Dbq Japanese Internment

In mid-1941, Japanese leaders believed that war with the United States was unavoidable and that it was important to seize the Dutch West Indies, who provided them with oil after President Franklin D. Roosevelt prevented the Japanese from importing oil there (History Notes pg. 19). On December 7, 1941 the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, which lead to the United States joining World War II (History Notes pg.20). On February 19, 1942 President Roosevelt signed an executive order called “Executive Order 9066” which caused the Japanese-Americans and Japanese immigrants to relocate and move to internment and concentration camps. The rooms were small; there was barely any light and no running water but the Japanese did their best to find

The Japanese were not placed in internment due to their race/ancestry for three reasons: They were the ones responsible for their removal, Justice Black’s statement that “Exclusion of those of Japanese origins were deemed necessary because of the presence of unascertained number of disloyal members of the group, most of whom we have no doubt were loyal to this country” (Japanese Interment pg. 3) and because the United States were at war with the Japanese Empire. The first reason the Japanese were not placed in interment due to their race/ancestry was that they were the ones responsible for their removal. If the Japanese did not attack Pearl Harbor the United States would not have joined World War II in the first place. Roosevelt would not have created the War Relocation Authority to relocate them either. The Japanese-Americans also failed to voluntarily remove themselves from the West

Black stated that the court had to deal with the whole group of because there was no way that they could determine who was genuinely loyal and disloyal to America (Japanese Interment pg.3). Black also noted that “the members who remained loyal to Japan had been confirmed by investigations made after the exclusion” (Japanese Interment pg.3). He also said that “approximately five thousand American citizens of Japanese ancestry refused to swear unqualified allegiance to the United States and to renounce allegiance to the Japanese Emperor” (Japanese Interment pg.3). The third reason the Japanese were not placed in interment due to their race/ancestry was that the United States were at war with the Japanese Empire. Besides Pearl Harbor, the Japanese were also spreading to the Philippines which were occupied with those from the United States since the Spanish-American War (History notes pg. 20). Justice also stated that the “properly constituted military authorities feared an invasion of our West Coast (Japanese Interment pg.3). Black also clearly states that being at war with Japan was the reason they excluded the Japanese, not because of who the Japanese