration policy in the US. The Chinese population in the US declined from approximately 105,000 in 1880 to 61,000 in 1920.
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Literacy tests (enacted 1917)
Literacy tests, which assess a person's ability to read and write, were first introduced in the United States in the state of Connecticut in the late 19th century. They were employed as part of the voter registration process, with whites generally exempted from the test if they met alternate requirements that excluded black people, such as a grandfather clause.
In the 1890s, literacy tests were introduced as a device to restrict the total number of immigrants while not offending ethnic voters. The "old" immigration (from countries like Britain, Germany, and Ireland) had slowed, and a "new" immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe was on the rise. Nativists and labor unions supported literacy tests, arguing they would stop illiterate immigrants from these regions.
Bills mandating literacy tests for immigrants were presented to the U.S. president on several occasions between 1897 and 1916 but were vetoed each time. However, in 1916, anti-immigration forces convinced Congress to override President Woodrow Wilson's veto, leading to the Immigration Act of 1917. This Act, also known as the Barred Zone Act, created a “barred zone” from which no persons were allowed to enter the United States, extending from the Middle East to Southeast Asia. Its main restriction, however, was the literacy test, which required immigrants over 16 to demonstrate reading comprehension in any language.
The literacy test was not very effective in decreasing immigration, and only a small number of immigrants were denied entry due to literacy between 1920 and 1921. As a result, it was soon replaced by a quota system.
Literacy tests were also used in the United States to disenfranchise African Americans, particularly in the Southern states, between the 1850s and 1960s. They were often administered by white clerks who could pass or fail a person based on their race. Illiterate whites were often exempted from the tests due to grandfather clauses. The use of literacy tests to disenfranchise Black voters was challenged in the Supreme Court case Lassiter v. Northampton County Board of Elections in 1959, but the Court ruled that literacy tests did not violate the Fourteenth, Fifteenth, or Seventeenth Amendments. It was not until the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964, following pressure from civil rights activists, that the practice of applying literacy tests to Black voters was banned.
In conclusion, literacy tests, such as those enacted in 1917 as part of the Immigration Act, were motivated by nativist sentiments and used as a tool to restrict immigration and disenfranchise racial minorities in the United States. While the 1917 literacy test proved ineffective in reducing immigration, similar tests had a significant impact on the voting rights of African Americans for over a century.
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Frequently asked questions
The Alien Land Law was passed in California in 1920 and strengthened in 1923. This law was designed to prevent Japanese citizens from owning land in the state.
The Emergency Quota Act of 1921 was the first law to restrict immigration by country. It limited the number of immigrants from Europe to 3% of each country's population according to the 1910 U.S. Census.
The Emergency Quota Act of 1921 was also the first law to place numerical quotas on immigration, capping the number of immigrants at 357,803 for those arriving from outside the western hemisphere.
The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 and a follow-up act in 1990 opened up U.S. immigration to people from all over the world.
