Adoption of Isolationist Policy

In the early 1900's, by the end of World War 1, America and the American people had become greatly devastated; people wanted to go back to the peaceful times they had before World War 1. The people believed that isolationism was the only was to avoid being involved with the foreign problems that would eventually lead into another world war. Therefore, in the 1920's and 1930's, the isolationist policy was mainly adopted due to the effects of World War I and the arrival of immigrants.

The United States government enacted laws that would restrict foreigners from entering the country. One of the first laws of isolationism policy was the Emergency Quota of 1921. This law limited immigration of foreigners to 3% of each nationally living in the United States during 1910. Three years later, the quota was reduced by 1% and the base of the origin was moved to the Northern Europeans. Japanese, Canadians, and Latin Americans were denied admission. The United States strongly supported the Emergency Quota because the Americans waned as little foreign influences as possible. The United States also carried out its isolationism policy by removing itself from international involvements. United States Congress refused to support the League of Nations and slashed the Treaty of Versailles. Not only did the United States refuse to join League of Nations and strike down at the Treaty of Versailles but, they raised their tariffs. By raising their tariffs, this would keep any European products from entering into the markets. But, there was a downfall to the raising of tariffs. This hurt the farmers and manufacturers. If they weren't able get their products out to foriegn countries then that would cause an over production of items, which hurts the American economy. If the economy is low, then it leads into fewer workers and manufactures which carries into strikes and eventually causes depression.

After the Crash of 1929, America began to focus on fixing its economy by ignoring the outside world. In the late 1930's Congress passed the Neutrality Acts, which did everything possible to delay United States entry into a European war. The Neutality Acts did not prevent America from entering a modern world war. For example, in one of the acts, Americans could not sail on ships that had been flying the flag of a hostile nation or trade arms with fighting nations, because those are both potential causes for the United States to enter into war. When war broke out between Germany and Poland in 1939, marking the beginning of World War 2, President Roosevelt stuck with his word of staying neutral, as an official policy of the United States, but, he still stated the dangers by staying out of the war. The safety of the nation, at the time, was more important than any foreign war.

Typically, isolationism was adopted in the United States during the 1920's and 1930's because of the United States fear of foreign