Immigration Act of 1903
Encyclopedia
The Immigration Act of 1903, also called the Anarchist Exclusion Act, was a law of the United States
regulating immigration
. It codified previous immigration law, and added four inadmissible classes: anarchists, epileptics, beggars, and importers of prostitutes. It had little impact and its provisions related to anarchists were expanded in the Immigration Act of 1918
.
of 1886. On May 4, a policeman was killed and several others were wounded, of which six later died, after a bomb exploded in Chicago
's Haymarket Square. Eight members of the recently formed International Working People's Association
(IWPA) were found guilty of the bombing. The IWPA's 1883 manifesto called for the "destruction of the existing class rule, by all means, i.e., by energetic, relentless, revolutionary and international action".
The idea of excluding anarchists from immigrating was first mentioned at a Congressional hearing in 1889. A bill introduced on July 20, 1894 sought to restrict the entry of anarchists by requiring potential immigrants to visit an U. S. consulate for a political review before immigrating. A substitute bill proposed a system within the United States to detect, question, and deport immigrants accused of anarchism. Both died in committee.
On September 6, 1901, Leon F. Czolgosz
, an American-born son of Polish immigrants and a self-proclaimed anarchist, assassinated President William McKinley
. The police responded by arresting a number of anarchists, including Emma Goldman and a group of Chicago anarchists that published Free Society
, the leading English-language communist-anarchist periodical in the U.S. at the time. They were all later released because no evidence of conspiracy could be found.
Theodore Roosevelt urged the exclusion and deportation of anarchist immigrants in his first address to Congress on December 3, 1901:
signed the Act, officially "An Act To regulate the immigration of aliens into the United States", ch. 1012, , into law on March 3, 1903, the last day of the 57th United States Congress
. It codified previous immigration law and added four inadmissible classes: anarchists, epileptics, beggars, and importers of prostitutes. It also allowed for the deportation
within two years of anyone unlawfully in the country and raised the head tax on immigrants to the United States to two dollars ($2.00).
This was the first legislation in the U.S. since the Alien and Sedition Acts
of 1798 that called for questioning potential immigrants about their political beliefs. The Act barred anyone "who disbelieves in or who is opposed to all organized government, or who is a member of or affiliated with any organization entertaining or teaching such disbelief in or opposition to all organized government." The law also limited the deportation of non-citizen anarchists to the first three years of their residency in the United States.
Immediately following a speech given by Scottish anarchist John Turner
at the Murray Hill Lyceum in New York, Bureau of Immigration officials arrested him and found a copy of Johann Most
's Free Society and Turner's speaking schedule, which included a memorial to the Haymarket Martyrs. This was enough evidence to deport him. Emma Goldman
organized a Free Speech League to contest the deportation. She recruited Clarence Darrow
and Edgar Lee Masters
to defend him. After Goldman organized a meeting at Cooper Union
of those opposing the deportation, a New York Times editorial argued in favor of the Act and the deportation of Turner. It referred to the people at the meeting as "ignorant and half-crazy dreamers" and declared that it was the country's "right - in the belief of Congress and of many, probably of most, Americans', it makes it our duty - to exclude him."
Darrow and Masters presented their defense of Turner before the U.S. Supreme Court. They argued that the law was unconstitutional and that Turner was merely a "philosophical anarchist" and therefore not a threat to the government. Chief Justice Melville Fuller
write the Court's decision holding that the Bill of Rights does not apply to aliens and that Congress had the right to deny entry to anyone they deemed a threat to the country. Turner became the first person deported under the act.
Advocates for using the immigration laws to combat radicalism campaigned to expand the law's definitions of those who could be excluded or deported. Immigration officials complained about the law's limitation on deportation to the first three years of an immigrant's residency: "The anarchist of foreign birth...remains very quiet, as a rule, until the time limit protects him from deportation and then he is loud and boisterous and begins his maniac cry against all forms of organized government....There should be no time limit to the deportation of these criminals...and should one remain in hiding sufficiently long to become naturalized he should, at the first symptoms, be shorn of his cloak and forthwith deported."
