Years 401 of Immigration: New Ethnicities, Popular Reaction, and Policy: 1607 to 2008
1900
Brian Gratton, Arizona State University, 2008
All Copyrights Reserved for Brian Gratton. Do not use without permission.
4 Periods of Immigration. Crises when a) volume rose sharply & b) ethnic mix changed -1st Period: 16071760 Crisis: 1740-1760 -2nd Period 18351890 Crisis 1847-1860 -3rd Period 18901921 Crisis 1900-1914 -4th Period 1968? Crisis 1985--2008
Popular Reaction: Unwelcoming
From at best neutral to at worst hostile
The minority in favor of immigration generally profit from it: a) employers who want cheap labor b) ethnic groups who want in
Policy
Open Gates: 1607 to 1921 Closed Gates: 19211968 Re-Opened Gates: 1968------
only the Closed Gates period reflected popular opinion
1st Period: 1607---1760 Crisis 1740--1760
The Religious, The Greedy, and the Unwilling Englishmen and Africans
HST554
The Religious and Indians:
Expulsion of Indians=Ethnic homogeneity
Africans as Involuntary Immigrants
The ultimate guestworker program shields South from ethnic conflict
Slave caravan in Africa
Slave ship on the Middle Passage
1740-1760: the Threat to Freedom
Arrival of non-British white immigrants, particularly Germans Sharp reaction. Every species of government has its specific principles. To [ours] nothing can be more opposed than the maxims of absolute monarchies. Yet, from such, we are to expect the greatest number of emigrants. They will bring with them the principles of the governments they leave, imbibed in their early youth Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia,
Decline in Immigration and Slave Trade after 1760 leads to high homogeneity
20% of population is African American and excluded from polity Of whites, 60% of English origin, another 20% British Protestants Rapid Anglicization noted by contemporaries Little discussion of immigration in debates or Constitution, except for involuntary African Americans
2nd Period: 1835 to 1890:
Heavy Immigration and Rising Anxiety
Crisis: 1847-1860 the Catholic Threat
Germans and Irish, with an emphasis on the Irish as the problem
HST554
Why the Germans were not a problem: Prosperity in New Ulm, Minnesota
Why the Irish were a problem. They were Refugees
a) b) c) d) Desperately poor High crime and welfare rates, and public alcoholism Open support for slavery and the Democratic Party Catholics who voted
Civil War
Fighting the war ends political struggle over immigrantsslavery is the issue Considerable by participation immigrants in the Northern troops Leads to Republican Party dominance in which immigrants are seen as essential workers
3rd Period: 1890--1921 Crisis: 19001914: The Racial Threat
Southern and Eastern Europe Italians, Poles, Jewssome not even Christian
Here they come, straight from Southern and Eastern Europe
Thomas Edison Film, 1903
Steamship: fast and cheap: 1 months wages: led to remigration and lack of assimilation
4th Period: 1968--? Crisis: 1985--? the Mexican Threat
Asians Latin Americans Illegal Immigration
Asian Immigration: Refugees and Economic Migrants
Vietnamese in Ho Chi Minh city Asians next to Latin Americans in number Rapid upward mobility like the Germans before them
Latinos
Dominated by Mexicans (2/3rd) Lower human capital and slower mobility: like the Irish before them Many undocumented like no one before them Fears of security on southern border after 9-11
Crises occur when there is 1. demographic pressure (rapid growth in number of immigrants 2. ethnocultural shift:
Subsidiary: unemployment, security crisis
Prop of US Population
1850 to 2007: Immigrants, Second Generation, Foreign Origin
0.4
Foreign Born 2nd Generation Foreign Origin
0.35
0.3
0.25
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
18 50 18 60 18 70 18 80 18 90 19 00 19 10 19 20 19 30 19 40 19 50 19 60 19 70 19 80 19 90 20 00 20 07
Census Years
Immigrants by PeriodChange in Ethnic Mix
4t
3r
1s s
1 880
1 900
10 91
1 920
1 930
1 940
1 950
1 960
1 970
1 980
1 990
2000
Cens us Year
1st & 2nd: British, African, German, Irish 3rd: Eastern & Southern Europe 4th: Asians and Latinos
Popular Reaction
Never enthusiastic, the American people have consistently opposed higher levels of immigration; a very large minority want it reduced. When in favor, natives call for assimilation to American norms Still, there is a strain of multiculturalism dating at least to the 19th century
Positive and Negative Images of Immigrants
1900: Restrictionist Point of View
Infinitely more common than negative images until 1970, then switch
1865: Irish and Germans
1896: Jews and Italians
2007 Mexicans
Daryl Cagle 10/25/07 anti-immigrant cartoons now harder to find
1888: A Positive View
Early multiculturalist perspective: very rare before 1940s
1907: Life Magazine
Policy?
Usually did not reflect dominant negative public opinion 1807 Prohibition of Slave Trade 1882 Abolition of Chinese immigration 1921-24 National Origins Bills 1965 Immigration Act