Acculturation

The adoption or assimilation of American culture by foreign immigrants.

Anarchist, Anarchists, Anarchism

A believer in anarchism, the philosophy that holds that abolition of all forms of government is necessary to achieve true liberty.

Anarcho-syndicalism, Anarcho-syndicalist, Anarcho-syndicalism

A radical philosophy of trade unionism that advocates seizure of control over industry by rank-and-file workers.

Assimilation, Assimilated, Assimilate

The process through which a particular immigrant group abandons its ethnic traditions to adopt the cultural mores of mainstream America.

Citizenship

The status of being a citizen of the United States. Citizenship can be attained either through birthright (for those born in the United States) or through naturalization (for those who immigrate to the United States from foreign countries).

Coolie (History)

A racist and pejorative term for low-skilled, low-wage Asian laborers.

Deportation, Deported

The government-sanctioned expulsion of an alien from the country.

E Pluribus Unum

A Latin phrase meaning, "out of many, one," e pluribus unum has appeared on the Great Seal of the United States since 1782.

Eugenics, Eugenicist, Eugenicists

The idea that humanity can be improved through the selective breeding of those with superior genetic traits. Eugenics was a popular pseudo-scientific movement of the late-19th and early-20th centuries, as people just becoming familiar with Charles Darwin's theories of evolution sought to intervene in normal human patterns of reproduction in order to advance supposedly desirable genetic traits and weed out undesirable ones. In practice, eugenics was often deeply racist, and it was sometimes used to justify atrocities such as the forced sterilization of people deemed genetically inferior. The theories of Aryan racial supremacy that underpinned German Nazism were rooted, in part, in eugenicist ideas, and the murderous evil of the Holocaust permanently discredited the eugenicist movement after World War II.

Expatriation, Expatriated

The process by which an individual renounces citizenship in their country of birth. The Expatriation Act of 1907 forced American women who married foreign men to forfeit their American citizenship.

Marxism-Leninism

Communist philosophy rooted in the doctrines of Karl Marx as interpreted by V.I. Lenin.

Nativism, Nativist, Nativists

A xenophobic policy or ideology which stresses the interests of a country's native inhabitants over those of immigrants. Many, though not all, white Anglo-Saxon Protestants of 19th-century America became embodiments of this philosophy to varying degrees. Nativism included the anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic sentiment most prevalent during the decades leading up to the Civil War, when large numbers of Irish and German immigrants poured into the U.S.

Those most concerned about foreign immigration joined nativist political parties. The most prominent of these parties was the American Party (a.k.a. the Native American Party, a.k.a. the Know-Nothings), which began in 1843 and called for a 25-year residency qualification for citizenship and sought to elect only native-born Americans to political office. The Know-Nothings enjoyed political victories on state and local levels, notably in Massachusetts and Delaware in 1854, the pinnacle-year of their success.

But the slavery issue eclipsed the nativists in importance and public attention, and ultimately divided their membership along sectional lines.

Naturalization

The process by which an immigrant becomes an American citizen.

New Immigration, New Immigrants, New Immigrant

Large-scale immigration to the United States from the nations of Eastern and Southern Europe between about 1880 and 1930.

Old Immigration, Old Immigrant, Old Immigrants

Immigration to the United States from Northwestern Europe—primarily from Great Britain, Ireland, and Germany—that occurred before 1880.

Refugee, Refugees

A person who flees from their home to another country out of fear of violence or persecution for political, religious, or ethnic reasons.

Robber Baron, Robber Barons

A pejorative term used by some workers to describe the wealthy tycoons who built vast fortunes in the 19th-century railroad, steel, and petroleum industries.

Xenophobia, Xenophobic

Fear or hatred of foreigners.