Governor’s Addresses
The Governor’s Address of 1855 stated Governor Gardner’s worries about the fact that “during the present decade...nearly four millions of aliens will probably be poured in upon us...nearly four-fifths of the beggary, two-thirds of the pauperism, and more than three-fifths of the crimes spring from our foreign population.” Essentially, he was trying to convince the people and the legislature of Massachusetts that immigrants were a detriment to the population, and recommended much legislation, including disenfranchisement of people illiterate in English.
The Governor’s Address of 1856 discussed, among other things, the suggestion enlarging the powers of the Board of Alien Commissioners. Gardner stated that “They should have the entire regulation of the admission and transfer of paupers to the different Almshouses,—of removing the alien pauper insane to the Lunatic Hospitals,—of sending paupers out of the State to those places where they have a settlement…” Gardner wanted to have more regulation of the paupers, which he also stated were mostly immigrants.
The Governor’s Address of 1857 states explicitly that “aliens unfitted to appreciate or rightly use the great trust,” and essentially states that immigrants are unfit to be in America. This was Governor Gardner’s last year in office, and in this address he most explicitly stated that immigrants were unfit to live in the United States, saying clearly what he and his legislation had been hinting at for the past three years.