Depression convinced many workers immigration threatened their livelihood

Evidence

The tremendous immigrant influx of 1882, followed by the industrial depression of 1883-1886, persuaded many wage-earners that the whole incoming stream directly threatened their own livelihood. In New York City an Independent Labor party petitioned Congress to impose a head tax of $100 on each entrant. Philadelphia saw the appearance of a National Home Labor League, aiming “to preserve the American labor market for American workingmen.” About 1887 a poll of 869 Wisconsin workers in varied occupations showed approximately half of them convinced that immigration was injuring their trade. — John Higham, Strangers in the Land, 266

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — John Higham, Strangers in the Land: Patterns of…, 266
• XREF: connects to: Depression converted immigrants from assets into scapegoats in business eyes — John Higham, Strangers in the Land: Patterns of…, 414; Economic depression abruptly shifted business framing of immigrants from asset to threat — John Higham, Strangers in the Land: Patterns of…, 414; Rank-and-file animus outpaced official union nativist policy during depressions — John Higham, Strangers in the Land: Patterns of…, 426 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Depression converted immigrants from assets into scapegoats in business eyes #expands (0.75) — John Higham, Strangers in the Land, 414