Gentlemen's Agreement Of 1907
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The was an informal agreement between the
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and the
Empire of Japan The Empire of Japan, also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was the Japanese nation state that existed from the Meiji Restoration on January 3, 1868, until the Constitution of Japan took effect on May 3, 1947. From Japan–Kor ...
whereby Japan would not allow further immigration of laborers to the United States and the United States would not impose restrictions on Japanese immigrants already present in the country. The goal was to reduce tensions between the two Pacific nations such as those that followed the Pacific Coast race riots of 1907 and the segregation of Japanese students in public schools. The agreement was not a treaty and so was not voted on by the United States Congress. It was superseded by the
Immigration Act of 1924 The Immigration Act of 1924, or Johnson–Reed Act, including the Asian Exclusion Act and National Origins Act (), was a United States federal law that prevented immigration from Asia and set quotas on the number of immigrants from every count ...
.


Background

Chinese immigration to California boomed during the Gold Rush of 1852, but the Japanese government practiced strict policies of isolation that thwarted Japanese emigration. In 1868, the Japanese government lessened restrictions, and Japanese immigration to the United States began. Anti-Chinese sentiment motivated American entrepreneurs to recruit Japanese laborers. Most Japanese immigrants wanted to reside in America permanently and came in family groups, in contrast to the Chinese immigrants, most of whom were young men who soon returned to China. Japanese immigrants assimilated to American social norms, such as those on clothing. Many joined
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and
Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...
churches.Daniels, (1999) As the Japanese population in California grew, they were viewed with suspicion as an entering wedge by Japan. By 1905, Japanese Americans lived not only in
Chinatown Chinatown ( zh, t=唐人街) is the catch-all name for an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, Asia, Africa, O ...
but throughout San Francisco, while anti-Japanese rhetoric was common in the ''
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'' newspaper. In that year, the ''Japanese and Korean Exclusion League'' was established to promote four policies: #extension of the Chinese Exclusion Act to include Japanese and Koreans, #exclusion by League members of Japanese employees and the hiring of firms that employ Japanese, #pressuring the School Board to segregate Japanese from white children, #a propaganda campaign to inform Congress and the President of the "menace". Tensions had been rising in
San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
, and since Japan's decisive victory against Russia in the
Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905) was fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and the Korean Empire. The major land battles of the war were fought on the ...
in 1905, Japan demanded treatment as an equal. The result was a series of six notes communicated between Japan and the United States from late 1907 to early 1908. The immediate cause of the Agreement was anti-Japanese nativism in
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. In 1906, the
San Francisco Board of Education The San Francisco Board of Education is the school board for the San Francisco, City and County of San Francisco. It is composed of seven Commissioners, elected by voters across the city to serve 4-year terms. It is subject to local, and state ...
passed a regulation whereby children of Japanese descent would be required to attend separate, segregated
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. At the time, Japanese immigrants made up approximately 1% of the population of California, many of whom had immigrated under a treaty in 1894 that had assured free immigration from Japan.Daniels, (1999) In the Agreement, Japan agreed not to issue passports for Japanese citizens wishing to work in the
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, thus effectively eliminating new Japanese immigration to the United States. In exchange, the United States agreed to accept the presence of Japanese immigrants already residing there; to permit the immigration of wives, children, and parents; and to avoid legal discrimination against Japanese American children in California schools. There was also a strong desire on the part of the Japanese government to resist being treated as inferiors. Japan did not want the United States to pass any legislation such as had happened to the Chinese under the
Chinese Exclusion Act The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was a United States Code, United States federal law signed by President Chester A. Arthur on May 6, 1882, prohibiting all immigration of Chinese laborers for 10 years. The law made exceptions for travelers an ...
. US President
Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), also known as Teddy or T.R., was the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909. Roosevelt previously was involved in New York (state), New York politics, incl ...
, who had a positive opinion of Japan, accepted the Agreement as proposed by Japan to avoid more formal immigration restrictions.


Segregation of schools

At the time, there were 93 Japanese students spread across 23 elementary schools. For decades, policies segregated Japanese schools, but they were not enforced as long as there was room and white parents did not complain. The Japanese and Korean Exclusion League appeared before the school board multiple times to complain. The school board dismissed its claims because it was fiscally infeasible to create new facilities to accommodate only 93 students. After the 1906 fire, the school board sent the 93 Japanese students to the Chinese Primary School and renamed it "The Oriental Public School for Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans." Transportation was limited after the earthquake, and many students could not attend the Oriental Public School. Many Japanese Americans argued with the school board that the segregation of schools went against the Treaty of 1894, which did not expressly address education but indicated that Japanese in America would receive equal rights. Under the controlling decisions of the
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('' Plessy v. Ferguson'', 1896), a state did not violate the
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of the
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by requiring
racial segregation Racial segregation is the separation of people into race (human classification), racial or other Ethnicity, ethnic groups in daily life. Segregation can involve the spatial separation of the races, and mandatory use of different institutions, ...
so long as the separate facilities were substantially equal. Tokyo newspapers denounced the segregation as an insult to Japanese pride and honor. The Japanese government wanted to protect its reputation as a world power. Government officials became aware that a crisis was at hand, and intervention was necessary to maintain diplomatic peace.


