Speech #890120696

I am delighted that we have the opportunity now to make it into law. I ask my colleagues to approve it by an overwhelming majority as a message that the United States. through its freely elected representatives. continues to stand for the great principles of human freedom and equality on which the Nation was founded almost two centuries ago. The most dramatic feature of the immigration bill is the provision abolishing the national origins quota system. The quotas under this system. said President Johnson. "imply that men and women from some countries are. just because of where they come from. more desirable citizens than others. We have no right to disparage the ancestors of millions of our fellow Americans in this way." Forty years ago. the national origins quota system was first enacted into law. It was a time of fright when Americans. having recently emerged from World War I. seemed uncertain of themselves. Their reaction was to isolate themselves from the world. close their gates to new blood and new ideas. withdraw to the humdrum and the conventional. The repeal of the national origins quota system is a reaffirmation of our sturdy faith in human equality. of our enthusiasm for setting democratic standards for the rest of the world. of our willingness to lead a global community of peoples toward universal recognition of human dignity. Under the outgoing systemwhich will terminate in a 3year periodimmigration quotas were assigned to countries in ratio to the number of Americans of that countrys origin in the total American population. As a consequence. northern Europethe region from which most Americans came during this Nations first centurywas assigned a disproportionate share of the total annual quota.