Nativists pursued naturalization restriction chiefly to curtail foreign-born political power.

Evidence

The raising of naturalization requirements had customarily formed the chief legislative objective of nativists. At bottom, they sought to limit the political power of the foreign-born, the ballot being the main practical prerogative of citizenship. Demands for lengthening and tightening the system of naturalization—an outgrowth of every nativist movement after 1789—burst forth again in the 1880’s and 1890’s. Some wanted to double the waiting period; some would raise it to twenty-one years. The cry came from all sorts of sources: from anti-Catholics bent on political power for themselves, from businessmen looking for a nativistic alternative to immigration restriction, from municipal reformers anxious to purge corruption from civic life. — John Higham, Strangers in the Land, 581

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Electoral courtship of immigrant voters dissolved the Republicans’ restrictionist role — John Higham, Strangers in the Land: Patterns of…, 733; A legal-technical limit on federal power steered the Red Scare against foreigners — John Higham, Strangers in the Land: Patterns of…, 1361; Nativism’s core aim shifted from voting restriction to immigration restriction — John Higham, Strangers in the Land: Patterns of…, 583 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Nativism’s core aim shifted from voting restriction to immigration restriction #qualifies (0.80) — John Higham, Strangers in the Land, 583
• French naturalization criteria were designed to restrict citizenship to a proven loyal elite #corroborates (0.75) — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 576
• Fear-driven nationalism roused nativists but failed to assimilate immigrants #complicates (0.75) — John Higham, Strangers in the Land, 1424
• Post-WWI states invented denaturalization laws stripping citizenship from politically disfavored groups #complicates (0.72) — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 2510