Who Gets To Be an American?

1. Set Focus
Pose this essential question: Why is there national tension around immigration?

2. List Vocabulary

Share some of the challenging vocabulary words in the article. Encourage students to use context to infer meanings as they read.

• barring (p. 20)
• template (p. 20)
• nonpartisan (p. 21)
• contention (p. 21
• polarized (p. 21)
• assimilative (p. 21)

3. Engage
Call students’ attention to the photos on pages 19 and 21. Discuss: In what ways do you think the American immigrant experience has changed over time? In what ways do you think it has stayed the same? Revisit this discussion after the lesson, having students share any new insights they’ve gained. 

4. Read and Discuss
Ask students to read the Upfront article about the Immigration Act of 1924. Review why the article is a secondary source. (It was written by someone who didn’t personally experience or witness the events.) Then pose these critical-thinking questions and ask students to cite text evidence when answering them:

• Why was the national policy toward immigration more lenient prior to 1875? Why did attitudes change? (Before 1875, American immigration policy was more lenient because westward expansion, the industrial revolution, and the end of slavery created demand for workers. However, as diversity in America grew, many citizens objected to immigrants whose beliefs and values differed from their own. The backlash grew after World War I and the Russian Revolution due to fear that immigrants would import Communism and anarchism.)

• According to the article, why did officials use the 1890 census as a template to determine immigration quotas, as opposed to a more recent census? (The 1890 census served as the template for the quotas because it was taken before the massive influx of immigrants from Italy and Eastern Europe. By setting the quotas in accordance with what the country’s population looked like in 1890, legislators could guarantee that most new immigrants would be more like themselves.)

• A.K. Sandoval-Strausz, a historian at Penn State University, calls the effect of the immigration changes “catastrophic.” What evidence does he offer to support his conclusion? (Sandoval-Strausz cites the fact that immigration rules made it so that the U.S. could not accept millions of Jews and refugees fleeing the Holocaust.)

• What does history professor Gary Gerstle think will resolve America’s current anxieties over immigration? What evidence does he offer to support his conclusion? (Gerstle believes that time and the assimilation of newcomers will solve America’s current anxieties over immigration. He cites the fact that the immigrants targeted by the 1924 bill eventually became the generation that fought in World War II.)

5. Use the Primary Sources
Project, distribute, or assign in Google Classroom the PDF ‘Wholly Dissimilar to the Native-born Americans,’ which features an excerpt from an op-ed by Pennsylvania Senator David Reed, one of the co-authors of the 1924 immigration law. Discuss what makes the op-ed a primary source. (It provides firsthand evidence concerning the topic.) Have students read the excerpt and answer the questions below (which appear on the PDF without answers).

• What is the tone and purpose of this excerpt? (The tone can be described as formal and explanatory. The purpose of the excerpt is to explain the three purposes of the Immigration Act of 1924 and the reasons behind the quotas it established.)

• According to Reed, what are the three purposes of the Immigration Act of 1924? Support your answer with details from the text. (The first purpose is to stop the influx of immigrants because, according to Reed, they are no longer needed and may “have a baleful effect upon American wages and standards of living.” The second purpose is to limit the number of Americans who come from outside of Northwestern Europe because “they are untrained in self-government” and “want neither to learn our common speech nor to share our common life.” The third purpose is to end the process of deciding someone’s immigration status after they get to America, but to instead have consuls “make a preliminary decision about each Immigrant before giving him a visa.”)

• What ideas about Americanism and immigration does Reed convey through this excerpt? (Through the excerpt, Reed conveys that “Americans” are from Northwestern Europe, speak the same language, and share the same customs and values. He believes that immigrants who come from other places will not assimilate and should be less entitled to come.)

• What is the significance of Reed’s use of personification (“she”) when discussing America in the second paragraph? (Through his use of personification, Reed implies that “America” is not an abstract concept, but instead is a person like him who wants immigration limits. In doing so, he projects his identity onto the entire nation and implies that his beliefs are inarguably correct.)

• Reed states, “With the wisdom of such a policy of exclusion there can be no real disagreement.” What details from the Upfront article contradict Reed’s assertion? (Students should cite details from the article that describe why this legislation was revised and overturned.) 

6. Writing Prompt
How are current arguments over immigration similar to and different from what they were in 1924? Support your response using evidence from the article, the primary source, and additional research.

7. Quiz & Skills
Use the quiz to assess comprehension and the Analyze the Photo skill sheet to practice visual analysis.

8. Classroom Debate
Should the U.S. adjust its current limits on immigration?

9. Literature Link
Pair this article and letter with Emma Lazarus’s poem “The New Colossus,” which appears on the Statue of Liberty’s pedestal. Read the poem at nps.gov/stli/learn/historyculture/colossus.htm and discuss its message about immigration.