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Playlist U.S. History: 1890 – 1945 10 videos
AP U.S. History 1.1 Period 7: 1890–1945. The Clayton Antitrust Act marked a new period in American labor relations because it...what?
AP U.S. History 1.2 Period 7: 1890-1945. Antitrust laws like the Clayton Act were a direct response to what development in the United States economy?
AP U.S. History 1.3 Period 7: 1890-1945. How did the rise of the corporations affect the social order of the time?
AP U.S. History 1.5 Period 7: 1890-1945 222 Views
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AP U.S. History 1.5 Period 7: 1890-1945. Unlike Europeans, Mexicans increased immigration to the U.S. during World War I because of what factor?
Transcript
- 00:00
[ musical flourish ]
- 00:04
And here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by conveniently flexible immigration policies.
- 00:09
the Mr. Incredible of legislature. Yeah.
- 00:12
All right, unlike Europeans, Mexicans increased immigration
- 00:16
to the U.S. during World War I because of what factor?
Full Transcript
- 00:20
And here are your potential answers. [ buzz ]
- 00:22
[ mumbles ]
- 00:25
All right, well, the U.S. was pretty desperate for workers during World War I.
- 00:29
Anti-communist immigration quotas
- 00:32
arising from the sentiment expressed in our little cartoon here
- 00:35
restricted the number of immigrants from Europe
- 00:38
and millions of Americans were fighting overseas.
- 00:41
So Mexican immigrants came to fill that void.
- 00:43
Let's see which answer best describes why our friends
- 00:46
in the south ended up filling that need.
- 00:49
Did Mexican immigration to the U.S. increase
- 00:51
during World War I because of
- 00:53
A - their ideological commitment to democracy? Hmm.
- 00:58
Well, actually, Mexico was a neutral country during World War I
- 01:01
and their government was besieged by the same kinds of
- 01:03
revolutionary politics prevalent in eastern Europe.
- 01:06
So that knocks out A and D.
- 01:08
Could Mexican immigration have increased due to B -
- 01:11
their technical skills and expertise?
- 01:13
Well, industrialists mostly just needed a force of
- 01:16
brutes to help manufacture the clothes, arms,
- 01:19
and food necessary for a war,
- 01:21
not employees with specialized technical skill sets.
- 01:24
That eliminates B, as well.
- 01:26
Which means that Mexican immigration increased
- 01:29
during World War I because of C -
- 01:31
their willingness to work for low wages.
- 01:33
The cheap labor of Mexican immigrants was
- 01:36
crucial to the war effort,
- 01:37
but when the Great Depression hit a few years later
- 01:39
and jobs became scarce once again,
- 01:41
the U.S. deported all Mexican laborers,
- 01:44
even Mexican-Americans born in the U.S.
- 01:48
So the correct answer is C, as in
- 01:50
"See ya later,
- 01:51
even though you all were essential to maintaining
- 01:54
a thriving domestic economy during the global crisis
- 01:57
and you helped us win the war."
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