Prosperity reversed anti-immigrant sentiment fastest where nativism was newest

Evidence

A deterrent at least as important as the foreign vote, however, was a new complacency born of reviving prosperity. Confidence first crept back in the sections where nativism was most recently and least well established—the West and South. Some of the old boom and booster psychology returned to the more sparsely settled areas of the country. Buoyed by unfolding opportunities, optimists now ridiculed the fear that the United States was overcrowded. In California agriculture expanded so swiftly that farmers short of hired hands even demanded relaxation of the Chinese exclusion law. — John Higham, Strangers in the Land, 631

Categorization

• XREF: Strongly supports reader’s causal model: solidarity is economic-labor dependent, and the newest ‘enemy’ constructions erode first when conditions shift — evidence racialization is a passing form. — connects to: Confidence in ordinary people’s capacity tended to counteract nativism before 1910 — John Higham, Strangers in the Land: Patterns of…, 682; Nativism’s strongest support came from regions with fewest immigrants — John Higham, Strangers in the Land: Patterns of…, 987; Nativism surged in prosperity decades, defeating economic explanations — John Higham, Strangers in the Land: Patterns of…, 2027 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Nativism can collapse even as the immigrant influx it fears soars #corroborates (0.85) — John Higham, Strangers in the Land, 644
• The removal of economic threat deflated nativism regardless of rising immigration #qualifies (0.75) — John Higham, Strangers in the Land, 618
• Institutional confidence loss, not ethnic competition, drives nativism to the national agenda #complicates (0.75)