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

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 (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".

Death

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