7.8 - US Immigration Policy - Day 1

Topic 7.8: US Immigration Policy Antiracist APUSH with the Immigrant History Initiative Contextualizing the 1924 Immigration Act: The Most Racist Immigration Law in History? Background We will be exploring the history of U.S. immigration law and the turning points that led up to what some have called the “most racist law in American history,” the 1924 Immigration Act. Focus Questions: What caused the 1924 Immigration Act? Was this law a major change in U.S. immigration policy? How did this law represent continuity with the laws of the past? What do you think was the most significant turning point that ultimately led America to close its borders in 1924? Explore the first 100 years of U.S. immigration policy, 1780s-1880s. Part 1: The Founding Fathers and the US Constitution Background: Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution, lists the specific enumerated powers of the federal government lawmakers. The Constitution actually gives very few specifics about the way U.S. immigration policy should look. Congress is not given specific control over immigration policy, but Congress is given the job of determining how a foreigner becomes a citizen after they arrive. For this reason, immigration policy fell into the hands of state governments for the first 100 years of American history. So what did the Founding Fathers actually think about immigration? Benjamin Franklin, essay titled “Observations Concerning the Increasing of Mankind, Peopling of Countries,” 1755. “Why should the (Germans) swarm into our Settlements, and by herding together establish their Language and Manners to the Exclusion of ours? Why should Pennsylvania, founded by the English, become a Colony of Aliens, who will shortly be so numerous as to Germanize us...and will never adopt our Language or Customs, any more than they can acquire our Complexion….why should we darken (America’s) People? why increase the Sons of Africa, by Planting them in America…?” George Washington, letter to Joshua Holmes and recent arrivals to New York from the Kingdom of Ireland, 1783 “The bosom of America is open to receive not only the Opulent and respected Stranger, but the oppressed and persecuted of all Nations and Religions; whom we shall welcome to a participation of all our rights and privileges…” James Madison, speech on the Naturalization bill debate, February 3, 1970 “(The U.S.A.) should hold out as many inducements (incentives) as possible for the worthy part of mankind to come and settle amongst us, and throw their fortunes into a common lot with ours...But, why is this desirable? Not merely to swell the catalogue of people. No, sir, ’tis to increase the wealth and strength of the community, and those who acquire the rights of citizenship, without adding to the strength or wealth of the community, are not the people we are in want of.” United States Congress, the Naturalization Law, “An act to establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization,” March 26, 1790. “Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That any Alien being a free white person, who shall have resided within the limits and under the jurisdiction of the United States for the term of two years, may be admitted to become a citizen...” Part 2: Changes in Immigration Policy in America’s First 100 Years The next section of this assignment covers changes to immigration policy over the next 100 years up until the 1880s. While you read about these situations, think about these three questions: In what way does this new situation represent a change in American immigration policy? In what ways does this new era of immigration policy represent continuities with the original ideas of the Founding Fathers? Evaluate the extent that racism was impacting US immigration policy at this time. Part 2A: The XYZ Affair, 1790s Background: France and Britain went to war during the chaotic years of the French Revolution. President Adams nearly declared war on the French as they seized over 300 American ships. Adams signed these controversial Acts: Summary of Alien and Sedition Acts, 1798, impacts on immigration: For the first time, the President was granted the right to deport Aliens that he considered “dangerous to the United States.” The wait time for alien White men to be granted citizenship became 14 years. Part 2B: The Mexican American War, 1840s Background: This was a unique situation. This is not a situation of people crossing borders, but instead, borders crossed people. After the U.S. invasion of Mexico in 1848, the U.S. took 525,000 sq miles from Mexico. This land included about 100,000 Spanish-speaking Mexican citizens and 150,000 American Indians. These people never moved but now were people new to U.S. jurisdiction. What did the law say about this? Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, Feb 2, 1848 Article IX The (male) Mexicans...shall be incorporated into the Union of the United States and be admitted... to the enjoyment of all the rights of citizens of the United States, according to the principles of the Constitution; and...shall be maintained and protected in the free enjoyment of their liberty… Article XI Considering that a great part of the territories...is now occupied by savage tribes, who will hereafter be under the exclusive control of the Government of the United States... shall be forcibly restrained by the Government of the United States whensoever this may be necessary; Historian, Dr. Eric Foner, Give Me Liberty, pg 503. The imposition of the American system of race relations proved detrimental to many inhabitents of the newly acquired territories..new Texas law protected slavery...and denied civil rights to Indians and persons of African origin...Texas defined “Spanish” Mexicans...as white. Residents of New Mexico of both Mexican and Indian origin on the other hand, were long deemed “too Mexican” for self government...Congress did not allow New Mexico to become a state (even though it met the requirements back in the 1840s) until 1912. Part 2C: Immigration Boom, 1840-1860s Background: The issue of immigration had never been so emotional for Americans before the 1830s, but mid-19th century revolutions and famine in Europe combined with a need for more sources for labor in America's burgeoning economy led to an immigration boom like America had never seen. Between 1840 & 1860, 4 million new immigrants, mostly from Ireland and Germany, steamed across the Atlantic to America. How did Americans respond? 