Existing comment:
Hostility:
Klan Women Press for Quotas:
During the 1920s, the three million members of the Ku Klux Klan targeted recent immigrants as well as African Americans. In this letter to President Calvin Coolidge, Ohio "Women of the Ku Klux Klan" urged Coolidge to sign legislation that would become the Immigrant Act of 1924, which imposed quotas by nationality.
Fearing "European Depravity":
As immigration from Europe grew during the 1830s and 1840s, an anti-immigrant movement became increasingly vocal about fears that newly arrived "Foreigners" would remain loyal to European rulers and undermine American democratic institutions. This petition from citizens of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, urged Congress to lengthen the waiting time before an immigrant could vote to 21 years. See highlighted text. |