Refuge & exclusion · United States · 1654–1930s
Religious freedom widened belonging while colonial prejudice and later immigration barriers limited it.
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1654–1930s
Refuge & exclusion · The country of refuge also closes its gates
Religious freedom widened belonging while colonial prejudice and later immigration barriers limited it.
New Amsterdam, 1654
Jewish refugees reached New Amsterdam after the Portuguese recapture of Dutch Brazil. Governor Peter Stuyvesant sought to remove the newcomers, but the Dutch West India Company refused his request. An official’s hostility met an institutional counterdecision. The episode shows prejudice and room for belonging present from the early colonial period.
Mass immigration changes the argument
Later Jewish migrants, especially from Eastern Europe, built communities in American cities. Nativists portrayed newcomers as threats to the nation’s preferred ethnic and cultural makeup. The accusation changed from religious difference to supposed unfitness for American belonging, while ignoring people’s varied lives and reasons for migration.
The quota system closes routes
US immigration quotas and administrative barriers limited entry when Jews sought escape from Nazi persecution. Antisemitic attitudes influenced parts of the public and official response. The laws did not target Jews alone, but their consequences were acute for people whose lives depended on finding a country that would admit them.