1. Historian Dr. Edward T. O'Donnell article about Maria Monk’s novel, The Awful Disclosures of the Hotel Dieu Nunnery of Montreal. The completed fabricated story was the best selling popular book in American before Uncle Tom’s Cabin was released. Maria Monk...claimed to be a former Catholic nun, and in 1836 she published in New York a book purporting to be an exposé of the looming Catholic menace (Irish immigrants were mostly Catholic), "The Awful Disclosures of the Hotel Dieu Nunnery of Montreal."...It told how...Nuns had to submit to the lustful desires of priests, and the babies that resulted from these liaisons were strangled and buried in the convent basement...According to this tale of woe, Monk eventually became pregnant and fled the convent to save her unborn child. A kindly Protestant minister rescued her and helped her publish the account of her experience so as to warn America of the menace in its midst. An investigation exposed Monk as a fraud, but the book nonetheless sold hundreds of thousands of copies over the next 15 years. 2. 1844 Philadelphia Nativist Riots In May, 1844 the largest antebellum riot in American history broke out in Philadelphia. The rioters targeted the rising population. At least fourteen were killed and another fifty people were injured, two Catholic churches were burned a their homes. The press described the causes of these riots as the natural outcome of the hatred between people of diff 3. George Prentice, editor of the Louisville Daily Journal, August, 1855. “(Irish Catholics are) the most pestilent influence of the foreign swarms...loyal to...an inflated Italian despot (The Pope) who keeps people kissing his toes all day…(the paper’s readers should) crush a faction of foreigners, political Papists and Anti-American native demagogues. ...Rally to preserve the homogeneous character of American institutions from the corrupting influences of a mixed foreign rabble." A few days after publication, anti-immigrant rioters killed 22 Irish Catholics in Louisville, Kentucky. 4. “Know Nothing” Almanac, 1856. This publication came from a new and fast growing political party called the American Party, better known as the “Know Nothing Party.” The Party won 51 seats in the House in 1854, the largest number of seats for a 3rd party in U.S. history. The party quickly dissolved as the U.S. fell into Civil War. “Why are you poor? The competition of cheap foreign labor in the American labor market...Immigrants are used to starvation wages and living in squalid poverty in Europe but Americans should not be degraded in accepting the same.” “Know Nothing” Party Flag 5. Historian Dr. Erika Lee, America for Americans, 2019. There was little truth to the charges (the Know-Nothing claimed that immigrants stole jobs for other Americans). Immigrant workers were typically taking over the most unskilled and menial work, thereby elevating US-born workers to more skilled, supervisory, and higher-paying positions. Wages remained constant up through 1855, and in industries that employed both immigrant and American-born workers, the wages in these industries were often higher than those that employed only US-born workers. Nevertheless, within the context of a rapidly changing economy, increasing inflation, and higher prices for goods, the message that immigrants were causing these economic changes had great appeal... 6. The Irish Race? What does this have to do with race? Recall that race is not actually a biological reality, it is a social construct and therefore changes over time. Irish Immigrants were not considered “White” in the 19th century. These cartoons from the 1850s-1880s depict Irish immigrants as “ape-like” members of a non-human race. 7. Summaries of Immigration Laws in the “Know Nothing” Era Variation in State Laws The Know Nothings dominated elections in Massachusetts and Connecticut and these states passed new literacy tests requirements for voting & added an additional two year gap between naturalization and voting. However, California allowed immigrants to vote before citizenship because they wanted to increase population for labor as quickly as possible From Integration of Immigrants into American Society, textbook, 2016 Federal Policy: Immigration Act of 1864 The only federal policy change of the era came from the Immigration Act of 1864, also known as the “Act to Encourage Immigration.” The purpose was to address labor shortages due to the Civil War. This act made contracts for immigrant labor formed abroad enforceable by U.S. courts. From Pew Research Center, 2015 Part 2D: Chinese Migration Intensifies, 1860-1880s Background: Chinese laborers first migrated to California in large numbers in the mid-19th century in hopes of striking it rich in the Gold Rush. These laborers were eventually instrumental in completion of the Transcontinental Railroad. How did Americans respond to this new wave of immigration? Source: Poster for a public meeting in Tacoma, Washington. July 23, 1892. Source: The Chinese Exclusion Act, overwhelmingly passed in the House of Representatives by a 202-37 vote, and signed by President Aurther on May 6, 1882. ...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...Therefore, the coming of Chinese laborers to the United States be, and the same is hereby, suspended;... ...And any Chinese person found unlawfully within the United States shall be caused to be removed therefrom... SEC. 14. That hereafter no State court or court of the United States shall admit Chinese to citizenship; and all laws in conflict with this act are hereby repealed. Source: The Chinese Exclusion Act was truly unprecedented, did the Federal Government have the right to ban an entire ethnic group? The question made it all the way to the Supreme Court. The following is a summary of Constitutional law expert Garrett Epps’s article “The Ghost of Chae Chan Ping,” 2018. The Chinese Exclusion Act was upheld and Chinese laborers were banned from entry into the United States for many decades. The Supreme Court ruled once and for all that the Federal government did have the right to ban certain immigrants. The justification was that foreign immigrants could potentially be a military threat and therefore it is within the Federal government’s right to prevent their entry. Any nation has the obvious right to protect itself and therefore the Constitution could not prevent this right of the government. Source: Rock Springs Massacre drawing that appeared in 1886. The massacre took place on September 2, 1885 in Wyoming territory. White workers massacred 28 and 79 Chinese homes were burned to the ground. Source: The Wasp, anti-immigrant magazine in San Francisco, May 26, 1882. The cartoon promotes a popular myth that diseases were rampant in Chinatown. This myth was often cited as an excuse to remove Chinese immigrants from the city. The dresses on the ghost read: “malarium,” “small-pox,” and “leprosy.”