Okla-homey
5/26/2006, 06:01 AM
May 26, 1924 Coolidge signs stringent immigration law
82 years ago on this day in 1924, President Calvin Coolidge signs into law the Comprehensive Immigration Act of 1924, the most stringent immigration policy up to that time in the nation’s history.
http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/2301/bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb.gif (http://imageshack.us)
The new law reflected the desire of Americans to isolate themselves from the world after fighting the terrible First World War in Europe, a war that exacerbated growing fears of the spread of communist ideas. It also reflected the pervasiveness of racial discrimination in American society at the time. (Remember, this is during the period of OUr history when the KKK had enjoyed a remarkable resurgence throughout the US.)
http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/8606/bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
KKK ladies' auxiliary seen marching in ginormous Klan parade in Washington in 1928.
Many Americans saw the enormous influx of largely unskilled, uneducated immigrants during the early 1900s as causing unfair competition for jobs and land. Under the new law, immigration remained open to those with a college education and/or special skills, but entry was denied to Mexicans, and disproportionately to Eastern and Southern Europeans and Japanese.
At the same time, the legislation allowed for more immigration from Northern European nations such as Britain, Ireland and Scandinavian countries. A quota was set that limited immigration to two percent of any given nation’s residents already in the U.S. as of 1890, a provision designed to maintain America’s largely Northern European racial composition since Northern Europeans comprised the largest sector of immigrants by 1890. IOW, if you were white and your last name ended in a consenant, you were probably okay to immigrate.
http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/7656/bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
The law particularly angered Japan, which had forged a “Gentlemen’s Agreement” with U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt in 1907, which included more liberal immigration quotas for Japan. By 1924, strong U.S. agricultural and labor interests--particularly from California, which had already passed its own exclusionary laws against Japanese immigrants--favored the more restrictive legislation signed by Coolidge.
Since that time, SCOTUS has ruled in a few precedential immigration cases that individual states may not have immigration laws which are contrary to federal legislation because of the notion that Congress pwn3s immigration policy per the Constitution and thus, intends to "control the field." IOW, if the feds let a guy in, states can't say "fine, but you can't live here."
US Constitution, Art I, Section 8:
[Congress shall have power...] To establish a uniform Rule of Naturalization[...]throughout the United States.
The Japanese government viewed the American law as an insult, and protested by declaring May 26 a "national day of humiliation" in Japan. The law fanned anti-American sentiment in Japan, inspiring a Japanese citizen to commit suicide outside the American embassy in Tokyo in protest.
Urged by Americans of Italian descent, the Act of 1924 was abolished early in the Johnson administration and now no preferences are expressed for any particular nationality of potential immigrant.
http://img105.imageshack.us/img105/9339/insane7zo5wa.jpg
82 years ago on this day in 1924, President Calvin Coolidge signs into law the Comprehensive Immigration Act of 1924, the most stringent immigration policy up to that time in the nation’s history.
http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/2301/bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb.gif (http://imageshack.us)
The new law reflected the desire of Americans to isolate themselves from the world after fighting the terrible First World War in Europe, a war that exacerbated growing fears of the spread of communist ideas. It also reflected the pervasiveness of racial discrimination in American society at the time. (Remember, this is during the period of OUr history when the KKK had enjoyed a remarkable resurgence throughout the US.)
http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/8606/bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
KKK ladies' auxiliary seen marching in ginormous Klan parade in Washington in 1928.
Many Americans saw the enormous influx of largely unskilled, uneducated immigrants during the early 1900s as causing unfair competition for jobs and land. Under the new law, immigration remained open to those with a college education and/or special skills, but entry was denied to Mexicans, and disproportionately to Eastern and Southern Europeans and Japanese.
At the same time, the legislation allowed for more immigration from Northern European nations such as Britain, Ireland and Scandinavian countries. A quota was set that limited immigration to two percent of any given nation’s residents already in the U.S. as of 1890, a provision designed to maintain America’s largely Northern European racial composition since Northern Europeans comprised the largest sector of immigrants by 1890. IOW, if you were white and your last name ended in a consenant, you were probably okay to immigrate.
http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/7656/bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
The law particularly angered Japan, which had forged a “Gentlemen’s Agreement” with U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt in 1907, which included more liberal immigration quotas for Japan. By 1924, strong U.S. agricultural and labor interests--particularly from California, which had already passed its own exclusionary laws against Japanese immigrants--favored the more restrictive legislation signed by Coolidge.
Since that time, SCOTUS has ruled in a few precedential immigration cases that individual states may not have immigration laws which are contrary to federal legislation because of the notion that Congress pwn3s immigration policy per the Constitution and thus, intends to "control the field." IOW, if the feds let a guy in, states can't say "fine, but you can't live here."
US Constitution, Art I, Section 8:
[Congress shall have power...] To establish a uniform Rule of Naturalization[...]throughout the United States.
The Japanese government viewed the American law as an insult, and protested by declaring May 26 a "national day of humiliation" in Japan. The law fanned anti-American sentiment in Japan, inspiring a Japanese citizen to commit suicide outside the American embassy in Tokyo in protest.
Urged by Americans of Italian descent, the Act of 1924 was abolished early in the Johnson administration and now no preferences are expressed for any particular nationality of potential immigrant.
http://img105.imageshack.us/img105/9339/insane7zo5wa.jpg