governor-general Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, the Tsar's brother. About 20,000 were expelled, causing international condemnations. In his 9 December 1891 speech to the United States Congress, President Benjamin Harrison said: "This government had found occasion to express in a friendly spirit but with much earnestness, to the government of the Tsar, its serious concern because of harsh measures being enforced against the Hebrews." In 1892, new measures banned Jewish participation in local elections despite their large numbers in many towns of the Pale. "The Town Regulations ("Городовое положение") of 1892 prohibited Jews from the right to elect or be elected to town Dumas... That way, reverse proportional representation was achieved: the majority of town's taxpayers had to be subjugated to minority governing the town against Jewish interests." The next year, the Law Concerning the Names ("Об именах") imposed criminal punishment on those Jews who tried to "adopt Christian names" and dictated that Jews must use their birth names ("какими они означены в метрических книгах") in business, writings, advertisements, nametags, etc. Those laws remained in effect until 1917 and provided the impetus for mass emigration from Russia. In the period from 1881 to 1920, over two million Jews left the Russian Empire. Most Russian Jewish emigrants settled in the United States or Argentina, though some immigrated to Palestine, then a province of the Ottoman Empire. See also History of the Jews in Russia Bilu (movement) Hovevei Zion Leon Pinsker References Further reading Nicholas Riasanovsky. A History of Russia. p. 395 Tim Chapman. Imperial Russia, 1801–1905. p. 128 External links Beyond the Pale. May Laws: page 1 and page 2 Escape from the Pogroms at JVL Russia at Institute for Jewish Policy Research Politics of the Russian Empire Antisemitism in the Russian Empire 19th century in the Russian Empire 1882 in law 1882 in the Russian Empire