Historian speaks on the history of immigration in Missouri

Inventing Immigration Crises in 19th-Century Missouri

Who counts as an American? It was a question that plagued nineteenth-century politics, as German and Irish immigrants arrived in unprecedented numbers. On an election day in 1854, St. Louis witnessed one of the nation’s largest anti-immigrant riots. Rioters sabotaged an election and murdered at least ten people. Historian Luke Ritter explains how American-immigrant tensions in Missouri manifested deeply felt anxieties about American identity and democracy amid rapid demographic change. He identifies patterns of behavior that have persisted across time and analyzes U.S. immigration policies, both past and present.