Immigration and the Politics of American Sovereignty, 1890-1990

"Immigration and the Politics of American Sovereignty traces how and why public arguments about immigrants changed over time, how some arguments came to predominate and shape policy, and what impact these arguments have had on how the United States defines and defends its sovereignty. Over the past century, the U.S. Congress argued first that prospective citizens should be judged in terms of race, then in terms of politics, then of wealth and skills. Each argument arose in direct response to a perceived foreign threat - a threat that, in the government's eyes, was racial, political, ideological, or economic."--BOOK JACKET.