By Jacques Engelbrecht, Alex Tredy, Mickey Gavin Introduction Anti-immigration laws of the 1920’s Emergency Quota Act The immigration level was limited to 3% in 1921 by the Emergency Quota Act, soon to be limited by the Immigration Act of 1924, which brought it down to 2%.
The average annual inflow of immigrants prior to 1921 was 175,983 from Northern and Western Europe, and 685,531 from other countries, mostly from Southern and Eastern Europe. Emergency Quota Act The 2% level was reached in the Quota Act of 1924, where levels dropped to 140,999 for Northern and Western Europe, and 21,847 for other countries, principally Southern and Eastern Europe.
The census used for the Emergency Quota Act was the 1910 census. (The Immigration Act of 1924 was based on the census of 1890.)
The Act set no limits on immigration from Latin America. Emergency Quota Act In 1921, the incoming immigrant population was settled down to 198,082 from Northern and Western Europe, and 158,367 from principally Southern and Eastern Europe (including other countries), being shown as a drastic reduction in immigration levels from other countries, principally Southern and Eastern Europe. This also portrays a 3% level in reduction. This was due to the Emergency Quota Act of 1921. Why America Wanted To Restrict Immigration During the 1920’s The 1920s unfolded at the tail end of the greatest wave of immigration in American history. Between 1880 and 1920, more than 25 million foreigners arrived on American shores, transforming the country. The immigrant surge of the late 19th and early 20th century was distinctive in its size, its demographics, and its impact upon American culture and society. Introduction More than 80% of the arrivals after 1890 were so-called "New Immigrants," natives of Southern and Eastern Europe, culturally and ethnically perceived to be quite different from the Germans and Britons who had embodied the bulk of the immigration into the United States in earlier periods. Italians, Poles, Jews, and Slavs arrived in large numbers. During 1880-1920 25 million foreigners came to American shores.
Americans were upset because the African Americans from a different race were taking their jobs.
Immigrants ultimate goal was to earn a higher salary here in the U.S. Effect of Laws on American Society of the 1920’s The settlement of the newcomers appalled the natives of the U.S.
The uproar caused the American Government to implement Immigration Acts.
Act of 1924 set quotas, which only accepted a certain amount of Immigrants annually.
The Act of 1924 also prohibited certain places from the Asia Pacific Triangle, Japan China, and the Philippines just to name a few. The Johnson-Reed Act The Immigration Act of 1924 limited the number of immigrants allowed entry into the United States through a national origins quota. The quota provided immigration visas to two percent of the total number of people of each nationality in the United States as of the 1890 national census. It completely excluded immigrants from Asia. The National Origins Act In 1924 Congress passed a discriminatory immigration law that restricted the immigration of Southern and Eastern Europeans and practically excluded Asians and other nonwhites from entry into the United States. This act instituted admission quotas by using the 1890 census to determine the population of a particular nationality group; the government then only allowed 2 percent of that population into the nation. The National Origins Act In addition, the act completely barred immigration for all those whom the Supreme Court prohibited from obtaining U.S. citizenship, specifically Asians. The National Origins Act drastically lowered the annual quota of immigration, from 358,000 to 164,000. Congress abolished the national origins quota system in the 1960s. Work Cited Appleby, Joyce Oldham. The American Vision. New York: Glencoe McGraw-Hill, 2005. Print.
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Perret, Geoffrey. America in the Twenties: A History. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1982.