Question 1 (Document-Based Question): 55 minutes
Suggested Reading period: 15 minutes
Suggested writing period: 40 minutes
Directions: Question 1 is based on the accompanying documents. The documents have been
edited for the purpose of this exercise. You are advised to spend 15 minutes reading and
planning and 45 minutes writing your answer.
Write your responses on the lined pages that follow the question.
In your response you should do the following:
·
State a relevant thesis that directly addresses all parts of the question.
·
Support the thesis or a relevant argument with evidence from all, or all but one, of the
documents.
·
Incorporate analysis of all, or all but one, of the documents into your argument.
·
Focus your analysis of each document on at least one of the following: intended
audience, purpose, historical context, and/or point of view.
·
Support your argument with analysis of historical examples outside the documents
·
Connect historical phenomena relevant to your argument to broader events or
processes.
·
Synthesize the elements above into a persuasive essay that extends your argument,
connects it to a different historical context, or accounts for contradictory evidence on the
topic.
1. Compare and contrast American views on immigration between 1890-1930. How did
immigration affect American identity?
Document 1
Source: Chinese Exclusion Act, 1882
Whereas in the opinion of the Government of the United States the coming of Chinese
laborers to this country endangers the good order of certain localities within the territory
thereof: Therefore,
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in
Congress assembled, That from and after the expiration of ninety days next after the passage
of this act, and until the expiration of ten years next after the passage of this act, the coming
of Chinese laborers to the United States be, and the same is hereby, suspended; and during
such suspension it shall not be lawful for any Chinese laborer to come, or having so come
after the expiration of said ninety days to remain within the United States.
Document 2
Source: Mitchell, Langdon, noted playwright and poet. “The New Secession”, Atlantic
Monthly, 1926.
“We are no longer a homogeneous people. There are some fourteen millions of foreignborn among us, whose ideals are not ours. When we seek to Americanize them, they tell
us in their foreign tongues that the country is as much theirs as ours, and that they
propose to remain themselves, to remain European, and even to Europeanize our social,
moral, and political state of affairs. When we protest, these people accuse us of
intolerance. And they are not beside the mark in doing so, for clearly we do not tolerate
them as they are. But, on the other hand a thing not so often mentioned they do not
tolerate us: our literature, art, morals, habits of life, our ideals, religion, traditions, and the
Republic we have created.”
GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE
Document 3
Source: Gilman, Charlotte. Feminist and author of the well-known short story The
Yellow Wallpaper. “Is America Too Hospitable?” The Forum, October 1923.
“There is a question, sneeringly asked by the stranger within our gate: “What is an
American?” The American, who knows he is one but has never thought of defining
himself, is rather perplexed by the question. A simple answer is here suggested:
“Americans are the kind of people who make a nation which every other nationality
wants to get into.” The sneering stranger then replies: “By no means. It is not your nation
we admire—far from it! It is your great rich country we want to get into.”... What is an
American? The only kind of person on earth who invites all creation to crowd him out of
house and home. And even he is beginning dimly to wonder if it is not time to withdraw
the invitation.”
Document 4
Source: Library of Congress, 1891
Document 5
Source:
Pattangall, William, former legislator & attorney general (Dem.), “Is the Ku Klux Un-American?”, The
Forum, September 1925.
Evans, Hiram, Imperial Wizard, Ku Klux Klan, “The Klan: Defender of Americanism” The Forum,
December 1925.
“The fundamental wrong is in the Klan idea of what makes Americanism. It assumes that this
quality can only be born in a man or woman who happens to see the light first on American
soil... Americanism, of course, is really an ideal and a spirit-a faith in freedom, tolerance,
humanity. It cannot discriminate because of color, birthplace, or creed; nor can it tolerate
caste, class, or religious distinctions in politics, social life, or legal standing; especially it
cannot for a moment endure the breeding and exploitation of hatred and prejudice as a means
to sway public opinion and win political power.”- William Pattangall
“We believe, too, that the mission of America under Almighty God is to perpetuate and
develop just the kind of nation and just the kind of civilization which our forefathers created.
