Dillingham+Commission+Report+1907-11

The Dillingham Commission  By: Priscila Tavares Historical Background Immigration is a very hot topic in America Today, and it always has been, primarily because this country was built by immigrants (apart from the Native Americans). There was still free immigration in the United States much after it was established as an independent Country. It wasn’t until 1882 that strict anti-immigration laws were passed. Of course prier to that there had been acts and movements created to suppress immigrants and prosecute them, such as: the Alien and Sedition Act (1798) which reduced the voting strength of the naturalized citizens, and the protests against the High influx of Irish immigrants (1837), who were blamed for the economic depression. Late 19th Century Writings supported by popular loyalty to the doctrine of Social Darwinism made Americans think about race in scientific terms and natural groupings. Then writers like Josiah Strong and John Fiske spread their emphasis the natural superiority of the Anglo-Saxon race. I n the same time period (1883) the American economic association offered a $150 prize for the best essay on “The Evil Effects of Unre stricted Immigration”. Slowly these events in USA history created ideas and concerns eventually caused:


 * The General immigration act of 1882
 * The Chinese exclusion act –The fist time the legislature excludes people as a group from immigration.
 * Lodge propped Bill to established a federal Literacy test requirement fro immigrants (1892) (bill passed in 1896)

By the turn of the century immigrants were blamed for slums and bossism. And In 1903 a law was passed which excluded people for their political views (anarchy).Because Immigration was such a burning subject in America, They created the United States Immigration Commission to specifically address Immigration and immigrants. The United States Immigration (also known as the Dillingham Commission) was established in 1907. It was a joint comity made up of The House of Representatives and The Senate. It is referred to as the Dillingham Commission because of it's chair who was, senator William P. Dillingham of Vermont. The purpose of this commission was to study the origins and consequences of immigration. In a series of 42 published reports from 1910 through 1911, the Commission stated that a shift in European immigration patterns corresponded to the rise of dire social and economic problems. The commission finished in 1911, it concluded that southern and eastern European immigration was a threat to USA's culture and society. The goal in the USA beca me to reduce immigration all together. The commission promoted the long disputed "Reading and Writing Test", which was intended to exclude all "aliens over sixteen years of age, physically capable of reading, who cannot read the English language". Applying The literacy test had been vetoed by President Grover Cleveland in 1891, President William Taft in 1913,and President Woodrow Wilson. However in the 1917 Immigration Act, it was still passed by Congress. The Commission's “findings” provided solid factual information about the New Immigration. However After researching and reading carefully one can find that it also reveals that the members of the commission assumed many of the ideas (stereo types common to native-born Americans) about immigrants from southern and eastern Europe. They used certain adjectives such as “poor” and “unskilled”, this implied that these new immigrants fit those Nativist stereotypes.

"The economic problem which confronts us at the present time," said Senator Dillingham, "is the result of the enormously large immigration during the last twelve years, extending from 1898 to 1910, during which period the industrial expansion of the United States has by far exceeded that of any previous decade. During this period we have received 9,555,000 immigrants, of which 2,550,000, or about 36.5 per cent of the whole came from northern and western Europe, and was largely made up of English, Irish, Germans and Scandinavians, while about 63.5 per cent--nearly two-thirds of the whole--came from south eastern Europe--from Italy, Austria-Hungary and Russia more largely. Or--to include a larger period--in the sixty-two years, extending from 1820 to 1882, we admitted about 11,000,000 aliens, a great proportion of whom came from the countries of northern and western Europe." [|New-York tribune. (New York [N.Y.) 1866-1924, December 18, 1910]]


 * Positive or Negative Effects of The Commission **

__Number of immigrants in The USA__ __Immigration Data Collected at The Turn of the 20th Century__ >> > When was highest influx of immigrants in the USA shown in this table?
 * Number of Immigrants Yearly ||
 * || 1820 || 8,385 ||
 * || 1830 || 23,322 ||
 * || 1840 || 84,066 ||
 * || 1850 || 369,980 ||
 * || 1860 || 153,640 ||
 * || 1870 || 387,203 ||
 * || 1880 || 457,257 ||
 * || 1890 || 455,302 ||
 * || 1900 || 448,572 ||
 * || 1910 || 1,041,570 ||
 * || 1920 || 430,001 ||
 * || 1930 || 241,700 ||
 * || 1940 || 70,756 ||
 * || 1950 || 249,187 ||
 * Because of the commission the United States was able to reduce the number of immigrants.
 * The commission inspired many new laws that made gaining citizenship harder.
 * The commission encouraged welcoming skilled immigrants.
 * Made it more difficult for people to immigrate.

The Dillingham Commission, (established in 1907) publishes a 42-volume report warning that the "new" immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe threatens to subvert American society. The Dillingham Commission's recommendations lay the foundation for the Quota Acts of the 1920s. It was an early form of a commission who's soul purpose was to focus on immigration control.
 * Over All Major Contribution **