Nationalism and Growing Hatred of Immigrants Essay Example

Americans have also had a strong sense of national pride. It’s been strong during war, times of struggle, and times of tragedy, and good times we don’t want to end. But it’s also been used to discriminate against groups of people who are not originally from America. In this Essay we are going to be discussing the nativism against three main groups of Immigrants, the Irish/German immigrants, the Chinese/other Asian immigrants, and the Southern and Eastern Europeans.

When the Irish and Germans came over to the states there was opposition almost immediately. For the Irish, they faced the most discrimination because they were Catholics. America was predominately protestant at the time and thought that Catholicism itself could destroy American republicanism (Greene lecture, 9/20). The Irish described coming to America as “involuntary, non-responsible exiles” (Miller, Pg. 113) The Irish also came from peasant class, which meant they were not very educated, were not literate, and Americans felt they brought no valuable skills to the United States (Greene lecture, 9/13). The Germans also came from peasant background, so they also were not very educated, they were illiterate, they did not speak English and were also thought to bring no useful skills over to the United States. Both groups also had very strong native roots themselves so Americans were especially scared that they wouldn’t assimilate to American culture and didn’t want them bringing their cultures here (Miller, Pg. 113). 

The Asian immigrants faced similar battles but had a few key differences. They were laborers and the big rush of Asian immigration came when news of gold in California was spread. So, when they came over to mine for gold this sparked outcry with the whites who felt like their gold was being stolen by immigrants (Green lecture, 10/4). After the gold rush they started working on the railroads and employers liked hiring immigrant workers because they could pay them a lot less and exploit them. And during the time of a recession when many white workers were unemployed this sparked outrage and the call to ban them from coming over grew (Greene lecture, 10/4). They were also the first group to have a law that excludes their entire ethnicity (Chinese Exclusion Act 1882). So not only were laborers banned from entering the U.S and all were excluded from becoming citizens, but many were wrongfully deported despite having been there before the act was put in place, especially after the fire of San Francisco destroyed immigration papers (Williams, Pg. 114). The Chinese arguably faced the worst of the nativism and extreme xenophobia towards them.

Southern and Eastern Europeans were peasants who came to the United States due to changes in landowning in their country, they needed money to purchase things which they didn’t originally need (Greene lecture, 10/11). They immigrated during a time when the United States was in recession and many white people were out of work. So, they faced discrimination early on due to the fact people felt like they were stealing jobs, since they made up about two thirds of the work force (Barrett, Pg. 242). But they were working in factories in horrible conditions, which were jobs many people didn’t want. When asked by a congressman “about how many are foreigners?” Mr. Martin replied, “about 70 percent, I should judge” (Martin, pg. 232). So about 70 percent of workers in factories were foreigners. The American public were outraged by that which is why laws like the National Origins Act of 1924 were passed. That act states that only 2% of the total number of people who were in the US from each country in 1890 (Greene lecture, 10/11) which was a directly targeting European Immigrants. 

Each group of immigrants struggled against whites wanting them out of the country and especially out of the workforce. They were made fun of in political comics, degraded, exploited by corporations, harassed, attacked, and some even murdered. Laws were passed to try and exclude them from coming to America and made it so only white people could become citizens. But only certain types of whites could become citizens. These immigrants each faced the same types of nativism and xenophobic behavior by whites in America, but each group also had their own unique struggles that we discussed in this essay. They wanted to destroy the cultures these people had and if they didn’t assimilate, they would be targets for people who wanted them gone.