The 1903 Act was amended by the Immigration Act of 1918
, which expanded and elaborated the brief definition of anarchist found in the 1903 Act and enhanced the government's ability to deport adherents of anarchism.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
regulating immigration
Immigration
Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...
. It codified previous immigration law, and added four inadmissible classes: anarchists, epileptics, beggars, and importers of prostitutes. It had little impact and its provisions related to anarchists were expanded in the Immigration Act of 1918
Immigration Act of 1918
The United States Immigration Act of 1918 was enacted on October 16, 1918. It is also known as the Dillingham-Hardwick Act.-Enactment:...
.
Background
Anarchism came to public attention in the United States with the Haymarket AffairHaymarket affair
The Haymarket affair was a demonstration and unrest that took place on Tuesday May 4, 1886, at the Haymarket Square in Chicago. It began as a rally in support of striking workers. An unknown person threw a dynamite bomb at police as they dispersed the public meeting...
of 1886. On May 4, a policeman was killed and several others were wounded, of which six later died, after a bomb exploded in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
's Haymarket Square. Eight members of the recently formed International Working People's Association
International Working People's Association
The International Working People's Association , sometimes known as the "Black International," was an international anarchist political organization established in 1881 at a convention held in London, England...
(IWPA) were found guilty of the bombing. The IWPA's 1883 manifesto called for the "destruction of the existing class rule, by all means, i.e., by energetic, relentless, revolutionary and international action".
The idea of excluding anarchists from immigrating was first mentioned at a Congressional hearing in 1889. A bill introduced on July 20, 1894 sought to restrict the entry of anarchists by requiring potential immigrants to visit an U. S. consulate for a political review before immigrating. A substitute bill proposed a system within the United States to detect, question, and deport immigrants accused of anarchism. Both died in committee.
On September 6, 1901, Leon F. Czolgosz
Leon Czolgosz
Leon Czolgosz was the assassin of U.S. President William McKinley.In the last few years of his life, he claimed to have been heavily influenced by anarchists such as Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman.- Early life :...
, an American-born son of Polish immigrants and a self-proclaimed anarchist, assassinated President William McKinley
William McKinley
William McKinley, Jr. was the 25th President of the United States . He is best known for winning fiercely fought elections, while supporting the gold standard and high tariffs; he succeeded in forging a Republican coalition that for the most part dominated national politics until the 1930s...
. The police responded by arresting a number of anarchists, including Emma Goldman and a group of Chicago anarchists that published Free Society
Free Society
Free Society was a major anarchist newspaper in the United States at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries...
, the leading English-language communist-anarchist periodical in the U.S. at the time. They were all later released because no evidence of conspiracy could be found.
Theodore Roosevelt urged the exclusion and deportation of anarchist immigrants in his first address to Congress on December 3, 1901:
Legislation
President Theodore RooseveltTheodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
signed the Act, officially "An Act To regulate the immigration of aliens into the United States", ch. 1012, , into law on March 3, 1903, the last day of the 57th United States Congress
57th United States Congress
-House of Representatives:*Democratic: 151*Republican: 200 *Populist: 5*Silver : 1TOTAL members: 357-Leadership:-Senate:* President: Theodore Roosevelt , until September 14, 1901, vacant thereafter....
. It codified previous immigration law and added four inadmissible classes: anarchists, epileptics, beggars, and importers of prostitutes. It also allowed for the deportation
Deportation
Deportation means the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. Today it often refers to the expulsion of foreign nationals whereas the expulsion of nationals is called banishment, exile, or penal transportation...
within two years of anyone unlawfully in the country and raised the head tax on immigrants to the United States to two dollars ($2.00).
This was the first legislation in the U.S. since the Alien and Sedition Acts
Alien and Sedition Acts
The Alien and Sedition Acts were four bills passed in 1798 by the Federalists in the 5th United States Congress in the aftermath of the French Revolution's reign of terror and during an undeclared naval war with France, later known as the Quasi-War. They were signed into law by President John Adams...
of 1798 that called for questioning potential immigrants about their political beliefs. The Act barred anyone "who disbelieves in or who is opposed to all organized government, or who is a member of or affiliated with any organization entertaining or teaching such disbelief in or opposition to all organized government." The law also limited the deportation of non-citizen anarchists to the first three years of their residency in the United States.
