Assignment 6

Following up on my last post, I want to touch bases on immigration restrictions from 1870-1900. During the late 19 century, nativist and anti-Catholic groups such as the Immigration Restriction League and the American Protective Association(APA), labor union leaders, and several American intellectuals called on the federal government to rethink its immigration policies. They wanted to implement a program of more selective immigration. The movement to restrict the number of immigrants entering the U.S. had first emerged in the 1870's. The main cause of the restriction movement was the social and economic changes taking place in America following the Civil War. These changes had produced a more stratified society where class tensions and labor conflicts abounded. Many Americans saw the immigrants as the main source of social and economic issues. Americans thought immigrants promoted radical or "un-American" interests. Also they were viewed as mentally and physically inferior and believed they corrupted politics by selling their votes, were prone to poverty and crime, undermined the standard of living of American workers, and posed a threat to traditional American values.
From the beginning of restriction on immigrations there were labor unions with the opposition focused on the Chinese in California. The Workingmen's Party of California blamed unemployment and low wages on Chinese immigration. Supported by labor organizations in the East, western labor leaders lobbied Congress to pass restrictive measures aimed to reduce the number of Chinese immigrants entering the United States.