Working-Class Immigrants and Voting Rights
Native-born, white Americans worried about working-class immigrants participating in politics. Some of those who wanted immigrants kept from the polls argued that recent immigrants did not understand “American values” and American democracy well enough to vote.
Some feared that immigrants from politically troubled countries might try to bring radical ideas (like Marxism or anarchism) into American politics. Others thought that Catholics, whom they believed were controlled by the Pope, would try to influence Protestant American society.