Emergency Quota Act

(noun)

The Emergency Quota Act, also known as the Emergency Immigration Act of 1921, restricted immigration into the United States. Although intended as temporary legislation, the act "proved in the long run the most important turning-point in American immigration policy" because it added two new features to immigration law: numerical limits on immigration from Europe and the use of a quota system.

Related Terms

Examples of Emergency Quota Act in the following topics:

  • Nativism

    • In 1798 President John Adams signed the Alien and Sedition Acts, which limited the ability of immigrants, especially radicals from France and Ireland, to gain full political rights.
    • After intense lobbying from the nativist movement, the United States Congress passed the Emergency Quota Act in 1921.
    • This bill was the first to place numerical quotas on immigration.
    • The Emergency Quota Act was followed with the Immigration Act of 1924, a more permanent resolution.
    • This law reduced the number of immigrants able to arrive from 357,803, the number established in the Emergency Quota Act, to 164,687.

  • Racial Friction

    • At the height of the tensions came the Red Summer of 1919, when whites carried out open acts of violence against blacks, who were forced to fight back.
    • Nativist movements included the Know Nothing or American Party of the 1850s, the Immigration Restriction League of the 1890s, the anti-Asian movements in the West, resulting in the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and the "Gentlemen's Agreement of 1907," by which Japan's government stopped emigration to America.
    • After intense lobbying from the nativist movement, the United States Congress passed the Emergency Quota Act in 1921.
    • This bill was the first to place numerical quotas on immigration.
    • The Emergency Quota Act was followed with the Immigration Act of 1924, a more permanent resolution.

  • Toward Immigration Restriction

    • Nativists campaigned for immigration restrictions from 1890-1920, proposing measures such as literacy tests and quotas.
    • The widespread acceptance of racist ideology and labor concerns led to a reduction in Southern and Eastern European immigrants being codified in the National Origins Formula of the Emergency Quota Act of 1921, which capped new immigrants at 3% of the number of people in that same ethnic group already in the United States.
    • This was a temporary measure and was followed by a further lowering of the immigrant quota to 2% in the Immigration Act of 1924, which also reduced the number of immigrants to 164,687.
    • It contributed to the anti-immigration movement and consequently, immigration quota legislation in the 1920s.
    • President Calvin Coolidge signs the Immigration Act of 1924 on the south lawn of the White House.

  • Changing Demographics

    • The immigration laws of the United States during this time, such as the Emergency Quota Act, generally allowed exemptions for Mexico, while being more restrictive to citizens of the Eastern Hemisphere.
    • One example of these allowances was the Immigration Act of 1917, under which all potential immigrants had to pass a literacy test and pay a head tax.

  • Progressivism for Whites Only

    • In 1901, the AFL lobbied Congress to reauthorize the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act.
    • The Chinese Exclusion Act was a federal law signed by Chester A.
    • As a result, the AFL intensified its opposition to all immigration from Asia and was instrumental in passing and enforcing immigration restriction bills from the 1890s to the 1920s, such as the 1921 Emergency Quota Act and the Immigration Act of 1924.

  • Emergency Powers

    • In September 2011, President Barack Obama informed Congress that the State of National Emergency, in effect since September 14, 2001, will be extended another year.
    • Sawyer established that presidents may not act contrary to Acts of Congress during an emergency.
    • As a result, in 1976, the National Emergencies Act set a limit of two years on emergency declarations unless the president explicitly extends them and requires the president to specify in advance which legal provisions will be invoked.
    • In September 2011, President Barack Obama informed Congress that the State of National Emergency, in effect since September 14, 2001, would be extended another year.
    • The National Emergencies Act grants various powers to the president during times of emergency and was intended to prevent a president from declaring a state of emergency of indefinite duration .

  • Promoting Free Trade

    • Government can promote free trade by reducing tariffs, quotas, and non-tariff barriers.
    • Free trade is a policy by which a government does not discriminate against imports or interfere with exports by applying tariffs (to imports), subsidies (to exports), or quotas.
    • Tariffs and quotas are explicit government policies that are designed to protect domestic producers, even if they are not the most efficient producers .
    • In addition to tariffs and quotas, there are a number of other barriers to free trade that countries use.
    • NTBs act just like tariffs and quotas in that they are barriers to free trade.

  • The Immigration Act of 1965

    • The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 (also known as the Hart-Celler Act) changed the nation's laws regulating immigration.
    • The Act abolished the National Origins Formula, which had been in place since the Immigration Act of 1924.
    • The National Origins Formula had set immigration quotas for specific countries, effectively giving preference to Northern and Western Europe over Eastern Europe, Asia, South America, and Africa.
    • This national origins quota system was viewed as an embarrassment by, among others, President John F.
    • To convince people of the legislation's merits, the act's proponents asserted that the act would not significantly influence American culture.

  • Competing Solutions

    • Also in 1932, Hoover signed the Emergency Relief and Construction Act, which authorized considerable funds for public works programs and direct relief programs.
    • First, in 1930, he signed the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act that raised U.S. tariffs.
    • Finally, the 1932 Norris-La Guardia Anti-injunction Act supported the organized labor.
    • The legislation that followed this Proclamation was the Emergency Banking Act, which enabled the government to close weak banks and reopen more stable banks.
    • Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA; initiated by Hoover) created government, mostly unskilled jobs.

  • Launching the New Deal

    • The Emergency Banking Act followed the Proclamation and enabled the government to close weak banks and reopen more stable banks.
    • Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA; initiated by Hoover) created local and state government mostly unskilled jobs.
    • The National Labor Relations Act (1933; known also as the Wagner Act), which established the National Labor Relations Board (1935).
    • The Act remains a groundbreaking statute in the United States labor law.
    • The Housing Act (1937) provided funds for low-coast public housing for the poorest families.