Reform could dismantle nativism’s political infrastructure without restricting immigration

Evidence

The law ignored entirely the old nativist demand for lengthening the residence requirement for citizenship. It aimed not at disfranchising the immigrant but at ending the conditions under which his vote was sold. It succeeded brilliantly and in doing so completed the separation between nativism and municipal reform. — John Higham, Strangers in the Land, 691

Categorization

• XREF: Evidence against the fixed-enemy thesis: when the functional reason for targeting immigrants disappeared, so did the nativist demand. Relevant to reader’s question of whether threat-hardened belief decays once its object is neutralized. — connects to: Municipal reform crusades adopted unabashed nativism against immigrant voters — John Higham, Strangers in the Land: Patterns of…, 241; The removal of economic threat deflated nativism regardless of rising immigration — John Higham, Strangers in the Land: Patterns of…, 618; Nativism can collapse even as the immigrant influx it fears soars — John Higham, Strangers in the Land: Patterns of…, 644

Broader Connections

• Nativism can collapse even as the immigrant influx it fears soars #expands (0.90) — John Higham, Strangers in the Land, 644
• The removal of economic threat deflated nativism regardless of rising immigration #expands (0.85) — John Higham, Strangers in the Land, 618
• Municipal reform crusades adopted unabashed nativism against immigrant voters #complicates (0.80) — John Higham, Strangers in the Land, 241