Chinatown Essay

The United States has had tension with Asian immigrants since the first wave of migration in the 1840’s, and in 1882 the United States declared a Chinese Exclusion which was to keep all Chinese from migrating into the United States. For the Chinese already in the U.S this created worry and tension. With the Chinese people no longer being welcome the freedom for the Chinese inside which was already not much was even more condensed. The little equality that they had was taken away and they were excluded, and looked down upon everywhere they went. They had trouble living and socially because of the prejudice they were facing. An example of the Chinese struggle before the exclusion act would be the Chinese Lynching that took place in 1871. In Los Angeles a mob captured men and in this case a 12 year old boy and hung them all at a Spanish hacienda because of the citizens strong discrimination against

Immigration in the United States is a complex demographic activity that has been a major contribution to population growth and cultural change throughout much of the nation's history. The many aspects of immigration have controversy in economic benefits, jobs for non-immigrants, settlement patterns, crime, and even voting behavior. Congress has passed many laws that have to do with immigrants especially in the 19th century such as the Naturalization Act of 1870, and the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882, or even the Immigration Act of 1903 all to insure specific laws and boundaries set on immigrants. The life of immigrants has been drastically changed throughout the years of 1880-1925 through aspects such as immigrants taking non-immigrants

The Chinese laborers were signed to five-year contracts, after those five years around half returned to China while the other half stayed, creating Honolulu’s Chinatown. The neighborhood quickly grew with around 6,000 people occupying it. But in 1886 a fire broke out and destroyed eight blocks of Chinatown. The government responded to this fire by putting building restrictions, sadly none of those were enforced causing more rickety buildings to be built. In 1900 Chinatown became quarantined thanks to the Black Death. An answer to this solution was “sanitary fires” to try to prevent further spread of the disease.

As a result of the growing tensions, the state of California democrats sought to exclude the Chinese from immigrating (para 4). Most of their measures were unsuccessful, but the legislative attempts were a clear sign of the times, and an indication that even if they were “allowed” to come to America, the people would do whatever they could to make the experience unbearable. Eventually, in 1882, the

In 1965, the last legal barrier to Chinese immigrants fell with the signing of a new law that ended immigration quotas based on race. In the 19th and early 20th centuries the story of the Chinese in America was primarily a legal drama, played out on the nation’s borders and in courts. After the new immigration law went into effect, it became a personal story told by one individual and by one family at a time.

Immigrants began moving to the United States in the 1850s in search of new freedoms and opportunities. They were soon viewed as threats by the American people because they could potentially take away job opportunities from native born Americans. Additionally, the morality and capabilities of these foreign people were unknown. As a result, new social and economic policies that favored “real Americans” were enforced. These affected a large group of foreigners, including Jews, Catholics, Italians, southern Europeans, and the Chinese. (Fry 1)

The framework for American immigration policy began around the 1750-1820 period through the incorporation of colonial legacy with existing state and federal policy (Zolberg, 2009). The United States legislation has excluded whole nations and regions from migrating due to internal and external factors. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and the Page Act of 1875 restricted Chinese female immigration. In 1917 and 1924, quota systems were adopted to prohibit considerably “undesirable and “inferior” ethnic groups and races. During the Great Depression in the 1930s, between 400,000 and 1 million Mexican laborers and their families were deported under the “repatriation” programs. Approximately

One of the first significant pieces of federal legislation aimed at restricting immigration was the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which banned Chinese laborers from coming to America. Californians had agitated for the new law, blaming the Chinese, who were willing to work for less, for a decline in wages.The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was the first significant law restricting immigration into the United States. Those on the West Coast were especially prone to attribute declining wages and economic ills on the despised Chinese workers. Although the Chinese composed only .002 percent of the nation’s population, Congress passed the exclusion act to placate worker demands and assuage prevalent concerns about maintaining white “racial purity.”

Chinese Exclusion Act was a law that passed by Congress on May 6 of 1882, that halted the immigration of the Chinese laborers for a span of 10 years and denied neutralization to the existing Chinese in the United States. Following an economic crisis in the late 19th century that left many without jobs and slowed down the expansion of the Western States, many Chinese immigrants laborers were blamed for the falling of wages and lack of employment opportunities. The Chinese laborer faced violence, social isolation, and discriminatory laws that was included in the passage of the exclusion act. Although the act had little effect on the U.S’s economy beyond the Chinese community, it set a lasting effect for immigration policy, it was the first U.S law the refusal to admit members of a specific ethnic group or nationality. Since Chinese immigration was helping the U.S’s economy bloom. Why the sudden stop of only one ethnic group coming to the U.S? What social, economic, and political caused the Chinese Exclusion Act?

The first Chinese immigrants flooded to America, in the hopes of “striking gold” during the California Gold Rush of 1849. Unfortunately, the citizens of California greeted these newcomers with many unfair laws. Beginning with the Foreign Miner’s License Tax Law of 1850, the Chinese experienced nothing but bigotry from the citizens who surrounded them. This inequality peaked when President Chester A. Arthur signed the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, barring the immigration of Chinese workers for ten years. During that time, the immigration of Japanese in search of work rapidly increased. These immigrants also faced racial discrimination, from their ineligibility for citizenship to the laws prohibiting Japanese from owning land. The full

In 1882, the U.S government passed the Chinese Exclusion Act to limit the immigration of Chinese people. This was because the Chinese immigrants had skills, and were able to do multiple tasks while getting paid in a low amount. This was beneficial for the owners, so this caused them to get hired easily and take over the jobs of other people in America. Americans will lose jobs because of this. According to document 1 a primary source it stated, “…Whereas, in the opinion of the government of the United States the coming of Chinese labors to this country endangers the good order of certain localities (areas) within the territory.” This means that the Chinese were strong enough to cause danger in the goods in areas, and take over/ affect the territory. They were that strong that even the government had to take this step. This act prevented Chinese labors to come to America for 10 years. According to the same document it stated, “ The ninety days after the passage of this act, and until the expiration of ten years next after the passage of this act, the coming of Chinese laborers to the united states be… suspended” This will prevent Americans to lose their jobs and also won’t over populate U.S. According to document 2, a cartoon analysis (secondary source) it shows a Chinese man with a lot of hands,

The Chinese Exclusion Act was established in 1882, in which the first time United States prevent a group of immigrants with nationality (Lee 4), marked United States’ from welcoming nation to an enclosed and discriminative nation, has monumental impact on each Chinese immigrants and culture of the entire American Chinese community (6). The poor conditions and lack of opportunities in the 19th century China and the Chinese’s hope of accumulating wealth to support their families in China fostered the huge influx of Chinese immigrants to United States. The discovery of gold in California also fuelled many Chinese’s dream of fast wealth (112). Due to the need for mass labour stemming from industrialization and high productivity of Chinese labours, employers would enthusiastically hire Chinese labour, which in turn sparked the increasing competition with the local workers and a growing anti-Chinese sentiment (114).

In the 1800’s, immigrants from different areas of the world began coming more frequently to the United States. With these immigrants, came the Chinese. After some time, an Exclusion Act was passed by the United States to keep the Chinese from immigrating. This happened in 1882 and was even extended in 1892. This act was supported in being passed because the Chinese were taking many jobs from the Americans, and also because the Chinese brought conflicting cultural elements to America.

Very few working-class people could look past the Chinese to realize a much greater threat. The railroad companies were exploiting the Chinese, paying

53 “The Chinese Exclusion Act had a profound long-term impact on immigration policy. As the first law barring entry to people of a specific race or nationality, it served as a model for twentieth-century restrictions.” Edwards explains the beginnings of