Okla-homey
2/5/2008, 07:48 AM
February 5, 1917: Immigration restriction passed over Wilson's veto
http://aycu11.webshots.com/image/42850/2005483965533090424_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005483965533090424)
With America's entrance into World War I three months away, xenophobia was at a new high, and Congress was intent on sealing America's ports to new arrivals from Europe and Asia.
On this day in 1917, with more than the required two-thirds majority, Congress overrode President Woodrow Wilson's veto of the previous week and passed the Immigration Act of 1917.
The law required a literacy test for all immigrants and barred all Asians, except for those from countries with special treaties or agreements with the United States, such as the Philippines.
http://aycu24.webshots.com/image/43783/2005420911848116189_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005420911848116189)
During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the United States received a majority of the world's immigrants, with 1.3 million immigrants passing through New York's Ellis Island in 1907 alone.
Various restrictions had been applied against immigrants since the 1890s, but most of those seeking entrance into the United States were accepted. Until this day in 1917, generally all a person needed to do was buy a ticket to America and they were allowed into the US on a permanent basis.
http://aycu31.webshots.com/image/42790/2005486232795853053_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005486232795853053)
Italian family after disembarking at Ellis Island in New York harbor
However, in 1894, the Immigration Restriction League (IRL) was founded in Boston and subsequently petitioned the U.S. government to legislate that immigrants be required to demonstrate literacy in some language before being accepted.
The organization hoped to quell the recent surge of lower-class immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe. The folks in the IRL felt these poor and often illiterate immigrants from Italy, Greece and Eastern Europe (mostly Poles, Hungarians, Slavs, Prussians) were taking jobs from Americans and driving down wages. Moreover, once here, they tended to settle in their own lower-class neighborhoods and often eschewed use of English.
Incidentally, once here, quite a few of these Italian and eastern European immigrants pushed on to one the last places where cheap land was available -- out here in Indian Territory/Oklahoma.
http://aycu05.webshots.com/image/42324/2001712619915417815_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001712619915417815)
Prague, OK. Settlement began in 1891 by Czech immigrants.
http://aycu32.webshots.com/image/44391/2001115834739105938_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001115834739105938)
Krebs, OK. (1910) Salvatore & Angela Mantegna are on the right, with their first child, Signorino (Henry). Family on the left is Guiseppe & Carmella Randazzo, Salvatore's closest friend, and their daughter, Ellen. Both men were coal miners working the most dangerous mines in the world. Oklahoma mine owners solicited Sicilians from Calascibetta to mine coal. Even today, McAlester has a rich, Italian heritage...with a big Italian Festival each Memorial Day weekend.
The Congress passed a literacy bill in 1897, but President Grover Cleveland vetoed it. Congress could not manage the two-thirds majority to overrride the president's veto. They tried again ten years later in 1917 and as you've already read, had the 2/3d majority necessary to override the White House's opposition.
After the passage of the 1917 Act, subsequent immigration to the United States slowed to a trickle. In 1924 a subsequent law was passed requiring immigrant inspection in countries of origin, leading to the closure of Ellis Island and other major immigrant processing centers.
http://aycu16.webshots.com/image/43855/2005476880981901143_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005476880981901143)
Typical overseas US immigration station. After 1924, potential US immigrants had to get paperwork from such an office in order to proceed to the US.
Even with the restrictions passed on this day in 1917 and later in 1924; over the 32 year period between 1892 and 1924, over 16 million people successfully immigrated to the United States to seek a better life.
http://aycu25.webshots.com/image/43984/2005410872772357149_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005410872772357149)
http://aycu11.webshots.com/image/42850/2005483965533090424_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005483965533090424)
With America's entrance into World War I three months away, xenophobia was at a new high, and Congress was intent on sealing America's ports to new arrivals from Europe and Asia.
On this day in 1917, with more than the required two-thirds majority, Congress overrode President Woodrow Wilson's veto of the previous week and passed the Immigration Act of 1917.
The law required a literacy test for all immigrants and barred all Asians, except for those from countries with special treaties or agreements with the United States, such as the Philippines.
http://aycu24.webshots.com/image/43783/2005420911848116189_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005420911848116189)
During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the United States received a majority of the world's immigrants, with 1.3 million immigrants passing through New York's Ellis Island in 1907 alone.
Various restrictions had been applied against immigrants since the 1890s, but most of those seeking entrance into the United States were accepted. Until this day in 1917, generally all a person needed to do was buy a ticket to America and they were allowed into the US on a permanent basis.
http://aycu31.webshots.com/image/42790/2005486232795853053_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005486232795853053)
Italian family after disembarking at Ellis Island in New York harbor
However, in 1894, the Immigration Restriction League (IRL) was founded in Boston and subsequently petitioned the U.S. government to legislate that immigrants be required to demonstrate literacy in some language before being accepted.
The organization hoped to quell the recent surge of lower-class immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe. The folks in the IRL felt these poor and often illiterate immigrants from Italy, Greece and Eastern Europe (mostly Poles, Hungarians, Slavs, Prussians) were taking jobs from Americans and driving down wages. Moreover, once here, they tended to settle in their own lower-class neighborhoods and often eschewed use of English.
Incidentally, once here, quite a few of these Italian and eastern European immigrants pushed on to one the last places where cheap land was available -- out here in Indian Territory/Oklahoma.
http://aycu05.webshots.com/image/42324/2001712619915417815_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001712619915417815)
Prague, OK. Settlement began in 1891 by Czech immigrants.
http://aycu32.webshots.com/image/44391/2001115834739105938_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001115834739105938)
Krebs, OK. (1910) Salvatore & Angela Mantegna are on the right, with their first child, Signorino (Henry). Family on the left is Guiseppe & Carmella Randazzo, Salvatore's closest friend, and their daughter, Ellen. Both men were coal miners working the most dangerous mines in the world. Oklahoma mine owners solicited Sicilians from Calascibetta to mine coal. Even today, McAlester has a rich, Italian heritage...with a big Italian Festival each Memorial Day weekend.
The Congress passed a literacy bill in 1897, but President Grover Cleveland vetoed it. Congress could not manage the two-thirds majority to overrride the president's veto. They tried again ten years later in 1917 and as you've already read, had the 2/3d majority necessary to override the White House's opposition.
After the passage of the 1917 Act, subsequent immigration to the United States slowed to a trickle. In 1924 a subsequent law was passed requiring immigrant inspection in countries of origin, leading to the closure of Ellis Island and other major immigrant processing centers.
http://aycu16.webshots.com/image/43855/2005476880981901143_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005476880981901143)
Typical overseas US immigration station. After 1924, potential US immigrants had to get paperwork from such an office in order to proceed to the US.
Even with the restrictions passed on this day in 1917 and later in 1924; over the 32 year period between 1892 and 1924, over 16 million people successfully immigrated to the United States to seek a better life.
http://aycu25.webshots.com/image/43984/2005410872772357149_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005410872772357149)