Immigration in 1920s America

How many people emigrated to America after the First World War?

More than 14 million immigrants moved to the USA from other countries between 1900 and 1920.

Who were the White Anglo-Saxon Protestant immigrants in America in the 1920s?

Most of the earlier immigrants to the USA were white, Anglo-Saxon and Protestant. They were known as WASPs.

• ❖ They were from northern and western Europe.
• ❖ They were the largest ethnic group in the USA.

Who emigrated to America in the 1920s?

Many immigrants to the USA after the war were from southern and eastern Europe. This meant that they differed from the WASPs in a number of ways.

• ❖ Many were Jewish or Catholic.
• ❖ They were poor.
• ❖ Many could not speak English, and were illiterate.
• ❖ They came from countries where there were strong beliefs in new and radical political ideas, such as communism or anarchism.

Why were Americans worried about immigrants in the 1920s?

Many WASPs were worried about the new immigrants for several reasons.

• ❖ People were worried that they would accept lower wages and take their jobs away.
• ❖ They were a different religion and had different cultures.
• ❖ They were seen as bringing dangerous and radical political ideas. After the Russian Revolution of 1917 many were seen as communist.
• ❖ They were often poor and illiterate. People worried that they would take more from society than they would contribute.

What were Henry Laughlin's views on immigrants in the 1920s?

Henry Laughlin was a influential sociologist who had racist ideas about the new immigrants in 1920s America.

• ❖ He believed that people from southern and eastern Europe were racially inferior.
• ❖ He suggested that the new immigrants were more likely to end up in prison or mental hospitals.
• ❖ He suggested that these new immigrants should be sterilised to prevent them from having children. Some states carried this out on a few people.
• ❖ His research on European countries in 1923 was used by Congress to inform new immigration laws.

What laws were made about immigration in 1920s America?

In the 1920s, two new laws were bought in to reduce the number of new immigrants into America.

• ❖ The Emergency Quota Act of 1921.
• ❖ The National Origins Act of 1924.

What was the effect of the Emergency Quota Act of 1921 on immigration?

The Emergency Quota Act of 1921 was designed to limit the number of immigrants, particularly those from southern and eastern European countries.

• ❖ It limited the total number of immigrants to 357,000 every year.
• ❖ It only allowed each country to send 3% of the number of people from that same country who were already living in the USA in 1920.
• ❖ It meant that more people could come from northern European countries that already had large populations in America. These were likely to be WASPs.
• ❖ It limited the number of immigrants from countries with a very different culture.

What was the effect of the National Origins Act of 1924 on immigration?

The National Origins Act of 1924 restricted immigration even more than the Emergency Quota Act had done.

• ❖ It reduced the total number of immigrants allowed from 357,000 to 164,000.
• ❖ The percentage of immigrants from each country was reduced to 2% of the number of people from that same country already in the USA by 1890, rather than using the 1920 figures.
• ❖ It meant even fewer immigrants could come from southern and eastern European countries.

What were the results of US immigration laws in the 1920s?

The new immigration laws of the 1920s had several results.

• ❖ Immigration fell from 1.4 million in 1914 to below 300,000 in 1929.
• ❖ New border patrols were set up in 1925 to prevent illegal immigrants.
• ❖ New ways of enforcing immigration laws were introduced.
• ❖ America stopped being an 'open-door country'.