Gentlemen’s agreement. In the 1890’s, many persons feared that workers coming to the United States from Japan would take all the jobs and put them out of work. They wanted Congress to pass a law preventing further immigration. Japan protested and made the gentlemen’s agreement of 1908 instead. Japan promised to halt unrestricted emigration to the United States. In return, President Theodore Roosevelt promised to discourage any law limiting Japanese immigration. Since then, the term has been applied to any measure agreed upon by a class or group of people, but not made into law, that affects the welfare of another group.
See also Asian Americans (History of Asian immigration) ; Oriental Exclusion Acts .
