Immigrants, Progressives, and Exclusion Politics

Immigrants, Progressives, and Exclusion Politics
Author :
Publisher :
Total Pages : 198
Release :
ISBN-10 : 0875803237
ISBN-13 : 9780875803234
Rating : 4/5 (234 Downloads)

Book Synopsis Immigrants, Progressives, and Exclusion Politics by : Robert F. Zeidel

Download or read book Immigrants, Progressives, and Exclusion Politics written by Robert F. Zeidel and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 198 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The "Great American Problem" at the turn of the twentieth century was immigration. In the years after the Civil War, not only had the annual numbers of immigrants skyrocketed but the demographic mix had changed. These so-called new immigrants came from eastern and southern Europe; many were Catholics or Jews. Clustered in the slums, clinging to their homeland traditions, they drew suspicion. Rumors of a papist conspiracy and a wave of anti-Semitism swept the nation as rabid nativists crusaded--sometimes violently--for the elimination of 'foreigners'. In place of wholesale denunciation, wild theories, and impractical propositions, however, progressive reformers proposed the calm consideration of rational and practical measures. With their faith in social engineering, they believed that enlightened public policy would lead to prosperity and justice. Such was the hope of the Dillingham Commission, appointed by Congress in 1907 to investigate the immigrant problem. In Immigrants, Progressives, and Exclusion Politics, Robert Zeidel introduces the nine members of the Dillingham Commission, created by the Immigration Act of 1907, and shadows them from day to day, in the office, on board ship, at the inspection station. With every mile they traveled through Europe, with every form that their staff completed, the commissioners meticulously gathered facts. On every page of their 41-volume report, they sought to present those facts without bias. In general, the Dillingham Commission reached positive conclusions about immigrants. While it recommended a few restrictions, it did so primarily for economic--rather than cultural or "racial"--reasons. With the isolationist backlash after the Great War and in the face of the Red Scare, the commission saw its work hijacked. Compiled in the spirit of objectivity, the report was employed to justify purely nativist goals as the United States imposed stringent regulations limiting the number of immigrants from other countries. Prejudice trumped progressive idealism. As Zeidel demonstrates, social scientists in the 1920s learned what physicists would discover two decades later: scientists do not control the consequences of their research.


Immigrants, Progressives, and Exclusion Politics Related Books

Immigrants, Progressives, and Exclusion Politics
Language: en
Pages: 198
Authors: Robert F. Zeidel
Categories: History
Type: BOOK - Published: 2004 - Publisher:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The "Great American Problem" at the turn of the twentieth century was immigration. In the years after the Civil War, not only had the annual numbers of immigran
Immigration and the Politics of Welfare Exclusion
Language: en
Pages: 320
Authors: Edward A. Koning
Categories: Political Science
Type: BOOK - Published: 2019-01-01 - Publisher: University of Toronto Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Why do some governments try to limit immigrants' access to social benefits and entitlements while others do not? Through an in-depth study of Sweden, Canada, an
Democracy for All
Language: en
Pages: 254
Authors: Ronald Hayduk
Categories: Political Science
Type: BOOK - Published: 2006 - Publisher: Routledge

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

First Published in 2006. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
Inventing the Immigration Problem
Language: en
Pages: 236
Authors: Katherine Benton-Cohen
Categories: History
Type: BOOK - Published: 2018-05-07 - Publisher: Harvard University Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In 1907 the U.S. Congress created a joint commission to investigate what many Americans saw as a national crisis: an unprecedented number of immigrants flowing
The Men and Women We Want
Language: en
Pages: 216
Authors: Jeanne D. Petit
Categories: History
Type: BOOK - Published: 2010 - Publisher: University Rochester Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Should immigrants have to pass a literacy test in order to enter the United States? Progressive-Era Americans debated this question for more than twenty years,