Social Darwinism began in America in late 1850’s and was rooted from the idea of a group of people believing themselves to be of a higher power and social standing than other people. Religion and race were two of the main and most well-known factors that caused Darwinism to spread and take hold in America. People who believe in Darwinism are generally felt to not have a background based on faith, but instead they use science as their foundational basis for the origins of life. People believing in Eugenic ideas, or “the selection of desired heritable characteristics in order to improve future generations”, were a part of American society (Wilson, 2017). These people who believed that other people outside of their race, ethnicity, and social standing were not worthy of their high standards, they thought that these outsiders were not only below them socially, but also economically and spiritually (Wilson, 2017). The believers of Darwinism felt that the people whom they perceived as being below them should also be persecuted because those people not only did not provide value to society, but were also an alleged threat to their way of life.
Darwinism was used to classify some people as inferior by telling them that they had little to no worth and also provided no measurable contribution to American society. Those people believing in eugenic ideals typically classified immigrants from the Eastern European countries as inferior to forbid them to come into the country with Americans. It was felt that these immigrants, with their perceived lack of culture and social standing, would not only contaminate the American society, but also its politics and religion. Americans wanted to protect the politics so they would not be fought against (Ferreira & Novion, n.d.).
It was also felt that inferior genetics would degrade the American society. In 1931, laws were enacted in 27 states for voluntary or involuntary sterilization for people with genetic disorders such as epilepsy, and other people considered to be insane or dangerous (Ferreira & Novion, n.d.). Eventually, some of these laws were stricken from existence and deemed unconstitutional. We were not the only country to have these laws, but Canada, Norway, Finland, France and Japan were also influenced by Eugenia. In Sweden specifically, they sterilized thousands of people with genetic disorders (Ferreira & Novion, n.d.). This continued from 1930 to 1970.
Social Darwinism and Eugenics made the immigrant experience in America difficult because they did not want to downgrade their society to their level. Eugenics believed that anyone outside their race or religion was not good enough to stand with them and they should be prosecuted. This made it hard for immigrants to come to America because of the hardships that took place made it rough for them to come. “There were laws of voluntary and involuntary sterilization in 27 American states for people considered insane, idiot, epileptics, criminal and morally perverted” by the Eugenic people to make sure they were not allowed to come into America (Ferreira & Novion, n.d.). American societies created and set up “Immigration Restriction League” organizations in order to help stop the idea of Eugenic and Darwinism actions in order to allow immigrants over and make all humans equal (After Darwinism, 1999).
Darwinism effected many families during this time. When a family came over, it was often one or two of a family traveling to the United States first. The members who came over first were tormented and scared to practice their own religion or celebrate their own cultures. Many families sent the word home that it was not safe to travel over.
Fundamentalist Christians opposed those believing in Darwinism because they did not have faith-based actions, rather they used science and evolution to back up their actions. “Fundamentals were determined they would find a way to get religious instruction into the classroom,” but this was an issue because such instruction was no longer allowed (Dixon, 2009). Fundamentalist Christians had a hard time with people believing in Darwinism because of how strong minded they were. With Eugenic people believing that they are of the highest power and that no one else could go against them or they will be killed, this made it hard for the Fundamentalist Christians to approach them and their wrong beings.
In conclusion, social Darwinism and Eugenic believers were very strong-minded and hard to approach. By not having the ability to change ones’ views, and those who tried to oppose them were prosecuted, this made life for immigrants trying to come to America hard. Immigrants coming from around the world to America were not given a chance to stand up against the Eugenic believers and were instantly downgraded by them.
References
- After Darwin: Genetics, eugenics, and the human genome [Video file]. (1999). Retrieved September 22, 2017, from https://fod.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=96349&xtid=10434
- Dixon, T. (2009). AMERICA’S DIFFICULTY WITH DARWIN. History Today, 59(2), 22-28.
- Ferreira, L. B., & Novion, H. P. (n.d.). New Forms To Old Ideas: Social Darwinism and Human Research. Retrieved September 24, 2017, from http://www.eubios.info/EJ136/ej136b.htm
- Wilson, P. K. (2017, January 26). Eugenics. Retrieved September 25, 2017, from https://www.britannica.com/science/eugenics-genetics
- Woodworth, S. E. (n.d.). Darwinism and the American Eugenics Movement . Retrieved September 25, 2017, from http://www.scienceandapologetics.org/engl/turner.html