Immigration
Despite the importance of immigration, the number of immigrants allowed to the United States was actively limited during and after World War I. However, there were already strict immigration laws prior to these bills, including the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. During this time period, the three main immigration bills were the Immigration Act of 1917, the Emergency Immigration Act of 1921, and the Immigration Act of 1924.
Interpreting the Immigration Acts
The Immigration Act of 1917 bill severely limited who was able to immigrate to the United States. Those forbidden to enter included contract laborers (those who already had found work in the United States), those whose tickets were paid for by someone else, polygamists, anarchists, unaccompanied children under 16, and all native descendants from Asian countries (unless occupied by the United States) among many others. Another section of this bill focuses on “illiterates” and forbidding them to enter, which introduced a literacy test in order to immigrate.The Emergency Immigration Act of 1921 limited immigration to, “... 3 per centum of the number of foreign-born persons of such nationality resident in the United States …” This data was determined by the 1910 census, and no more than 20% of the limit could be reached a month. This bill further restricted immigration and severely limited the number of immigrants entering the United States.
The Immigration Act of 1924 built upon the two previous bills and further limited the number of immigrants entering the United States. Instead of allowing 3% to enter the United States, the Immigration Act of 1924 lowered it to 2%. The minimum quota for each nationally was also 100. Instead of using the 1910 census data, the bill was based off of the 1890 census. This change was designed and favored by eugenicists, as eugenicists wanted to limit the amount of non-white, non-northern European immigrants. The change from using the 1910 census to the 1890 census heavily favored white, northern European immigrants, hence. For example, the population of immigrants from Italy in the 1910 census was 1,343,125. However, in the 1890 census, the population of immigrants from Italy was just under 200,000.
Foreign Language Information Service (Norwegian Bureau)
Reports to Norwegian immigrants concerning United States immigration laws, naturalization process, suffrage, legal and property rights, labor laws, agriculture, education, and languages. [add more + more images of reports]Sources to explore: