According to Benjamin Franklin, the only true white people were the English and the Saxons, which was then a common sentiment. During the first major waves of immigration, groups now considered unquestionably white were not considered such, including Southern and Eastern Europeans. The new populations came from Eastern and Southern Europe and were Catholic and Jewish, as opposed to the majority population in the United States of Northern and Western European and African-American Protestants. The popularity of eugenics as well as the perception that the new groups were undermining American culture and values led to their classification as nonwhite. That gave the government the opportunity to attempt to curtail the immigration of specific groups by using the National Origins Formula.