From Nativism to the Quota Laws: Restrictionist Pressure Groups and the US Congress 1879–1924

SUMMARY

In this article Professor Frank has investigated the history of attempts to pass restrictive immigration legislation through the United States Congress. The character and activities of the different lobbying groups is analyzed and the article shows how it was the resistance of the Executive Branch, largely through the use of the veto power, that held back legislation until 1917. Thereafter liberal opposition to the extension of immigration laws was increasingly ineffectual and marginalized. The study ends with the passage of the Quota Act of 1924.