What combination of economic, racial, and ethnic fears led to immigration restrictions in the 1920s
Millions of immigrants, most from Europe, arrived in the U.S. in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Many of these immigrants were from Southern and Eastern Europe, and many were Catholics and Jews. Also, Mexican immigrants moved north into the American Southwest. Some Americans resented these new immigrants. These Americans were called nativists because they believed that the United States should defend the interests and wishes of citizens who were born here, whom they considered "natives." Nativists wanted the government to discourage immigrants from moving into the nation. They accused immigrants of competing for jobs. Nativism was strongly motivated by ethnic and religious prejudice. In 1921, Congress restricted immigration into the U.S. In 1924, opponents of immigration passed the National Origins Act, which greatly restricted immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe, and completely banned immigration from East Asia. This act would govern American immigration until the 1960s.
The most notorious nativists were members of the Ku Klux Klan. The original Klan was formed after the Civil War to oppose the extension of freedoms to African Americans in the South. The newer Klan, founded in Georgia in 1915, directed its anger primarily toward Catholics, Jews, and immigrants. The Klan was not found only in the South, but in the North as well. Indiana had more Klan members than any other state.