Chapter 18: New Immigrants and Nativism - History 1302 - Inquizitive

Which statements regarding Chinese immigration could be supported by this document?

- Chinese immigrants came to the United States for economic opportunity. - Just like most other immigrants at the time, the Chinese were hard-working and industrious.

Select the passages from Robert Ingersoll's speech that contradict arguments made in the documents by Denis Kearney and Senator Henry Cabot Lodge.

- (These Chinese laborers are inoffensive, peaceable and law-abiding. They are honest, keeping their contracts, doing as they agree. They are exceedingly industrious, always ready to work and always giving satisfaction to their employers.) - (The Chinese are not driven away because there is no room for them. Our country is not crowded. There are many millions of acres waiting for the plow. There is plenty of room here under our flag for five hundred millions of people. These Chinese that we wish to oppress and imprison are people who understand the art of irrigation. They can redeem the deserts. They are the best of gardeners.)

Which statements regarding immigration into the United States during the late 1800s to early 1900s could be supported by this document?

- Most newly arriving immigrants were able to obtain work in manual labor jobs. - While most immigrants came to the United States for economic opportunity, some planned to earn money and then return to their original homeland.

Which statements regarding immigration into the United States during the late 1800s to early 1900s could be supported by this document?

- Newly arriving immigrants, the Chinese in particular, aroused strong anti-immigrant emotions among nativist Americans. - Chinese immigrants were willing to work menial service and manual labor jobs for low wages. - Some nativists were willing to resort to violence in their efforts to limit or prevent immigration.

Which primary source documents could be used to support the concept of the melting pot as a model for immigrant experiences in the late 1800s to early 1900s?

- Robert Ingersoll's speech on Chinese immigration - Rocco Corresca's account of his immigrant experience

Select the passages that illustrate the racial and ethnic aspect of anti-immigrant nativism in the late 1800s to early 1900s.

- Russians, Hungarians, Poles, Bohemians, Italians, Greeks, and even Asiatics, whose immigration to America was almost unknown twenty years ago, have during the last twenty years poured in in steadily increasing numbers until now they nearly equal the immigration of those races kindred in blood or speech, or both, by whom the United States has hitherto been built up and the American people formed -

Which statements regarding nativist reactions to immigration could be supported by this document?

- Unrestricted immigration brought in cheap foreign labor that threatened the wage rates of hard-working Americans. - Nativists believed immigrants were from undesirable, mongrel races which would degrade the dominant White racial stock and change America in a negative way.

Based on this document, what was the main reason for eliminating Chinese immigration into the United States?

Chinese immigrants were willing to work manual labor and service jobs for low wages, which threatened jobs and wages for other (mostly White) Americans.

Which statements are supported by this overview of the historical debates on the melting-pot model of immigration during the late 1800s to early 1900s?

Correct Answer: - The wave of "new immigrants" created nativist fears that traditional Anglo-Saxon American culture and society would be changed for the worse. - Some historians argued that the "new immigrants" could and did blend or assimilate into mainstream American culture. Incorrect Answer: - The "new immigrants" were welcomed by most people in the United States. - The melting-pot model remains the dominant explanation of the experience of immigrants in the United States.

Match each of the passages to the correct document.

Henry Cabot Lodge: "In other words, there is a limit to the capacity of any race for assimilating and elevating an inferior race; and when you begin to pour in unlimited numbers people of alien or lower races of less social efficiency and less moral force, you are running the most frightful risk that a people can run. The lowering of a great race means not only its own decline, but that of civilization. ..." Denis Kearney: "We are men, and propose to live like men in this free land, without the contamination of slave labor, or die like men, if need be, in asserting the rights of our race, our country, and our families. California must be all American or all Chinese. We are resolved that it shall be American, and are prepared to make it so." Rocco Corresca: "We had said that when we saved $1,000 each we would go back to Italy and buy a farm, but now that the time is coming we are so busy and making so much money that we think we will stay. We have opened another parlor near South Ferry, in New York. We have to pay $30 a month rent, but the business is very good. The boys in the place charge sixty cents a day because there is so much work." Robert G. Ingersoll: "When the rights of even one human being are held in contempt the rights of all are in danger. We cannot destroy the liberties of others without losing our own. By exciting the prejudices of the ignorant we at last produce a contempt for law and justice, and sow the seeds of violence and crime. . . . "

Which passages from the first two documents could be used as evidence to support the arguments for restricting immigration made in the speech by Senator Lodge?

Ingersoll: - "They have no voice in the making or the execution of the laws. They attend to their own business. They have their own ideas, customs, religion and ceremonies." Corresca: - "A man came and said that he would get us made Americans for fifty cents and then we could get two dollars for our votes."

Based on this speech about the exclusion of Chinese immigrants in this period, what was the main reason for eliminating Chinese immigration into the United States?

The Chinese were substantially different in appearance, dress, and cultural habits from most Americans

Select the passages that support the argument that "new immigrants" of the late 1800s to early 1900s were able to (and did) adjust and assimilate into American culture.

We were so long on the water that we began to think we should never get to America or that, perhaps, there was not any such place, but at last we saw land and came up to New York... We were all landed on an island [Ellis Island], and the bosses there said that Francisco and I must go back because we had not enough money, but a man named Bartolo came up and told them that we were brothers and he was our uncle and would take care of us. He brought two other men who swore that they knew us in Italy and that Bartolo was our uncle. I had never seen any of them before, but even then Bartolo might be my uncle, so I did not say anything. The bosses of the island let us go out with Bartolo after he had made the oath. ... (We had said that when we saved $1,000 each we would go back to Italy and buy a farm, but now that the time is coming we are so busy and making so much money that we think we will stay. We have opened another parlor near South Ferry, in New York. We have to pay $30 a month rent, but the business is very good). The boys in the place charge sixty cents a day because there is so much work. (There are two kinds of people that vote here, Republicans and Democrats. I went to a Republican meeting and the man said that the Republicans want a Republic and the Democrats are against it. He said that Democrats are for a king whose name is [William Jennings] Bryan and who is an Irishman. There are some good Irishmen, but many of them insult Italians. They call us Dagoes. So I will be a Republican.) (On Sundays we get a horse and carriage from the grocer and go down to Coney Island. We go to the theatres often and other evenings we go to the houses of our friends and play cards. I am nineteen years of age now and have $700 saved. Francisco is twenty one and has about $900. We shall open some more [shoeshine] parlors soon.

Match the document passages with the correct statement on whether or not the passage contradicts the melting-pot model of immigration.

contradicts the melting-pot model: - Passage 1 (Ingersoll):"They do not interfere with other people. They cannot become citizens. They have no voice in the making or the execution of the laws. They attend to their own business. They have their own ideas, customs, religion and ceremonies—about as foolish as our own." does not contradict the melting-pot model: - Passage 2 (Ingersoll):"The Irish and Germans improved their condition. They went into other businesses, into the higher and more lucrative trades. They entered the professions, turned their attention to politics, became merchants, brokers, and professors in colleges. They are not now building railroads or digging on public works. They are contractors, legislators, holders of office, and the Italians and Chinese are doing the old work." - Passage 3 (Corresca):"We had said that when we saved $1,000 each we would go back to Italy and buy a farm, but now that the time is coming we are so busy and making so much money that we think we will stay. We have opened another parlor near South Ferry, in New York." - Passage 4 (Lodge):"If a lower race mixes whit a higher in sufficient numbers, history teaches us that the lower race will prevail. The lower race will absorb the higher, not the higher the lower, when the two strains approach equality in numbers. In other words, there is a limit to the capacity of any race for assimilating and elevating an inferior race . . ."