Nativism Essay ⋆ Essays on Controversial Topics ⋆ EssayEmpire

Nativism refers to the beliefs and policies favoring native-born citizens over immigrants. Nativism emerged in dramatic fashion in the mid-19th century as Europeans arrived in large numbers from countries other than Great Britain and the Netherlands. Roman Catholic settlers in general and the Irish in particular were among the first Europeans to be ill treated. Anti-Catholic feeling originated in Europe and was brought by the early Protestant immigrants.

From independence until around 1820, little evidence appeared of the anti-Catholic sentiment of colonial days, but the cry against “popery” grew as Irish immigration increased. Prominent citizens encouraged hatred of these new arrivals. Samuel F. B. Morse, inventor of the telegraph and an accomplished painter, wrote a strongly worded anti-Catholic work in 1834. Many readily believed Morse’s warning that the pope planned to move the Vatican to the Mississippi River Valley. This antagonism was not limited to harsh words. From 1834 to 1854, mob violence against Catholics across the country led to death, the burning of a Boston convent, the destruction of a Catholic church and the homes of Catholics, and the use of Marines and state militia to bring peace to U.S. cities as far west as St. Louis.

By the 1850s, nativism became an open political movement pledged to vote only for “native” Americans, to fight Catholicism, and to demand a 21-year naturalization period. Party members were instructed to divulge nothing about their program and to say that they knew nothing about it. As a result, they came to be called the Know-Nothings. They blamed immigrants for virtually any economic, political, social, and political problem. Although the Know-Nothings soon vanished, the anti-alien mentality survived and occasionally became formally organized into such societies as the Ku Klux Klan.

The even more dramatic outbreak of nativism in the 19th century was aimed at the Chinese. If there was still the lingering belief that the United States could quietly and harmoniously accommodate all, debate on the Chinese Exclusion Act would negatively settle the question once and for all. Nativism sentiment continued into the 1900s, targeting Italian and Polish immigrants, Japanese immigrants after Pearl Harbor, Eastern European Jews after World War II, Vietnamese and other South Asian refugees of the 1970s, and the Cuban “Marielito” refugees of the 1980s.

Anti-immigration views and organized movements have continued into the 21st century. Political scientist Samuel P. Huntington (1996) referred to the continuing immigration as a clash of civilizations that could only be remedied by significantly reducing legal immigration and closing the border to illegal arrivals. Beginning in the 1990s and continuing through the present, recent immigrants and their descendants are stereotyped as responsible for a variety of social problems, such as overcrowded housing, unemployment, crime, overstretched health services, and burdened public schools.

Nativistic sentiments are not unique to the United States. Virtually all nations that have attracted immigrants have, at different historical periods, developed anti-alien sentiments, especially when the immigrants are culturally different from the host society. Concerns about terrorism have added a new nativistic element in countries like England, Spain, and the United States, which have witnessed high-profile attacks in recent years.

Bibliography:

Gerber, David A. 1993. Nativism, Anti-Catholicism, and Anti-Semitism. New York: Scribner’s.
Huntington, Samuel P. 1996. The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Morse, Samuel F. B. 1835. Foreign Conspiracy against the Liberties of United States. New York: Leavitt, Lord.

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