Putting the Lid on the Melting Pot

Nicholas Hemker
Mrs. Baker
Literary Analysis 11
26 March 2015

Nicholas Hemker
Mrs. Baker
Literary Analysis 11

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26 March 2015

Putting the Lid on the Melting Pot

Leading up to the 1920s, immigration was spiking like never before. Most of these
immigrants came from the poor region in southeastern Europe and from areas in Asia. This
surge, caused by cultural, political, and religious clashes, pushed multiple acts through Congress,
one of which was the Immigration Act of 1924.
The early 20s immigration boom was due mostly to post-WWI Europe. Once peace
came about, immigrants flooded in; Some 800,000 stepped ashore in 1920-1921, about twothirds of them from southern and eastern Europe (Kennedy, Cohen, and Bailey 773). Since
there was such a large difference in cultures, a feeling of nativism-or [the fear that] foreign
hordes would outbreed, outvote, and overwhelm the old native stock sprouted in home-grown
Americans (Kennedy, Cohen, and Bailey 314). This led to a revival of the Ku Klux Klan. The
Ku Klux Klan was:
Antiforeign, anti-Catholic, antiblack, anti-Jewish, antipacifist, anti-Communist, antiinternationalist, antirevolutionist, antibootlegger, antigambling, antiadultery, and antibirth control. It was also pro-Anglo-Saxon, pro-native American, and pro-Protestant
(Kennedy, Cohen, and Bailey 772).
Originally started in the 1850s, the KKK aimed at silencing black cries for relief, but changed
with the times. Boasting a solid 5 million members, it was solid proof that the anti-immigrant
feeling was growing.
Not only were culture clashes an issue, both religion and political stance were major as
well. America had been founded mainly by Protestants, but these newer immigrants were mainly

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Catholic and Jewish. Also, where the older immigrants had contact with some form of
democracy beforehand, these new immigrants had never experienced it before. The countries
they came from were often oppressive and, because of this treatment, socialistic and
communistic ideas were spreading. Americans, favoring democracy, viewed this influx of
anarchists as a direct threat. In 1903, with the Immigration Act (of 1903), Congress declared that
anarchists, beggars, and importers of prostitutes would not be allowed to enter the U.S. The
Immigration Act of 1907 furthered this, excluding those with diseases and disabilities.
Not all immigration during this time came from south-eastern Europe, however.
Although the Chinese were barred, Asian immigrants came in large enough numbers to cause an
uproar. So, in 1917, Congress enacted the first widely restrictive immigration law that paved
the way for the [eventual] 1924 Act (United States Dept. of State). This 1917 act severely
barred all immigration from the Asiatic Barred Zone, which excluded only the Japanese and the
Philippines. This is because the Japanese government had voluntarily limited the number of
Japanese immigrants in the Gentlemans Agreement of 1907 between Japan and the United
States, and the Philippines had become an American colony as a result of the 1898 SpanishAmerican War - thus being American nationals with the ability to travel freely to and from the
United States.
Also in this 1907 Act was a literary test to be administered to those above the age of 14
emigrating to the United States. Even though this was implemented, the people and Congress
still didnt deem it as enough. In 1921 they were persuaded to pass an Act thought up by Senator
William P. Dillingham, which introduced immigration quotas. These quotas capped immigration
from each country at three percent of the amount of people of that nationality living inside the
U.S. in 1910. As written by Howard Zinn,

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The quotas favored Anglo-Saxons, kept out black and yellow people, [and] limited
severely the coming of Latins, Slavs, [and] Jews. No African country could send more
than 100 people; 100 was the limit for China, for Bulgaria, for Palestine; 34,007 could
come from England or Northern Ireland, but only 3,845 from Italy; 51,227 from
Germany, but only 124 from Lithuania; 28,567 from the Irish Free State, but only 2,248
from Russia (382).
This put the total number of visas available each year to new immigrants at 350,000 (United
States Dept. of State). The Act was renewed in 1922 for another two years.
When 1924 rolled around, Congressional debate over immigration started back up.
However, rather than being over whether to maintain it, the debate was merely over how to
adjust it. After debate, the Act passed in May of 1924. It lowered annual immigration visas to
150,000, and took the three percent of foreign citizens down to two percent. The Act also
changed the base year from 1910 to 1890. The basis of the quota also changed. Rather than
being based off of the number of people born outside the United States, the 1924 Act focused on
the origins of the whole United States. For example, a large number of people were of British
descent, because the United States was originally a British colony. Thus, because of this act,
percentage of visas available to individuals from the British Isles and Western Europe increased,
but newer immigration from other areas like Southern and Eastern Europe was limited (United
States Dept. of State).
While immigration restrictions satisfied most people, not all citizens in the 20s
approved of it. Men such as Horace Kallen and Randolph Bourne disliked it. Horace Kallen
believed that immigrants had a right to practice their ancestral customs, thus painting the U.S. as
a symphony orchestra, [so that] each immigrant community would harmonize with the others

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while retaining its own singular identity (Kennedy, Cohen, and Bailey 775). Randolph Bourne,
on the other hand, believed immigration was good, but encouraged cross-cultural mixtures,
proclaiming Americas destiny to be not a nationality but a trans-nationality, a weaving back
and forth, with the other lands, of many threads of all sizes and colors (qtd. in Kennedy, Cohen,
and Bailey 775). Others like Kallen and Bourne (such as John Dewey, Jane Addams, and Louis
Brandeis) kept the fire of debate fueled leading up to the end of the 1920s.
The Immigration Act of 1924 highly affected the recreational ability of the 20s. Due to
the lower amount of immigrants, more jobs were available. Unemployment in the 20s was
down, from 4,270,000 in [the beginning of] 1921 to a little over 2 million in 1927 (Zinn 382).
This allowed for more wages to be earned, which then led to more wages spent. Thus, the
average American was able to participate in recreational activities such as watching or playing
sports.
The Immigration Act of 1924 was influenced by many things, such as former legislation,
cultural, political, and religious clashes, and the nativist attitude. Although some opposed the
Act, it was still able to become the Act that established the restrictive immigration acts of 1921
and 1924 that virtually extinguished migration to the United States for the next four decades
(Brownstein). This restrictive act was not revised until 1952, when those in the Asiatic Barred
Zone were unbarred, and the use of the quota changed.

Works Cited
Brownstein, Ronald. "Turning Inward." National Journal 27 Feb. 2015. General
Reference Center GOLD. Web. 18 Mar. 2015.

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Kennedy, David M., Lizabeth Cohen, and Thomas Bailey. The American Pageant: A
History of the American People. 14th ed. Boston: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2010.
Print.
United States. Department of State. Office of the Historian. The Immigration Act of 1924 (The
Johnson-Reed Act). N.p., n.d. 18 Mar. 2015. <https://history.state.gov/milestones/ 19211936/immigration-act>
United States. Department of State. Office of the Historian. The Immigration and
Nationality Act of 1952 (The McCarran-Walter Act). N.p., n.d. 18 Mar. 2015.
<https://history.state.gov/ milestones/1945-1952/immigration-act>
Zinn, Howard. A Peoples History of the United States. New York: HarperCollins
Publishers, 1980. Print.