This is said without offense to other civilizations, but we do believe that ours, through all
possible growth and expansion, should remain the same kind that was “brought forth upon
this continent.” Also, we believe that races of men are as distinct as breeds of animals; that
any mixture between races of any great divergence is evil; that the American stock, which
was bred under highly selective surroundings, has proved its value and should not be
mongrelized.”
-Hiram Evans
Document 6
Source: Immigration Act of 1924
Document 7
Source: Boas, Franz, anthropologist, Columbia University The Forum, “This Nordic
Nonsense”, October 1925.
“The idea of the racial superiority of the “Nordic,” or in other words of the Northwest
European, combined with eugenic propaganda, has brought it about that we are possessed
by the fear of being swamped by a people of inferior physical and mental endowment,
and that immigration of southern and eastern Europeans will result in the degeneracy of
our nation and the development of an inferior stock.”
END OF DOCUMENTS FOR QUESTION 1
SCORING NOTES
Thesis:
Possible thesis statements could include the following.
- During the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, many Americans viewed
immigration
negatively as it was a threat to traditional American values.
- the majority of Americans opposed the increasing amounts of immigration into the
United States in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. This influx of people
drastically impacted American identity during the period and caused a debate pertaining
to who was considered “American”.
- Although immigration was viewed negatively by most, some believed it
brought diversity which became a part of American identity.
- Many Americans viewed immigration negatively as it took away their jobs and
threatened American values.
- During the nineteenth and twentieth century, most Americans were concerned with the
increasing of immigration into the U.S. because it threatened “pure Americanism”.
Analysis of Documents
As explained in the scoring notes, to earn full credit for analyzing documents, responses
must include at least one of the following for all or all but one of the documents: intended
audience, purpose, historical context, author’s point of view. Although examples of these
elements are listed below, these examples of analysis must explicitly be used in support
of a stated thesis
or a relevant argument.
Document 1
Source: Chinese Exclusion Act, 1882
Intended audience: Americans and Chinese
Purpose: to create a new law that prohibits Chinese immigration
Historical context: people on west coast experiences declining wages and blames
chinese for economic troubles. Congress passed act to satisfy worker’s demands and
concerns about maintaining white “racial purity.”
The author’s point of view: anti-Chinese, trying to appease labor leaders, and their
workingman’s party.
Document 2
Source: Mitchell, Langdon, noted playwright and poet. “The New Secession”, Atlantic
Monthly, 1926.
Intended audience: Americans and immigrants
Purpose: briefly express both sides of the immigrant debate: American-born people
oppose the large amounts of immigrants in their country and want them to assimilate to
their existing American culture; immigrants do not want to assimilate and firmly oppose
tolerating the American way of life
Historical context: immigrants often stayed in small towns filled with their own native
people and refused to adjust their lives to typical American society
The author’s point of view: American, sees immigrants as intolerant but also
acknowledges the expectations Americans have of the immigrants
Document 3
Source:Gilman, Charlotte. Feminist and author of the well-known short story The Yellow
Wallpaper. “Is America Too Hospitable?” The Forum, October 1923.
Intended audience: Americans
Purpose: to say that being American means letting people into our great nation but some
question whether that is a good idea
Historical context: Post industrialization, massive influx of immigrants, post Chinese
exclusion act, modernism literature had lack of morals
The author’s point of view: contemplating idea of what it means to be American;
thinking poetically but with a slight American superiority complex
Document 4
Source: Library of Congress, 1891.
Intended audience: Americans, immigrants
Purpose: to criticize immigrants. Cartoon depicts them as dirty and inferior.
Historical context: Many Americans were upset that lots of immigrants were coming to
America because they took jobs, didn’t have same values, disrupted traditional American
society.
The author’s point of view: anti-immigrant, viewed influx of immigration negatively
and saw immigrants as peasant-like, not worthy of the life American-born citizens got to
live
Document 5
Source: Pattangall, William, former legislator & attorney general (Dem.), “Is the Ku
Klux Un-American?”, The Forum, September 1925. Evans, Hiram, Imperial Wizard, Ku
Klux Klan, “The Klan: Defender of Americanism” The Forum, December 1925.
