California Alien Land Law of 1913
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The California Alien Land Law of 1913 prohibits "aliens ineligible for citizenship" (i.e., all Asian immigrants) from owning land or property, but permits three year leases. It affected the Chinese, Indian, Japanese, and Korean immigrant farmers in California. It passed thirty-five to two in the Senate and seventy-two to three in the Assembly and was co-written by assemblyman and later attorney general Ulysses S. Webb. Kametaro Iijima Japan's Consul General in 1913, and Juichi Soyeda lobbied against the law.[1][2] The law was invalidated in 1952 by the Supreme Court of California as a violation of the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution in the case of Sei Fujii v. California.
Ten other western states passed restrictive land-ownership laws during the decade 1913–23.[3]
[edit] References
- ^ "Tells Japan's Side Of California Case. State's Attitude Inconsistent with Our Previous Acts of Friendship, New Consul Says.". New York Times. June 30, 1913. http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=990CE5DD153FE633A25753C3A9609C946296D6CF. Retrieved 2009-07-30. "Asserting at the outset that he meant to be very frank in his discussion of the subject, Kametaro Iijima, the new Japanese Consul General to this city, talked to a reporter yesterday about the California situation at his home, at Central Park West and Eighty-sixth Street. Mr. Iijima arrived in this city last Saturday from Japan."
- ^ "Dr. Soyeda Sure That in the End Californian Situation Will Be Settled Amicably.". New York Times. June 26, 1913. http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9D04E5D6103CE633A25755C2A9609C946296D6CF. Retrieved 2009-07-30. "'The Japanese are much surprised by the attitude of the Californian Legislature, and some of them are annoyed, but the thinking persons in Japan trust that the trouble will be solved in the light of justice and humanity,' Dr. J. Soyeda said yesterday at the Hotel Astor. ... Dr. Soyeda and Tadao Kamiya who is associated with him in his mission, were entertained at a luncheon yesterday by the Publishers Association of New York ..."
- ^ Colletta, 1967; Olin, 1966.
- Colleta, Paolo E., 1967, "The Most Thankless Task: Bryan and the California Alien Land Legislation," Pacific Historical Review, XXXVI (May): 163–87.
- Olin, Spencer C.,Jr.,1966. "European Immigration and Oriental Alien: Acceptance and Rejection by the California Legislature, 1913," Pacific Historical Review,XXXV (August): 303–15.
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