Summary
Similar legislation, had been proposed several times before without success. The resumption of immigration and the widespread unemployment that followed the end of World War I lent strength to the anti-immigration movement.
The act, sponsored by Rep. Albert Johnson (R-Was), was passed without a recorded vote in the U.S. House of Representatives and by a vote of 78-1 in the U.S. Senate. James Alexander Reed, a Democrat from Missouri, cast the sole dissenting vote.
The Act restricted the number of immigrants admitted from any country annually to 3% of the number of residents from that same country living in the United States as of the U.S. Census of 1910. The use of such a National Origins Formula continued until 1965.
The average annual inflow of immigrants prior to 1921 was 175,983 from Northern and Western Europe, and 685,531 from other countries, principally Southern and Eastern Europe. In 1921, immigration was 198,082 from Northern and Western Europe, and 158,367 from principally Southern and Eastern Europe (including other countries), being shown as a drastic reduction in immigration levels from other countries, principally Southern and Eastern Europe.
Professionals were to be admitted without regard to their country of origin. The Act set no limits on immigration from Latin America.
The Act was soon revised by the Immigration Act of 1924.
Read more about this topic: Emergency Quota Act
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