Intended audience: American people, Klan members
Purpose: Pattangall- All people who identify as American are American no matter race,
gender, religion, etc.
Evans- Americans are the supreme race and should not mix with any other.
Historical context: ongoing debate as to whether or not American’s not born in America
could be considered “American”
The author’s point of view: two opposing: Pattangall believes immigrant should be
considered American and ethnicity/origin country should not matter; Evans believes that
only those born in America should be American
Document 6
Source: Immigration Act of 1924
Audience: Americans
Purpose: portray new American policy of using quotas by ethnicity to limit the number
of immigrants entering the country; Limit Eastern and Southern Europeans, but welcome
North Europeans like British and Irish
Historical context: large increase in immigration in the years leading up, many
Americans opposed thus leading to these limitations
The author’s point of view: satirical image of new policy, therefore likely disagrees
with it and sees it as violation of rights
Document 7
Source: Boas, Franz, anthropologist, Columbia University The Forum, “This Nordic
Nonsense”, October 1925.
Audience: Americans
Purpose: To point out the fear Americans have of immigrants and how it is nonsense
Historical context: Americans disliked that the immigrants were different and were
afraid it would change American society, believed they were inferior.
The author’s point of view: scientist, sees matter in an educated way and has seen that
this fear was relevant in American society of the time
Analysis of outside examples to support thesis/argument
Possible examples of information not found in the documents that could be used to
support the stated thesis or a relevant argument could include the following.
Nativism
Chicago Race Riots
KKK
Defending “Traditional Values”
Advantages of Cheap Labor
Ethnic communities
Assimilation
Americanization
National Origins Act of 1924
The Populist Party
Sacco and Vanzetti
Anti-imperialist League
Party Bosses
Ethnic theatre (Italian Opera, Yiddish Theatre etc.)
Return of the KKK
Harlem Renaissance
The Wobblies
Immigration Restriction League
Eugenics
Madison Grant, The Passing of the Great Race (1916)
literacy tests and other standards designed to separate desirable from undesirable
The Birth of a Nation
The Social Gospel
Feminist Movement
Social Darwinism, Natural Selection
Fundamentalists vs. Modernists
Contextualization: Students can earn a point for contextualization by accurately and
explicitly connecting historical phenomena relevant to the argument to broader historical
events and/or processes. These historical phenomena may include, but are not limited to,
the following.
Industrialization
Americanization
Nativism
Imperialism
Spanish American war
The Philippine War
The Progressive Era
Socialism (Eugene Debs)
WW1
The Red Scare
The beginning of the Great Depression
Synthesis: Essays can earn the point for synthesis by crafting a persuasive and coherent
essay. This can be accomplished providing a conclusion that extends or modifies the
analysis in the essay, by using disparate and sometimes contradictory evidence from
primary and/or secondary sources to craft a coherent argument, or by connecting to
another historical period or context. Examples could include, but are not limited to, the
following.
-Linking the argument to the earlier treatment of Native Americans
-Linking the argument to the Civil Rights Movement
-Linking the argument to the debate between fundamentalists vs. modernists
-Linking the argument to the rising white middle class suburb society which formed in
the 1950s
-Linking the argument to the Progressive Era
-Linking the argument to internment of Japanese-Americans
The American industrial revolution led to an increase in jobs and economic
opportunity, resulting in a surge of immigrants to America throughout the nineteenth
century. This swell of foreign immigrants drastically changed society and led to increased
tensions amongst the population. Immigrants were often ridiculed by Americans for
being “different” and were seen as inferior beings. For the most part, Americans were
against immigration to America because it threatened their traditional values and
decreased their chances of getting jobs. However, some Americans believed immigrants
played a vital role in society by creating diversity within the nation. These contrasting
views on immigration greatly affected society's definition of American identity. Did
being American mean being born in America, or did it mean practicing American values
and culture?
