John Lawson Burnett (January 20, 1854 – May 13, 1919) was a U.S. Representative from Alabama.

John Lawson Burnett
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Alabama's 7th district
In office
March 4, 1899 – May 13, 1919
Preceded byMilford W. Howard
Succeeded byLilius B. Rainey
Personal details
Born(1854-01-20)January 20, 1854
Cedar Bluff, Alabama
DiedMay 13, 1919(1919-05-13) (aged 65)
Gadsden, Alabama

Life

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Born in Cedar Bluff, Alabama, Burnett attended the common schools of the county, Wesleyan Institute, Cave Spring, Georgia, and the local high school at Gaylesville, Alabama.

Studies and early politics

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He studied law and graduated from Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee.

In 1876, he was admitted to the bar in Cherokee County, Alabama and commenced practice in Gadsden thereafter. He served in the State House of Representatives in 1884 and as member of the State senate in 1886.

Election

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Burnett was elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-sixth and to the ten succeeding Congresses and served from March 4, 1899, until his death.[1]

He served as chairman of the Committee on Immigration and Naturalization (Sixty-second through Sixty-fifth Congresses). On April 5, 1917, John Lawson Burnett was one of the 50 representatives who voted against declaring war on Germany (World War I).

He served as member of the United States Immigration Commission 1907-1910. In 1907, Congressman John L. Burnett called Syrians "the most undesirable of the undesirable peoples of Asia Minor".[2]

Death

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John L. Burnett died in Gadsden, Alabama on May 13, 1919, and was interred in Forest Cemetery.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "S. Doc. 58-1 - Fifty-eighth Congress. (Extraordinary session -- beginning November 9, 1903.) Official Congressional Directory for the use of the United States Congress. Compiled under the direction of the Joint Committee on Printing by A.J. Halford. Special edition. Corrections made to November 5, 1903". GovInfo.gov. U.S. Government Printing Office. 9 November 1903. p. 3. Retrieved 2 July 2023.
  2. ^ Khater, Akram Fouad (2005). "Becoming "Syrian" in America: A Global Geography of Ethnicity and Nation". Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies. 14 (2): 299–331. doi:10.1353/dsp.0.0010.
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  This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Alabama's 7th congressional district

March 4, 1899 – May 13, 1919
Succeeded by