Question

discuss immigration to America, 1900-1924. What was the response of "Old-Stock" Americans?

Answer 1

Immigration to America peaked in the decade following 1900 as million people alone entered the country through one check point itself. There was increasing xenophobia as populations started to rise and cities increasingly started to comprise of immigrants and first generation citizens. This led to an immigration Act being established with a literacy requirement and national quotas being set. It favoured immigration from European countries with citizens from Great Britain, Ireland and Germany comprising majority of the visas being granted.

Old stock Americans are basically characterized as Americans who descended from the original settlers in America. They were mostly of British ancestry who colonized America. Majority of them were protestants and thus were anti catholic and anti immigration proponents.

Thus the old stock Americans were anti-immigrants and did not like immigrants flooding the country especially from East Asia and Eastern Europe. It led to them opting for measures to stem the flow of immigrants by first instituting indirect laws where only literate people were allowed to enter, and then to completely limit immigration from such countries via imposition of national quotas and increasing quotas for those countries who were aligned with their interests of similar taste and preferences.