Immigration Act of 1924

Questions for Further Study

• 1. How might culture have been a significant factor in the shifting attitudes toward immigrants in the 1920s from previous immigration in the nineteenth century?
• 2. In what ways might the social progressivism of the 1920s have helped influence the growing push for American hegemony? Why might immigrants be blamed for the growing American liberalism?
• 3. Why did the United States not simply limit immigration to specific countries instead of basing it off the 1890 census? What foreign policy issues might have been created by an outward ban?
• 4. What does the shift from America's country-of-origin quota system to a visa quota say about America's views regarding multiculturalism compared with the 1920s?
• 5. In what ways are the same concerns of the political leadership in 1924 being discussed in the United States today? What lessons can be learned from the Immigration Act of 1924 in considering future immigration policy?