Immigration restrictions 1890-1920 society

since 1880, how many immigrants had US absorbed

23 million

attitudes to immigration post-1900

less welcoming, due to a lesser need for labourers

Literacy Act

1917 - all immigrants had to take a literacy test proving they could read a short passage in English

• many immigrants from poorer countries (esp. eastern europe) could not afford lessons and failed the test

Immigration Quota Act

1921 - introduced a quota system in which new immigrants were only let in as a proportion to the no. of same nationality immigrants already in US in 1910 - set at 3% per year

National Origins Act

1924 - reduced the quota to 2% of the 1890 census - this favoured the northern european immigrants who had made up a larger part of the population in 1890

Immigration Act

1929 - restricted immigration to 150,000 per year, there were to be no asians at all, Northern and Western Europeans allocated 85% of all places

by 1930…

immigration from Japan, China & Eastern Europe had essentially ceased

comparison to immigration in the earlier time period

• immigration no longer necessary for economy, so a more negative attitude adopted

• restrictions based on nationality similar to 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act

• much faster pace of legal change over the 1920s - it was a prevalent problem

Sanco and Vanzetti

1921 legal trial

• two italian labourers prosecuted for murder with little evidence

• executed by electric chair

• sparked demonstrations over the USA for poor legal treatment of immigrants