John L. Burnett


John Lawson Burnett was a U.S. Representative from Alabama, United States.

Life

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

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

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.
He served as chairman of the Committee on Immigration and Naturalization. On April 5, 1917, John Lawson Burnett was one of the 50 representatives who voted against declaring war on Germany.
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" Khater, Akram Fouad. "Becoming "Syrian" in America: A Global Geography of Ethnicity and Nation". Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies. 14 : 299–331. doi:10.1353/dsp.0.0010.

Death

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