Immigration

1. What major areas or countries of the world were immigrants coming from?

Europe, Asia, the Caribbean and Mexico were major areas and countries of the world were immigrants were coming from.

2. What were the two major immigration processing stations in the United States?

Ellis Island and Angel Island were the two major immigration processing stations in the United States. Europeans arriving on the East coast went to Ellis Island while Asians mostly Chinese arrive on the West Coast and went to Angel Island.

3. Define Melting Pot.

The term Melting Pot refers to a mixture of people of different cultures and races who blend together by abandoning their native languages and customs.


4. Define Nativism.

Nativism is overt favoritism towards native born people in this case native born Americans.

5. According to the Immigration Restriction League, list the desirable immigrants.

According to the Immigration Restriction League desired immigrants as being British, German and Scandinavian people historically free, energetic, and progressive.


6. According to the Immigration Restriction League, list the “wrong” immigrants.

According to the Immigration Restriction League the "wrong" immigrants were Slave, Latin and Asiatic races, historically down trodden and stagnant. 


7. Why did nativists’ sometimes object to an immigrant’s religious background?

Many native born Americans were Protestants and thought Roman Catholic and Jewish immigrants would undermine the democratic institutions established by the country's Protestant founders.

8. Why was the Chinese Exclusion Act passed?


The Chinese Exclusion Act banned Chinese immigration, except to a few such as students and teachers for ten years beginning in 1882. The law was renewed in 1892 and then extended indefinitely until 1943. The reason for the law was that native born workers particularly in the west worried that jobs were going to Chinese immigrants who worked for less pay. The depression of 1873 increased anti Chinese sentiment in California as work was very scarce. Labor groups backed native workers and pressured the government to restrict Asian immigration. These efforts eventually resulted in the Chinese Exclusion Act.