Immigration

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


Immigrants were mainly coming from western & northern Europe.


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


Ellis Island & Angel Island were the two major immigration processing stations in the United States.


3. Define Melting Pot.


The term "Melting Pot" was used to describe the United States, because it was meant in the sense that the United States was a mixture of people of many different races and cultures who blended together by abandoning their native languages and customs and taking up American ways.


4. Define Nativism.


Nativism is overt favoritism towards native-born Americans.


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


Anglo-Saxons... British, German, Scandinavian, historically free, energetic & progressive.


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


Slavic, Latin, Asiatic, historically down-trodden & stagnant.


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


Nativists sometimes objected to an immigrant's religious background because many nativists were protestant and thought that the Roman Catholic & Jew 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 was passed because many nativists were afraid that their jobs would be taken by the Chinese immigrants due to the fact that they accepted lower than average wages.