"We cast no aspersions on any race or creed, but we must remember that every object of our institutions of society and Government will fail unless America be kept American."
These are the words of Calvin Coolidge during his acceptance speech to the Republican party as their nominee. President Coolidge promised to support the 1924 Immigration Act which established a very restrictive quota system that favored Northern European countries and eliminated immigration from all of Asia including our ally Japan. The 1924 immigration act remained the law of the land for over 40 years until it was abolished in 1965 by President Johnson.
Prior to the 1924 immigration act, the United States had a very open immigration policy. Between the years of 1900 and 1920 alone, the United States admitted over 14.5 million immigrants. With such large numbers of immigrants coming to America, there was rising concern over America's open attitude toward immigration and especially of the increase of immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe. In response, the United States passed the Immigration Act of 1917 requiring literacy tests and more rigorous health inspections. This law did little to stop the flow of immigrants to America, and when the first World War devastated the European economy, instability in Europe brought new fears of mass migration to America. Great Britain's industry was set back several years because of outdated factories, machines and mines, while Germany was printing an abundance of paper money to pay it's $33 billion of reparations. In other Eastern Europe and parts of Asia, social tensions between capital and labor were on the rise leading to unrest like the Bolshevik revolution in Russia which helped to dismantle the Tsarist autocracy. Fears of this labor and social unrest coming to America produced the first "Red Scare" in 1919, and by 1923 when America's economy was booming, fears of mass migration from Europe, especially the countries of Eastern Europe and Asia reached a fever pitch. Memories of high unemployment, and labor unrest gave rise to Nationalist agendas that would put the American worker first. One of these policies was the Immigration Act of 1924, also known as the Johnson-Reed Act. In the words of President Calving Coolidge, the immigration act "saves the American job for the American workmen". The law limited the the number of immigrants into the U.S. through a national origins quota set at just 2% of the population for each nationality as identified in the 1890 national census. President Coolidge wrote about the Immigration Act in his second State of then Union Address in 1924.
"The other is a policy of more recent origin and seeks to shield our wage earners from the disastrous competition of a great influx of foreign peoples. This has been done by the restrictive immigration law. This saves the American job for the American workmen. I should like to see the administrative features of this law rendered a little more humane for the purpose of permitting those already here a greater latitude in securing admission of members of their own families. But I believe this law in principle is necessary and sound, and destined to increase greatly the public welfare. We must maintain our own economic position, we must defend our own national integrity."President Coolidge did not introduce the quota system; rather his predecessor Warren Harding, Congress first passed a temporary law to restrict immigration and create a quota system based upon the 1910 census. The Act was then renewed in 1922 for an additional 2 years. By time, the Immigration Act of 1924 was debated, the quota system was a given, and the only discussion was how to adjust it. During the debates, quotas were lowered from 3% to 2% and the calculations were moved back from the 1910 census to the 1890 census. One other change, was to include natural-born citizens in the calculations, including large numbers of those who could trace their ancestry to countries like Great Britain even though their families had lived in the United States for many years. Because of this, the quotas heavily favored Northern European countries over Southern and Eastern Europe. These quota's would stayed in place for nearly 40 years and played a tremendous role in shaping the cultural and ethnic makeup of the country.
Another provision in the 1924 Act extended the existing nationality laws dating back to 1790 and 1870 which excluded immigration from Asia. Consequently, this precluded all Asian countries including countries like Japan who were previously allowed to immigrate to America. This new law offended many in Japan, who saw it as a violation of the Gentleman's Agreement that had been made with the Japanese government in 1907 and 1908 where Japan agreed to restrict immigration to America, if the U.S. would remove segregation laws for Japanese school children. Despite the protests of the Japanese government, the 1924 law remained, increasing tensions between the two governments. President Coolidge, in his nomination acceptance speech to the Republican party, addressed the 1924 immigration act and it's impact on Japan. He said he would prefer to find another way to restrict immigration from Japan, but "the law has been passed and approved, and the incident is closed". Coolidge suggested that the United States, "must seek by some means besides immigration to demonstrate the friendship and respect which we feel for the Japanese nation." In other words, even though the Immigration Act of 1924 was not his doing, he would support it, warts and all. President Coolidge was a supporter of "Restricted immigration" and suggested it was a defensive action,"soley for the purpose of protecting ourselves". Through immigration laws, President Coolidge wanted to keep America, American. "We cast no aspersions on any race or creed, but we must remember that every object of our institutions of society and Government will fail unless America be kept American."
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29565
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=126454
https://history.state.gov/milestones/1899-1913/japanese-relations
https://www.uscis.gov/history-and-genealogy/our-history/agency-history/mass-immigration-and-wwi
http://www.angelfire.com/ca2/shammons/aftermath.html
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/Ellis_Island_arrivals.jpg
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