Executive Order 906 Dbq

763 Words4 Pages

After the attack on Pearl Harbor the United States was in an uproar. Americans were now in fear of Japanese spies and they placed their suspicions on ordinary Japanese American citizens. President Roosevelt was swayed into ordering Executive Order 9066. President Roosevelt was not justified in ordering Executive Order 9066 due to violation of constitutional rights, blatant racism, and long term negative consequences caused by the internment of Japanese American citizens in 1942.

Franklin Roosevelt used poor judgement when he ordered Executive Order 9066 because of the racism behind this executive order. A man named Fred Korematsu, a Japanese American citizen, felt that his internment went against the United States Constitution. The Fourteenth …show more content…

In 1944 when many internees were allowed to leave the internment camps many of them had no place to return to. Many of them had sold their homes and belongings in belief that they would never be able to return. If their house was still there it was common for racial comments and signs to be written on their houses. Their houses were often destroyed. Japanese Americans were also treated rather poorly by other Americans due to racial discrimination during the war. Many Americans believed that the act was necessary and it worked out alright since the government offered compensation. However, that compensation came about forty-four years later and did not really do much. They only offered about 20,000 dollars to survivors of the internment camps. The amount of money lost by many of the citizens individually was usually less than the amount of money the government offered: "For many years after the war, various individuals and groups sought compensation for the internees. The speed of the evacuation forced many homeowners and businessmen to sell out quickly; total property loss is estimated at $1.3 billion, and net income loss at $2.7 billion (calculated in 1983 dollars based on the Commission investigation below)" (ourdocuments.gov). The effect of internment was extremely negative. The Japanese American citizens lost so much even after they were let out of internment camps and that was all due to Executive Order

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