The United States has welcomed immigrants during times of both expansion and positivism, however, during times of both economic stagnation and uncertainty, the anti-immigration sentiment does seem to rise accordingly. The 1850’s gave rise to a movement of political opposition to immigration in the United States called Nativism (Oakes 2013). Although immigration has always been a controversial and disputed issue in the country, the rise in the number of immigrants presented an opportunity for the opposition to name a new scapegoat that would be responsible for everything that ailed society during times of demographic change. One example of a group targeted by the Nativists was Chinese immigrants. In the West, as even foreign born immigrants