Enforcement
The impact of the law was slight. The Commissioner-General of Immigration reported that from the time the law took effect in 1903 until June 30, 1914, a total of 15 anarchists were denied entry to the U.S. He reported that four anarchists were expelled in 1913 and three in 1914.Immediately following a speech given by Scottish anarchist John Turner
John Turner (anarchist)
John Turner was an English-born anarcho-communist shop steward. He referred to himself as "of semi-Quaker descent."Turner was the first person to be ordered deported from the United States for violation of the 1903 Anarchist Exclusion Act...
at the Murray Hill Lyceum in New York, Bureau of Immigration officials arrested him and found a copy of Johann Most
Johann Most
Johann Joseph Most was a German-American politician, newspaper editor, and orator. He is credited with popularizing the concept of "Propaganda of the deed". His grandson was Boston Celtics radio play-by-play man Johnny Most...
's Free Society and Turner's speaking schedule, which included a memorial to the Haymarket Martyrs. This was enough evidence to deport him. Emma Goldman
Emma Goldman
Emma Goldman was an anarchist known for her political activism, writing and speeches. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the twentieth century....
organized a Free Speech League to contest the deportation. She recruited Clarence Darrow
Clarence Darrow
Clarence Seward Darrow was an American lawyer and leading member of the American Civil Liberties Union, best known for defending teenage thrill killers Leopold and Loeb in their trial for murdering 14-year-old Robert "Bobby" Franks and defending John T...
and Edgar Lee Masters
Edgar Lee Masters
Edgar Lee Masters was an American poet, biographer, and dramatist...
to defend him. After Goldman organized a meeting at Cooper Union
Cooper Union
The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, commonly referred to simply as Cooper Union, is a privately funded college in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, United States, located at Cooper Square and Astor Place...
of those opposing the deportation, a New York Times editorial argued in favor of the Act and the deportation of Turner. It referred to the people at the meeting as "ignorant and half-crazy dreamers" and declared that it was the country's "right - in the belief of Congress and of many, probably of most, Americans', it makes it our duty - to exclude him."
Darrow and Masters presented their defense of Turner before the U.S. Supreme Court. They argued that the law was unconstitutional and that Turner was merely a "philosophical anarchist" and therefore not a threat to the government. Chief Justice Melville Fuller
Melville Fuller
Melville Weston Fuller was the eighth Chief Justice of the United States between 1888 and 1910.-Early life and education:...
write the Court's decision holding that the Bill of Rights does not apply to aliens and that Congress had the right to deny entry to anyone they deemed a threat to the country. Turner became the first person deported under the act.
Amendment
The Act was re-enacted on June 29, 1906.Advocates for using the immigration laws to combat radicalism campaigned to expand the law's definitions of those who could be excluded or deported. Immigration officials complained about the law's limitation on deportation to the first three years of an immigrant's residency: "The anarchist of foreign birth...remains very quiet, as a rule, until the time limit protects him from deportation and then he is loud and boisterous and begins his maniac cry against all forms of organized government....There should be no time limit to the deportation of these criminals...and should one remain in hiding sufficiently long to become naturalized he should, at the first symptoms, be shorn of his cloak and forthwith deported."
The 1903 Act was amended by the Immigration Act of 1918
Immigration Act of 1918
The United States Immigration Act of 1918 was enacted on October 16, 1918. It is also known as the Dillingham-Hardwick Act.-Enactment:...
, which expanded and elaborated the brief definition of anarchist found in the 1903 Act and enhanced the government's ability to deport adherents of anarchism.
Sources
- Paul Avrich, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1991)
- John Chalberg, Emma Goldman: American Individualist (NY: Harper Collins, 1991), ISBN 0673521028
- Sidney Fine, "Anarchism and the Assassination of McKinley", American Historical Review, vol. LX, no. 4 (July 1955)
- Bill Ong Hing, Defining America Through Immigration Policy (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2004)
- Edward P. Hutchinson, Legislative History of American Immigration Policy (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1981)
- Frederick Van Dyne, Citizenship of the United States (Lawyers' Co-operative Publishing, 1904), available online, ISBN 0837712297