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Question

Difficulty: HardSocial and Political Controversies of the 1920s

“It seems to me that the point as to the saturation point has been reached... We have page after page of statistics... but the question is: Has the time not arrived when we should shut the door? We have enough population to develop our resources... we do not need any more. We want to build up a standard of American citizenship and keep it... We want to assimilate what we have and make them Americans rather than have them remain as foreign groups in our midst.”
— Senator Ellison DuRant Smith, speech in Congress, 1924

Which of the following historical developments of the 1920s is most directly supported by the arguments expressed in the excerpt?

  1. A
    The emergence of an agrarian-led political movement demanding the federal regulation of railroad rates and the free coinage of silver.
  2. B
    The complete withdrawal of the United States from global trade and international loan negotiations.
  3. The passage of national origins quotas that severely restricted immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe.Answer
  4. D
    The rise of anti-imperialist opposition to the acquisition of overseas territories following the sinking of the Lusitania.

Answer

The passage of national origins quotas that severely restricted immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe.
The correct answer is the option stating that the excerpt supports the passage of national origins quotas that restricted immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe. Senator Smith's speech reflects the nativist sentiment of the 1920s, which argued that America had reached its 'saturation point' and needed to restrict immigration to protect the homogeneity of American citizenship. This rhetoric directly resulted in the Emergency Quota Act of 1921 and the Immigration Act of 1924, which used past census data to severely limit immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe while banning Asian immigration entirely.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the provided historical text to identify its primary argument.
The author argues that immigration should be curtailed ('shut the door') because the population saturation point has been reached and the nation must focus on assimilating existing residents to maintain the standard of American citizenship.
Understanding the source's focus on nativism and immigration restriction is necessary to connect it with 1920s federal policies.
2
Connect the identified argument to the correct historical development of the 1920s.
The arguments in the speech directly motivated the passage of the National Origins Act (Immigration Act of 1924), which established restrictive quotas targeted at immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe.
This shows a direct cause-and-effect relationship between the nativist ideology of the era and the resulting legislation.
3
Evaluate and eliminate incorrect distractors.
Options mentioning nineteenth-century populism, total economic isolation, or World War I maritime triggers are eliminated because they are either chronologically incorrect or historically inaccurate descriptions of 1920s U.S. policies.
Rigorous elimination ensures that only the option representing the 1924 quota acts is selected.

Key Concept

Nativism and Immigration Restriction in the 1920s
Estimated Time:2m 0s
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Topics

Social and Political Controversies of the 1920s

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