Syria Blog Post

Recently, there were reports of students who put graffiti on Anti-government signs in Syria. As a result of the graffiti, those students were tortured, and altogether this caused protests throughout Syria. President Bashar al-Assad was the president while the protests were taking place. He took action by sending tanks and security forces into the cities where protests were occurring. The protests continued for a long time, so the government took action by sending in soldiers to control the crowds. Although the soldiers were supposed to be controlling the protesters, they actually began going against the government as well. This contributed the formation of the Syrian National Council (a group that opposed the government.) Today, there are many groups of people in Syria who are opposed to the government, but these groups have failed to join together and rid of Bashar al-Assad out of power. A piece of evidence that shows an increasing rate of violence is stated best by saying, "According the United Nations, more than 5,400 Syrians have been killed, thousands are missing, with 25,000 refugees in other countries and more than 70,000 internally displaced". With the interviews that investigators have done to gain knowledge of the situation in Syria, they ultimately have been able to accomplish a lot. They were able to vote Bashar al-Assad to give his power and duties to current vice president. The US is now working with the United Nations to support Syria. Human rights are dishonored in a lot of places around the world, and this very serious issue needs to be taken care of.

Iran Blog Post

The country of Iran has had a religious based government, known as a quasi- theocracy govenment, since the rise of Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi in 1979. This is causing the United States to question Iran over its suppression of the Green Movement, and constant involvement in helping milary groups such as the Hamas. Ultimately, Iran has not been at peace with the U.S. or the West for a very long time. While this conflict is a large reason for the tenstion between Iran and the United States, Iran's nuclear program is an even larger cause of the tension. People believe that this program is designed to develop nuclear weapons, and that they are constantly working to create new nuclear devices, that could potentially be dangerous. The U.S. and the European Union are joining together to do everything in their power to prevent Iran from getting financial support to help them fund their uclear program. The U.S. and European Union are also working to stop companies that are contributing to the nuclear industry in Iran, to decrease the nuclear problems that the industry is causing. The United States has been succesful in limiting the amount gasoline that Iran is given, and by cutting off investments to the industry. In responcse to the actions taken by the United States, Iran blocked one of their main connections for oil called the Straight of Hormuz. Recently in 2012, Iran's economic state really started to take a turn for the worst. Iran now suffers with producing money that is needed for their importing needs because of the turn in their economy. While the United States was successful is stopping Iran from recieving funding for their nuclear weapon developments, the downfall in their economy did negatively affect countries such as Britain and France because they depend on Iran for specific supplies such as oil which were cut off.

Anti-Immigration Movement Source 6

Link:http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/document.php?id=cqresrre1927081900

Citation:Immigration from Canada and Latin America. (1927). Editorial research reports 1927 (Vol. III). Washington, DC: CQ Press. Retrieved from http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre1927081900

Summary: (not put in my own words)

Restriction of immigration from Canada and the Latin American countries by placing them under the quota plan now operating to limit the number of immigrants annually entering the United States from European countries will be recommended to the Seventieth Congress. Rep. John C. Box (Dem.) of Texas, author of a bill to limit immigration from Canada and Latin America which was introduced in 1925, has recently announced that he will re-introduce his bill during the forthcoming session.

Harry E. Hull, Commissioner General of Immigration, advocated extension of the quota system to countries of the Western Hemisphere in his report for the fiscal, year 1926, and is at present formulating recommendations of a similar nature to be presented to Congress. A number of groups are supporting the proposal to erect higher immigration barriers on the continent. This includes trade unions, farmers' organizations, women's organizations, social service agencies and some citizens associations, particularly in the Southwest and in some parts of the Middle West, where social and economic problems have arisen during recent years as the result of a large influx of Mexicans.

Defeat of Purpose of Quota Plan

Advocates of further restriction claim that the movement from Latin America is defeating the purpose of the Immigration Acts of 1921 and 1924, which were intended to reduce immigration to manageable proportions and to permit the entry of individuals who would readily become American in their ways of life.

