“In May, 1921, the first of the quota or percentage laws was passed.
Being sponsored by the American Legion and American Federation of Labor,
it became a law over Wilson’s veto… It limited the number of
immigrants who could enter this country from Europe, Australia, Africa,
New Zealand, Asiatic Turkey, Persia, and certain islands of the Atlantic
and Pacific oceans to 3 percent of the number of foreign-born of such
nationalities residing here when the 1910 census was taken… This law
accomplished two things. (1) It reduced the total number of immigrants
coming to this country… (2) It favored and stimulated the immigration
of Protestant northwestern Europeans and excluded most of the Catholic
southern and eastern Europeans.”
Last updated on:
1/30/2017 |
Author: ProCon.org