Handout F: Immigration in the Progressive Era
Immigration in the Progressive Era
Directions: Review the Excerpt from Coolidge First Address to Congress, and President Coolidge’s Proclamation of Quota’s for the Immigration Act of 1924 below and write down 5 initial reactions.
Background
The increasing number of immigrants arriving in the United States during the Gilded Age and Progressive Era created pressures within society that found their largest political expression in the nativist movement. Beginning with the Chinese Exclusionary Act of 1882, the United States Congress passed increasingly more restrictive and wider reaching immigration regulations. The Immigration Act of 1917 created an Asiatic Barred Zone and expanded the listed reasons, either political ideologies or illness, which immigrants could not have or be associated with if they wished to gain entrance into the country. In 1921, the Emergency Quota Act, created a national origins formula, which set quota restrictions based on the proportional population of certain immigrant groups. The United States would only permit a number totaling 3% of the total population of certain groups as noted by the census of 1910, to enter the United States. The Immigration Act of 1924 made this formula more restrictive by basing these limits on the census of 1890 instead of the 1910 census and setting the amount at 2% instead of 3%. Calvin Coolidge signed the bill into law in 1924. In both his first address to congress and his proclamation upon signing the bill into law, Coolidge reveals his reasoning behind backing the law. In reviewing his statements, we gain an insight into the thinking, right or wrong, of our nation.
Excerpt from Coolidge first address to congress – December 6, 1923:
American institutions rest solely on good citizenship. They were created by people who had a background of self-government. New arrivals should be limited to our capacity to absorb them into the ranks of good citizenship. America must be kept American. For this I purpose, it is necessary to continue a policy of restricted immigration. It would be well to make such immigration of a selective nature with some inspection at the source, and based either on a prior census or upon the record of naturalization. Either method would insure the admission of those with the largest capacity and best intention of becoming citizens. I am convinced that our present economic and social conditions warrant a limitation of those to be admitted. We should find additional safety in a law requiring the immediate registration of all aliens. Those’ who do not want to be partakers of the American spirit ought not to settle in America.
President Coolidge’s Proclamation of Quota’s for the Immigration Act of 1924
A Proclamation
Whereas it is provided in the act of Congress approved May 26, 1924, entitled “An act to limit the immigration of aliens into the United States, and for other purposes” that “The annual quota of any nationality shall be two per centum of the number of foreign-born individuals of such nationality resident in continental United States as determined by the United States Census of 1890, but the minimum quota of any nationality shall be 100 (Sec. 11a). . . .
“The Secretary of State, the Secretary of Commerce, and the Secretary of Labor, jointly, shall, as soon as feasible after the enactment of this act, prepare a statement showing the number of individuals of the various nationalities resident in continental United States as determined by the United States Census of 1890, which statement shall be the population basis for the purposes of subdivision (a) of section 11 (Sec. 12 b).
“Such officials shall, jointly, report annually to the President the quota of each nationality under subdivision (a) of section 11, together with the statements, estimates, and revisions provided for in this section. The President shall proclaim and make known the quotas so reported” (Sec. 12 e).
Now, therefore I, Calvin Coolidge, President of the United States of America acting under and by virtue of the power in me vested by the aforesaid act of Congress, do hereby proclaim and make known that on and after July 1, 1924, and throughout the fiscal year 1924-1925, the quota of each nationality provided in said act shall be as follows:
Country or Area of Birth Quota 1924-25
Afghanistan -100
Albania – 100
Andorra – 100
Arabian Peninsula – 100
Armenia – 124
Australia (incl. Papua, Tasmania & all islands) – 121
Austria – 785
Belgium – 512
Bhutan – 100
Bulgaria – 100
Cameroon (proposed British mandate) – 100
Cameroon (French mandate) – 100
China – 100
Czechoslovakia – 3,073
Danzig, Free City of – 228
Denmark – 789
Egypt – 100
Estonia – 124
Ethiopia (Abyssinia) – 100
Finland – 170
France – 3,954
Germany – 51,227
Great Britain & Northern Ireland – 34,007
Greece – 100
Hungary – 473
Iceland – 100
India – 100
Iraq (Mesopotamia) – 100
Irish Free State – 28,567
Italy (incl. Rhodes, Dodecanesia & Castellorizzo) – 3,845
Japan – 100
Latvia – 142
Liberia – 100
Liechtenstein – 100
Lithuania – 344
Luxemburg – 100
Monaco – 100
Morocco (French & Spanish Zones & Tangier) – 100
Muscat (Oman) – 100
Nauru (proposed British mandate) – 100
Nepal – 100
Netherlands – 1,648
New Zealand (incl. appertaining islands) – 100
Norway – 6,453
New Guinea (& other Pacific islands under Australian mandate) – 100
Palestine (with Trans-Jordan, proposed British mandate) – 100
Persia – 100
Poland – 5,982
Portugal – 503
Ruanda & Urundi (Belgium mandate) – 100
Rumania – 603
Russia (European & Asiatic) – 2,248
Samoa, Western (proposed mandate of New Zealand) – 100
San Marino – 100
Siam – 100
South Africa, Union of – 100
South West Africa (proposed mandate of Union of South Africa) – 100
Spain – 131
Sweden – 9,561
Switzerland – 2,081
Syria & The Lebanon (French mandate) – 100
Tanganiyika (proposed British mandate) – 100
Togoland (proposed British mandate) – 100
Togoland (French mandate) – 100
Turkey – 100
Yap & other Pacific islands (under Japanese Mandate) – 100
Yugoslavia – 671
GENERAL NOTE.-The immigration quotas assigned to the various countries and quota-areas should not be regarded as having any political significance whatever, or as involving recognition of new governments, or of new boundaries, or of transfers of territory except as the United States government has already made such recognition in a formal and official manner.