Responses to Immigration in the Gilded Age (College Board AP® US History): Flashcards

Nativism was the belief that native-born Americans were superior to immigrants and should have more rights and opportunities.

Nativists feared new cultures would weaken traditional American values.

Nativists especially opposed Jewish and Catholic immigrants, whom they saw as incompatible with the dominant Protestant culture.

Lodge especially wanted to keep out immigrants from countries that were not mostly Anglo-Saxon.

The American Protective Association was a powerful anti-Catholic organization that pushed for laws restricting Catholic immigration.

Unions argued that immigrants would work for lower wages, reducing jobs for native-born workers.

True.

It was passed in response to anti-Chinese hostility, especially on the West Coast, where the growth of the Chinese population had made some people fearful.

It banned the immigration of Chinese laborers for ten years and barred Chinese immigrants from becoming US citizens.

The Chinese Exclusion Act was renewed and expanded until it was fully repealed in 1943.

Assimilation was the process of encouraging immigrants to adapt to American culture by learning English, adopting American customs, and abandoning aspects of their native culture.