The American Eugenics Sterilization In The Early 20th Century

The early 20th century was an important period of transformation in American history.A large number of rural populations and new immigrants flocked to cities,and the process of urbanization accelerated sharply.While creating a lot of wealth,American society has also spawned a series of social problems such as poverty and increased crime.In the process of thinking about how to solve social problems,some American scholars accepted and developed the eugenics originating from the United Kingdom,and promoted state legislation in an attempt to isolate and enforce sterilization of the underprivileged people in the society such as tramps,criminals,and mental patients.In 1927,the Federal Supreme Court's decision on the"Buck v.Bell case"confirmed the constitutionality of the Virginia Forced Sterilization Act.Based on this ruling,states in the United States have the right to violate the will of healthy citizens and force them to be sterilized.By the 1960s,nearly 60,000 people in the United States were forced to sterilize.This paper attempts to sort out the historical context of the acceptance and development of eugenics in the United States,analyze the trend of social thought in this period,and demonstrate the absurd practices in the process of compulsory containment and sterilization through the micro-exploration of Buck v.Bell case.It also discusses the tendency and limitations of judicial trials in this period.The full text is divided into five parts:the introduction part introduces the research object and research methods,and reviews the related academic history in Chinese and American.The first chapter introduces the representative works and characters of eugenics in the United Kingdom and the United States.The eugenics were misunderstood and developed from the United Kingdom after coming to the United States;The second chapter introduced the background and specific case of the Buck case,focusing on the trial of Buck case in the local court,the state court and the Supreme Court;The third chapter analyzes the Supreme Court's trial tendency and its subsequent influence on the Buck case.The conclusion summarizes the full text and makes an objective evaluation of the legislation and implementation of eugenics sterilization in the United States during this period.