"Shut the Door" Analysis

PART A: Which of the following best describes a central idea of the text?

• America has not always been accepting of immigrants, due to fear of invasion.

• Technically, all Americans except the indigenous Native Americans are immigrants.

• One of the ways to improve American prosperity is to strictly regulate and decrease immigration.

• Immigration is as much an issue in the early 1900s as it is today.

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CCSS.RI. 9-10.2

CCSS.RI.8.2

CCSS.RL.7.2

CCSS.RL.8.2

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

PART B: Which of the following quotes best supports the answer to Part A?

• “We had an experience just a few years ago, during the great World War, when it looked as though we had allowed influences to enter our borders that were about to melt the pot in place of us being the melting pot.” (Paragraph 1)

• “Those who come from the nations which from time immemorial have been under the dictation of a master fall more easily by the law of inheritance and the inertia of habit into a condition of political servitude than the descendants of those who cleared the forests, conquered the savage, stood at arms and won their liberty from their mother country, England.” (Paragraph 3)

• “The great desideratum of modern times has been education not alone book knowledge, but that education which enables men to think right, to think logically, to think truthfully….” (Paragraph 6)

• “I would rather see American citizenship refined to the last degree in all that makes America what we hope it will be than to develop the resources of America at the expense of the citizenship of our country. The time has come when we should shut the door and keep what we have for what we hope our own people to be.” (Paragraph 11)

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CCSS.RI.9-10.1

CCSS.RI.9-10.2

CCSS.RL.9-10.1

In paragraph 2, how does the senator justify his position that undeveloped land should not be used to sustain the life of immigrants?

• He proposes that the undeveloped land be set aside and used by current Americans and their future generations.

• He proposes that this undeveloped land be set aside for Native American reservations.

• He proposes that this undeveloped land be set aside as reserved as it is for the betterment of the environment.

• He proposes that this undeveloped land be used only by the new, current immigrants.

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CCSS.RI.9-10.1

CCSS.RI.9-10.2

CCSS.RI.9-10.3

CCSS.RI.9-10.8

PART A: Consider the senator’s word choice in reference to non-white people. What is the effect of this word choice?

• The senator compares non-white people to different breeds of dogs, thus degrading them to animals and the idea of breeding.

• The senator describes non-white people as hoards and their large populations as a threat to the economic stability of the country

• The senator describes non-white people as easy to assimilate, or conform, into the larger American culture.

• The senator describes non-white in a few derogatory ways, notably comparing them to animals and slaves.

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CCSS.RL.2.6

CCSS.RL.8.3

PART B: Which of the following quotes best supports the answer to Part A?

• “We have been called the melting pot of the world.” (Paragraph 1)

• “We want men not like dumb, driven cattle from those nations where the progressive thought of the times has scarcely made a beginning and where they see men as mere machines….” (Paragraph 6)

• “We have population enough to-day without throwing wide our doors and jeopardizing the interests of this country by pouring into it men….” (Paragraph 7)

• “We do not want to tangle the skein of America’s progress by those who imperfectly understand the genius of our Government and the opportunities that lie about us” (Paragraph 10)

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CCSS.RI.9-10.1

CCSS.W.9-10.9

Senator Smiths' tone could best be described as...

• Frustrated and Frightened

• Optimistic and Outraged

• Sorrowful and Scornful

• Urgent and Unabashed

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CCSS.RL.11-12.4

CCSS.RL.6.4

CCSS.RL.7.4

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.9-10.4

Senator Smith is delivering his speech to...

• Members of Congress

• The American public

• The President

• The United Nations

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CCSS.SL.9-10.4

CCSS.W.9-10.4

PART A: Which best describes the desired outcome of Senator Smiths' speech?

• Congress must vote to stop, or strictly limit, immigration into the United States of America.

• The American people must be wary of immigrants because they cannot be trusted.

• The President should become more involved in helping establish democracies in other nations.

• Congress must approve the development of unused land for incoming immigrants.

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CCSS.RI.9-10.1

CCSS.RI.9-10.2

CCSS.RI.9-10.4

CCSS.RI.9-10.6

CCSS.RI.9-10.8

CCSS.SL.9-10.3

PART B: Which of the following quotes best supports the answer to Part A?

• "We ought to Americanize our factories and our vast material resources, so that we can make each contribute to the other and have an abundance for us under the form of the government laid down by our fathers." (Paragraph 8)

• "There are some things that are dearer to us, fraught with more benefit to us, than the immediate development of the undeveloped resources of the country." (Paragraph 3)

• "It seems to me the point as to this measure—and I have been so impressed for several years—is that the time has arrived when we should shut the door." (Paragraph 1)

• "We have enough in this country to engage the brain of every lover of his country in solving the problems of a democratic government in the midst of the imperial power that genius is discovering and placing in the hands of man." (Paragraph 7)

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CCSS.RI.9-10.1

CCSS.RL.9-10.1

Which is NOT a claim the senator makes within his speech?

• Many foreigners do not like living in America and do not contribute to society because they would rather return to their home counrty.

• Americans have higher ideals that foreigners, who typically fall into political servitude.

• It is vital to preserve the Anglo-Saxon heritage on America.

• Resources and opportunities should be afforded to American citizens, and increased immigration would strain those resources.

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CCSS.RI.9-10.8