Nativism targets internal minorities for their foreign connections

Evidence

Nativism, therefore, should be defined as intense opposition to an internal minority on the ground of its foreign (1.e., “un-American”) connections. Specific nativistic antagonisms may, and do, vary widely in response to the changing character of minority irritants and the shifting conditions of the day; but through each separate hostility runs the connecting, energizing force of modern nationalism. — John Higham, Strangers in the Land, 27

Categorization

• DEFINE: Higham’s formal definition of nativism as anti-internal-minority nationalism is the book’s load-bearing conceptual anchor.
• XREF: connects to: International conflict generates nativism only when the minority links to the enemy power — John Higham, Strangers in the Land: Patterns of…, 114; Nativism was driven by internal anxieties, not by the immigrants themselves — John Higham, Strangers in the Land: Patterns of…, 397; War against a common external enemy dissolved organized nativism by uniting rival groups — John Higham, Strangers in the Land: Patterns of…, 80

Broader Connections

• International conflict generates nativism only when the minority links to the enemy power #expands (0.88) — John Higham, Strangers in the Land, 114
• Nativism was driven by internal anxieties, not by the immigrants themselves #qualifies (0.75) — John Higham, Strangers in the Land, 397
• War against a common external enemy dissolved organized nativism by uniting rival groups #contradicts (0.72) — John Higham, Strangers in the Land, 80