Nativist movement

Nativism is the political policy or practice of preserving or reviving an indigenous culture. However, this is currently more commonly described as an anti-immigrant position considering the policy to be one of protecting native interests against those of immigrants. In scholarly studies nativism is a standard technical term. The term is typically not accepted by those who hold this political view, however. Dindar (2010) wrote "nativists... do not consider themselves as nativists. For them it is a negative term and they rather consider themselves as 'Patriots'".

According to Fetzer (2000), opposition to immigration commonly arises in many countries because of issues of national, cultural, and religious identity. The phenomenon has been studied especially in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States, as well as in Europe. Thus nativism has become a general term for "opposition to immigration" based on fears that the immigrants will distort or spoil existing cultural values. In situations where immigrants greatly outnumber the original inhabitants, nativistic movements can allow cultural survival.

In the United States, nativism has a long history. The term was first used by 1844, according to the Oxford English Dictionary (under "Nativism") 1844: Whig Almanac 1845 4/2 "Thousands were Naturalized expressly to oppose Nativism, and voted the Polk ticket mainly to that end."

For a while Benjamin Franklin was hostile to Germans in colonial Pennsylvania, but he reversed himself and became a supporter. The Federalist Party in 1798 passed the Alien and Sedition Acts which lengthened the citizenship process to 14 years to weaken the political role of radical immigrants from France and Ireland. This became a major political issue in the 1800 election; the Jeffersonians won. They welcomed immigrants and repealed most of the restrictions.

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