Federal intervention

President Roosevelt had three objectives to resolve the situation: showing Japan that the policies of California did not reflect the ideals of the entire country, forcing San Francisco to remove the segregation policies, and reaching a resolution to the Japanese immigration problem. Victor Metcalf, Secretary of Commerce and Labor, was sent to investigate the issue and to force the rescission of the policies. He was unsuccessful since local officials wanted Japanese exclusion. Roosevelt tried to pressure the school board, but it would not budge. On February 15, 1907, the parties came to a compromise. If Roosevelt could ensure the suspension of Japanese immigration, the school board would allow Japanese American students to attend public schools. The Japanese government did not want to harm its national pride or to suffer humiliation like the Qing government in 1882 in China from the
Chinese Exclusion Act The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was a United States Code, United States federal law signed by President Chester A. Arthur on May 6, 1882, prohibiting all immigration of Chinese laborers for 10 years. The law made exceptions for travelers an ...
. The Japanese government agreed to stop granting passports to laborers who were trying to enter the United States unless such laborers were coming to occupy a formerly-acquired home; to join a parent, spouse, or child; or to assume active control of a previously acquired farming enterprise. Concessions were agreed in a note consisting of six points a year later. The agreement was followed by the admission of students of Japanese ancestry into public schools. The adoption of the 1907 Agreement spurred the arrival of "
picture bride The term picture bride refers to the practice in the early 20th century of immigrant workers (chiefly Japanese, Okinawan, and Korean) in Hawaii and the West Coast of the United States and Canada, as well as Brazil selecting brides from their nat ...
s," marriages of convenience made at a distance through photographs.Browne (ed.), "Picture Bride," in ''What's What in the Labor Movement,'' p. 375. By establishing marital bonds at a distance, women seeking to emigrate to the United States were able to gain a passport, and Japanese workers in America were able to gain a partner of their own nationality. Because of that provision, which helped close the gender gap within the community from a ratio of 7 men to every woman in 1910 to less than 2 to 1 by 1920, the Japanese American population continued to grow despite the Agreement's limits on immigration. The Gentlemen's Agreement was never written into a law passed by the US Congress, but was an informal agreement between the United States and Japan, enacted via unilateral action by President Roosevelt. It was nullified by the
Immigration Act of 1924 The Immigration Act of 1924, or Johnson–Reed Act, including the Asian Exclusion Act and National Origins Act (), was a United States federal law that prevented immigration from Asia and set quotas on the number of immigrants from every count ...
, which legally banned all Asians from migrating to the United States.Imai, Shiho
"Gentlemen's Agreement"
''Densho Encyclopedia''. Retrieved 2014-07-03.


See also

*
Japan–United States relations International relations between Japan and the United States began in the late 18th and early 19th century with the diplomatic but Unequal treaty#Japan and Korea, force-backed missions of U.S. ship captains James Glynn and Matthew C. Perry to the ...
* List of United States immigration laws * Root–Takahira Agreement *
Immigration Act of 1917 The Immigration Act of 1917 (also known as the Literacy Act or the Burnett Act and less often as the Asiatic Barred Zone Act) was a United States Act that aimed to restrict immigration by imposing literacy tests on immigrants, creating new cate ...
* Gentlemen's Agreement of 1908 * History of Education in California


References


Further reading

* * * Esthus, Raymond A. ''Theodore Roosevelt and Japan'' (U of Washington Press, 1967) pp. 146–228
online
a standard scholarly history. * Masuda, Hajimu, “Rumors of War: Immigration Disputes and the Social Construction of American-Japanese Relations, 1905–1913,” ''Diplomatic History,'' 33 (Jan. 2009), 1–37. * Masuda Hajimu, “Gentlemen's Agreement,” ''The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Race, Ethnicity, and Nationalism'' (Wiley-Blackwell, 2015). * *, a standard scholarly history. {{DEFAULTSORT:Gentlemen's Agreement Of 1907 1907 in Japan 1907 in the United States History of immigration to the United States Japanese-American history Treaties of the United States Treaties of the Empire of Japan Foreign relations of the Republic of China (1912–1949) 1907 in international relations History of San Francisco Japan–United States relations 1907 treaties Emigration policy