America Where Dreams Are Made or Where Nightmares Begin?

Throughout American history, millions upon millions of people around the world have left their countries for a chance to start a new life in this country, and they continue to come here to this day. For the past 400 years, immigrants have had a myriad of reasons to come to America. Some came to escape the troubles of war, others for the freedom to practice the religion that they desire. Others came for the opportunity to own land, start a business or simply for a prospect to work, earn money and elude poverty. Shortly, after the eighteenth century a new cluster of immigrants made their way towards the shores of America. All anticipating for a new start, a new chapter in their lives. However, not all immigrants were greeted with roses and welcome signs. In fact, there were many factors that made their arrival to America rather depressing than cheerful. In the second half of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century, the policy of the US government, along with the consensus of its native-born population towards immigration was largely negative. There are multiple sources that help justify my view, which will be later demonstrated in my upcoming paragraphs.

From the end of the nineteenth century to the early twenty-first, the federal government started taking control over the immigration policy. Throughout the duration of this time period, the nation also witnessed the two greatest immigration waves in the American history, with it also came highly restrictive immigration laws. Until the end of the nineteenth century, immigration in the United States was under the control of the states. In 1875, the Supreme Court ruled that state laws regulating immigration were unconstitutional because they were erratic with the power of the U.S. Congress to regulate foreign commerce. This recognition of the exclusive power of Congress over immigration lead the way to immigration policy, therefore, the establishment of procedures and locations for federal control of immigration. In 1891, The construction of the Ellis Island federal immigration facility symbolized the beginning of a new chapter in American immigration history.

By 1800, German and Irish immigrants came to the United States in larger numbers. Irish people depended mainly potatoes as their food source. When this crop failed for three years in succession, it led to horrendous consequences. Germans escaped to the United States to avoid economic hardship. With an immeasurable number of immigrants arriving, Americans bursted with hostility. This was due to many aspects such as religious, political, and careers. The Irish, as well as many of the Germans, were Roman Catholic. Anti-Catholic Rioting occurred in many northern cities, and the largest occurred in Philadelphia in 1844. Nativists political parties rose up, the most powerful was known as, the “Know Nothings." This group wanted to enlarge the amount of time it took immigrants to become citizens. The Know-Nothings believed that, only native-born Americans were superior to the immigrant groups on the basis that Irish and German immigrants tended to be impecunious and insignificant. The Irish, in particular, became economic scapegoats during periods of economic uncertainty.

Not all Americans welcomed the new immigrants with greeting cards and hugs. As stated in an immigration article “Many religious leaders were awestruck at the increase of non-Protestant believers. Racial purists feared the genetic outcome of the eventual pooling of these new bloods.” Some Americans believed that the immigrants were vermin specimens washing up into their shores. These "Nativists" solicited successfully to regulate the flow of immigration. In 1882, Congress passed the “Chinese Exclusion Act." The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was the first significant law forbidding immigration into the United States. Congress passed this act to placate worker demands and assuage prevalent concerns about maintaining white “racial purity.” By the 1880s, Chinese immigrants were seen as inferior and an undesirable population,