Answer:
In the late 19th century, "Nativism" as a political and social movement swept through the United States. its followers believed that all people who were not born in the U.S. and were of European heritage should be banned from the country.
Explanation:
In the nineteenth century the number of Irish immigrants in the eastern United States grew, and the number of Germans in the Midwest. Irish potato famine and economic instability in Germany caused nearly three million people to reach the United States. Many of these people were Catholic. American Protestants, mainly in urban areas, felt threatened by newcomers. For many, the Catholic Church represented tyranny and subjugation to a foreign power. On a practical level, competition for jobs increased as new workers arrived. As anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic sentiments emerged, nativist groups began to form in cities across the United States.
The best-known nativist movement in the United States emerged in the decades before the Civil War. It was the American Party, better known as Know-Nothings. This movement was a reflection of the difficult times facing society in the nineteenth century. The nation faced the serious conflict over slavery and westward expansion.
This anti-immigrant sentiment in the United States has a history that goes back to the first laws of naturalization. For example, it is important to know that laws were made that established that only those white European immigrants were eligible for naturalization. The nativists of the <em>Know-Nothings</em> movement opposed the entry of German and Irish immigrants in the mid-19th century. In 1882, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Law prohibiting Chinese immigration to the United States.
