Part III
DOCUMENT-BASED QUESTION
(June 02)
Historical Context:
United States immigration policy has changed over time to reflect the needs and attitudes
of American society.
Task: Using information from the documents and your knowledge of United States history,
answer the questions that follow each document in Part A. Your answers to the
questions will help you write the Part B essay, in which you will be asked to:
• Discuss immigration policies or actions taken by the United States
government that affected the immigration of people to the United States
• Show how these policies or actions reflected the needs and attitudes of
American society at that time
Body 1 – One Immigration policy that affected the immigration of people to the United States
was: Open Immigration policy. Starting with the first European settlers in the Americas, the
13 colonies and then the United States had an “open” immigration policy. This
policy of allowing unrestricted numbers of immigrants into the United States
lasted until the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Northern and Western Europeans,
like those from England & Sweden, arrived in the “old” wave of immigrants and
Southern and Eastern Europeans, like those from Italy and Russia, began to arrive
as part of the “New” wave of immigration. These immigrants came looking for a
better life, to make more money, to escape religious persecution, to avoid military
conscription, and out of fear of totalitarian regimes.
Body 1 – This policy reflected the needs and attitudes of American society at that time.
The United States needed immigrants to work in the factories in New England. These
growing industries relied upon the immigrants for cheap labor. Mining
companies in the Midwest even sent representatives over to countries like Italy to
recruit people into coming to America. The company would pay for their passage
over and then the immigrants would pay the company back over a period of time.
Additionally, the railroads relied very heavily on immigrants, especially Chinese
laborers to build railroad lines like the transcontinental railroad. Lastly, the
government wanted immigrants to settle the frontier and lured many with free
land granted through the Homestead Act and the Oklahoma Land Grab.
Body 2 – One Immigration policy that affected the immigration of people to the United States
was: Open Immigration with Restrictions. During the late 1800’s, the vast majority of
immigrants were freely allowed to come to the United States. However, starting
in 1882, Congress passed a law that restricted immigrants from China from
entering this country. This Chinese Exclusion Act expired in 10 years, but it was
re-newed two more times in an effort to restrict this specific immigrant group.
Restrictions upon Asians continued with the Gentleman’s Agreement in 1908.
This agreement between the Empire of Japan and President Teddy Roosevelt
stated that Japanese immigrants were no longer welcome to come to the United
States. In 1917, Congress passed the Literacy Tests. This required all immigrants
to pass a reading and writing test before they were admitted into the US.
Body 2 – This policy reflected the needs and attitudes of American society at that time.
Chinese immigrants largely came to help build the western railroads. However, as the
railroads were completed, the Chinese Americans took jobs working in the
factories, which angered unions like the American Federation of Labor (AFL).
The AFL contended that immigrants took jobs for less money and stole jobs from
Americans. Also, as the West was being settled in the late 1800’s, the majority of
immigrants settled in the cities, creating ethnically dominated neighborhoods, like
Little Italy and China Town. These immigrants did not assimilate into American
society and nativists felt they were corrupting American society. America’s
cities became filled with poor immigrants and riddled with crime, committed by
violent gangs like those depicted in the movie “Gangs of New York.”
Body 3 – One Immigration policy that affected the immigration of people to the United States
was: Quota Systems. The Quota System began in the 1920’s with the passage of the
Emergency Quota Act of 1921, the Emergency Quota Act of 1924, and the
National Origins Act of 1929. The purpose of these laws was to restrict the
number of immigrants coming into the United States, especially those from
Southern and Eastern European countries and those from Asia. Immigrants from
Northern and Western Europe were also limited, but not to as great a degree.
These Quota restrictions wanted to reduce the number of less-desirable
immigrants, like those that were of a darker complexion, non-Protestant, or that
had different customs than “traditional” Americans. Although the official Quota
system began in the 1920’s, restrictions on immigrants from less-desirable regions
began with the Chinese Exclusion Acts of the 1880’s and the Gentleman’s
Agreement of the early 1900’s.
Body 3 – This policy reflected the needs and attitudes of American society at that time.
There were many reasons for this change in American immigration policy. The primary
reason is that most Americans wanted to “Return to Normalcy” after World
War I by getting less involved in world affairs, especially those in Europe. This
is why the US Senate refused to ratify the Treaty of Versailles or join the
League of Nations. As part of this, America wanted to keep European problems
from coming to our shores. This was a major issue since millions of immigrants
were arriving in the US each year. One of the countries where the largest number
of immigrants came from was Russia, who had just experienced a communist
revolution in 1917. American fear of communism led to the Red Scare and the
Palmer Raids. Nativists contended severely limiting immigration could save the
United States.
Body 4 – One Immigration policy that affected the immigration of people to the United States
was: 1965 Immigration policy. In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson had to once again alter
the immigration policies for the United States. Because of the racially motivated
restrictions behind the Quota system, which limited numbers based upon an
immigrants nationality, the new system would be more concerned with skills and
family connections. If immigrants had a sponsor, someone to vouch for them and
support them in times of trouble, then the government would be more willing to
allow them to enter the country. Also, if the immigrants had any special skills,
for example in the engineering or computer fields, then they would be given
special preference. Immigration policies were now geared to what they could
offer to the US rather than where they came from.
Body 4 – This policy reflected the needs and attitudes of American society at that time.
After the launch of the Soviet satellite, Sputnik, in 1957, the US feared that it was falling
behind the Soviet Union technologically. After investing more money into
science and general education, the government knew that it must find the best
minds and resources from all over the world to battle the evil of communism.
Immigrants with special skills would provide the knowledge and ideas necessary
to push the US ahead of the Soviet Union again just like the influx of European
scientists who escaped the perils of Nazi Germany helped the US succeed in the
development of the atomic bomb.