Many Americans strongly opposed immigration into the United States. The
resentment of immigrants was extremely powerful because they were taking jobs,
leaving many Americans without work. Charlotte Gilman, an author, expressed these
concerns in an article, writing that many immigrants migrated to America solely for the
financial benefits (Doc 3). The immense desire immigrants possessed to find jobs,
resulted in their willingness to work for low wages and in turn, increased job competition
as many employers and factory owners were more inclined to hire immigrants. The
situation grew so intense that the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed in 1882, eliminating
Chinese immigration into the US (Doc 1). The act was made with the purpose of cutting
down the influx of Chinese immigrants to significantly lower the overall immigrant
population and thus decrease competition in the job market. Similarly, in 1924, the
Immigration Act was passed, limiting the number of immigrants that were allowed in the
US, by implementing a quota system based on country of origin (Doc 6). Most
Americans were unhappy about immigration not only because they were losing jobs, but
also because most immigrants had no desire or intention to assimilate to traditional
American society. While some people were unopposed to the increased number of
foreigners, the fact that many immigrants isolated themselves in ethnic communities,
such as Chinatown and Little Italy, did anger them. It was clear that there was a division
in society. Langdon Mitchell, a noted playwright and poet, pointed this out, describing
both Americans and immigrants as intolerant of each other’s cultures, customs, and
values (Doc 2). Yet, some Americans were not so opposed to immigration. They
believed it was important to accept others. William Pattangall, former legislator and
attorney general, argued that being an American meant tolerating others and
discriminating against no one (Doc 5). However, many Americans disagreed with this
because they viewed America as superior to all others. These contrasting views
challenged the meaning of American identity.
Americans had always had a set view of their own identity. They were hard
workers with strong morals, often based off of Christian ideals. Furthermore, Americans
felt a sense of superiority. For example, in the later part of the nineteenth century,
Americans began colonizing other countries to assist the “inferior” peoples. The image
from the Library of Congress, depicts this sense of entitlement and superiority that
Americans felt (Doc 4). However, as masses of immigrants began to enter America
seeking work and bringing with them their new customs and values, many Americans
began to feel that their traditional way of life was being threatened. Franz Boas, an
anthropologist, commented on America’s fear of the inferior people damaging and
bringing a downfall to society (Doc 7). This feeling of resentment and anger that many
Americans felt resulted in a division in society. Because many Americans viewed
immigrants as un-American, these immigrants began creating their own isolated
communities. In the early twentieth century, a movement to Americanize society began.
Groups such as the KKK and methods such as eugenics hoped to make America “pure”
again. Hiram Evans , a member of the Ku Klux Klan, wrote that America should be
preserved as it was founded and that there distinct differences between races (Doc 5).
Evans reflected the idea that to be American, meant being born on American soil.
Furthermore, like many other Americans believed, being white was a large part of being
valued in society. The KKK and other racist groups, would perform lynches of racial
minorities and lead marches to prove this point. Therefore, not only were immigrants
mistreated and looked upon as un-American, but so were American racial minorities. On
the other hand, some valued the diversity that migrants created. It wasn’t about being
born in America, but about having the same values.
The vast increase in immigration that occurred during the Industrial Revolution created
an ethnically diverse American population and led to the questioning of what it meant to
be American. Many American-born citizens opposed immigration to the United States
because they viewed immigrants as inferior and unworthy of the opportunities American
life granted them. However, others tolerated immigrants and felt that accepting different
kinds of people was a part of truly being American. This ongoing debate created a sense
of nativism across the nation. Many felt that those born in America were the only ones
deserving of being considered American. Seeing as the vast majority of Americans
shared this feeling, many were skeptical of other races’ presence in the United States. It
was because of this skepticism that American citizens were so willing to gather JapaneseAmericans and place them in internment camps in the 1940’s, after the bombing of Pearl
Harbor. This kind of racism did not end with the influx of immigrants or the forced
internment of innocent Americans, rather, it was persistent all the way to the Civil Rights
Movement in the 1960’s and onward.