Common law tradition barred no aliens from jobs until 1880s legislation

Evidence

In the late eighties, workingmen of several states secured direct discriminatory legislation against foreign labor. Virtually for the first time, American legislatures excluded unnaturalized immigrants of all nationalities from certain types of common employments. These statutes, though slight in their immediate effects, marked the beginning of a general departure from the old common law tradition. Under the common law, aliens from friendly countries suffered no general disqualifications in job-holding; except for positions requiring allegiance to the sovereign, they could work and trade as freely as citizens. — John Higham, Strangers in the Land, 268

Categorization

• XREF: Parallels the shift from precedent-based legal norms to exclusionary statutes, echoing social conventions vs. formalized rules themes from law merchant sources. — connects to: Early US citizenship law restricted naturalization to free White persons — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning: The…, 318

Broader Connections

• Early US citizenship law restricted naturalization to free White persons #expands (0.75) — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning, 318