Anti-Immigration Movement Source 5

Link: http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/document.php?id=cqresrre1929031200


Citation: The national-origin immigration plan. (1929). Editorial research reports 1929 (Vol. I). Washington, DC: CQ Press. Retrieved from http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre1929031200


Summary: (not put in my own words)

The Immigration Act of 1924 provided that the annual immigration quota of each nationality should be two per cent of the number of foreign born individuals of that nationality resident in the United States as shown by the census of 1890. This basis of apportionment was to remain in effect for three years, at the end of which time the national-origin plan of quota apportionment provided in the act was to come into force. It was provided that:

“The annual quota of any nationality for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1927, and for each fiscal year thereafter, shall be a number which bears the same ratio to 150,000 as the number of inhabitants in continental United States having that national origin…bears to the number of inhabitants in continental United States in 1920, but the minimum quota of any nationality shall be 100.”

Provision was made for the determination of the national-origin quotas by a commission made up of the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of Labor. The President was to “proclaim and make known” the quotas so determined, and it was provided that: “Such proclamation shall be made on or before April 1, 1927.” The general plan of the act contemplated a three year transition period, and the coming into force at the end of that period of a permanent immigration policy where under the number to be admitted from each nation each year would be in exact relation to the contribution made by that nation to the white population of the United States as it existed in 1920.

Anti-Immigration Movement Source 4

Website:         http://americanhistory.abc-clio.com/Search/Display/254030?terms=chinese+exclusion+act  
Citation:         "Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)." American History.
ABC-CLIO, 2012. Web. 12 Feb. 2012.

Summary:  This document is called The Chinese Exclusion Act (1882). This act made it illegal for people of the Chinese race to enter into the United States or become a citizen of the United States for 10 years. Before this act, the Chinese who immigrated to the U.S. were treated horribly, and given very unfair wages for their work. They were forced to live under very harsh conditions and were often attacked by Americans who believed that they were stealing job from them. The act stated that 90 days after the act was put into effect would be when the United States would stop letting Chinese immigrants into the country, and that this would continue for 10 years after the act issued. The act also declared that any person who helped a Chinese immigrant gain entry to the country would be guilty of a crime, punishable of a fine of 500 dollars for each Chinese immigrant that they were responsible for helping, and up to one year in jail. Chinese Immigrants who had already been living in America before the act, or who had immigrated to America before the 90 day period following the enactment of the act, would not be penalized for living in the United States. To make sure that the Chinese immigrants that were in the United States before the issuing of this act remain free and respected, a list of all of the Chinese immigrants in the United States at that time will be made after the 90 day period. Chinese immigrants in the United States must acquire a certificate stating that they are a citizen of the United States before leaving, if they are planning on returning to the country.

Anti-Immigration Movement Research Questions

I am learning about the effects that the Anti-Immigration Movement had on different groups of people who were immigrating to the United States because I want to find out about the discriminations that members of this movement generalized about people who were trying to enter the country. This will help me to understand the several restrictions and laws that members of this movement dedicated their lives to putting into action. Therefore, my question is: How did the Anti-Immigration Movement affect different groups of people immigrating to the United States?

What I have learned

After researching about Immigration and about the Anti-Immigration Movement as a whole, I now have a better understanding on how different groups of people were treated when trying to come into the United States and start a new life for themselves. People immigrated here so that they could live in peace and harmony in a new location where they could make a new start, but members of the Anti-Immigration Movement made this very difficult for them. Members would try to create special taxations on the states for every immigrant that they allowed into the country through that specific state. Also, the Anti-Immigration members devoted their lives to stopping immigration entirely, by trying to pass specific laws that limited the amount of people allowed into the United States, and that limited the types of people that were allowed into the country. In addition to making it nearly impossible for people to immigrate to the U.S., memebers would also force those who immigrated here to "Americanize" themselves and change to their beliefs/ethnic backgrounds to ones that were more accepted be others. The Anti-Immigration Movement was designed to discriminate against those who were interested in immigrating to the United States, and the members did all that was in their power to put a stop to immigration alltogether. The question that still remains with me is, Who were the major leaders of this movement?