Nativism

The term nativism refers to the beliefs and policies favoring native-born citizens over immigrants. Typically, it refers to political actions, but it has also been taken to refer to broader antiforeigner feelings. Virtually all nations that have attracted immigrants have, during different historical periods, developed anti-alien sentiments, especially when the immigrants are culturally different from the host society. This entry, however, focuses on nativism in the United States.

Nativism emerged in dramatic fashion in the mid-19th century as Europeans arrived in large numbers from countries other than Great Britain. In addition, these later immigrants were less likely to be of the Protestant faith. The relative absence of federal immigration legislation until the 1880s does not mean that all these new arrivals were welcomed. Xenophobia, the fear or hatred of strangers or foreigners, naturally led to nativism, which can be viewed as the institutionalization of xenophobia.

Roman Catholic settlers in general and the Irish in particular were among the first Europeans to experience nativism. Anti-Catholic feeling originated in Europe and was brought by the early Protestant immigrants. The Catholics of colonial America, although few, were subject to limits on their civil and religious rights. From independence until around 1820, little evidence appeared of the anti-Catholic sentiment of colonial days, but the cry against “popery” grew as the numbers of Irish immigrants, as well as German Catholics, increased.

One example of nativism was the political movement called the “American Republican Party,” originating in 1843. Eventually, it became known as the “Know-Nothing Party” because of the semisecret nature of the group. When members were asked about its activities, they were supposed to reply “I know nothing.” Levi Boone was elected mayor of Chicago on the Know-Nothing ticket in 1855. Reflecting nativism, he barred all immigrants from city jobs and created policies that significantly curtailed German-and Irish-owned taverns within the city. Revivals of anti-Catholicism continued well into the 20th century.

The most dramatic outbreak of nativism in the 19th century was aimed at the Chinese. If there had been any doubt by the mid-1800s that the United States could harmoniously accommodate all, debate on the Chinese Exclusion Act would negatively settle the question once and for all. Most Chinese were barred from immigrating; Chinese already in the United States were unable to bring their families to join them; and those who left the country, even if they had been born in the United States, might find reentry difficult or impossible. Still later, nativist sentiment would target Italian and Polish immigrants, Eastern European Jews after World War II, Vietnamese and other South Asian refugees of the 1970s, and the Cuban “Marielito” refugees of the 1980s.

While the term nativism has largely been used to describe 19th-century sentiments, anti-immigration views and organized movements have continued into the 21st century. Political scientist Samuel P. Huntington called continuing immigration a “clash of civilizations,” which could only be remedied by significantly reducing legal immigration and closing the border to illegal arrivals. His view, which enjoys support, is that the fundamental world conflicts of the [Page 970]new century are cultural in nature rather than ideological or even economic.

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