Chinese Exclusion Act: The Gilded Age

In the first two decades of the twentieth century, the United States experienced a large increase in political, economic, and social reforms. During this time, there had been an increase in urbanization, and industrial factories within the larger cities throughout the United States, particularly in the northeastern cities. With the addition of the industries and factories too populated also came a growing number of immigrants, and seekers of wealth and employment. As a result, the population increase would result in major issues which would overshadow the economic gains that came from industrialization. In addition, the rise of industrialization also brought about major issues within the populations of the city. After seeing

In 1879 an anti-Chinese play was created by Henry Grimm; the point of the document was the problem of Chinese people taking over American jobs, this was written in San Francisco, CA. In 1879 there was an anti-Chinese sentiment, the railroad was completed, and a high number act of violence against the Chinese. The document targets the government figures and the America public. This document has a bias towards an argument against Chinese and the

Americans were unsettled by the overwhelming amount of new immigrants. The new immigrants came in such massive quantities that in 1900 immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe made up as much as 70 percent of all immigrants. This is a dramatic increase considering that in midcentury these immigrants only made up 1 percent of the immigrant population. This overhaul of new immigrants led to severe hostility, bias, and nativism. Nativism is the belief that native-born white Americans were superior to newcomers. Competition for jobs and housing had never been higher in the late 19th century. America was in an economic recession and most immigrants were willing to work for much lower wages than natural born citizens which as a result put them out of work and ultimately housing. This however was only one problem, religion was another. American Protestants were suspicious of Catholicism which was the religion of many new immigrants including the Irish, German, Italian, and Polish. The majority of white Protestants would not hire, vote for, or even work with Catholics or Jewish people. In severe cases Americans would even sign contracts agreeing not to

In the United States, we are known as a nation with equal rights. However, in our history, public issues arise jeopardizing the difference between the common good and individual rights. The Chinese Exclusion Act was one issue that was very controversial. Many people immigrate to our nation as a new start, a new beginning. In the Western United States, many immigrants were from China. Nativists believed America is for Americans only and no other race. This made many people hostile and discriminate Chinese people. Eventually, the Chinese Exclusion Act was signed by Chester A Arthur barring Chinese people wishing to immigrate to America. This violated their individual rights because they thought it was for the common good, however it violated our constitution. Violating their individual rights, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion act, disabling many chinese people to emigrate back to America which resulted in opposition and hatred, even though America believed it was for the common good. I believe it was unconstitutional as many Chinese people had no power to voice their opinion.

Immigration was a crucial aspect of the Gilded Age although it brought many issues to the USA. The large influx of Chinese brought out America’s racist views and caused the economy to be affected negatively. To begin with in the California gold rush, the large number of Chinese were blamed for taking all the gold and they were forcefully relocated to the city to work labor jobs. This large growth of laborers caused businesses to lower their average wages and non-immigrant Americans were unable to find jobs. Ones that did already have jobs were angered by the lower wages. Since the economy in the 1870s was in decline, Anti-Chinese groups, such as the Supreme Order of Caucasians, formed to protest against Chinese immigrants all across USA. Labor

Throughout history there have been cases of certain groups of people accused of being inferior to others. Most of these accusations are formed from a lack of understanding about people’s traditions, and lifestyles. It becomes increasingly more difficult when foreign cultures try to immigrate to other countries or areas. One case of this was The Chinese Exclusion act, which halted Asian immigration for ten years and prevented the immigrants already here from gaining citizenship. One of the reasons American citizens supported the Chinese Exclusion Act was, they were worried that the Chinese would take all of their jobs and force them to compete with each other. Another reason was, they believed many of the stereotypes that were given to the Chinese immigrants at that time.

The Gilded Age, also known as American urbanization, led to many employment opportunities, advances in transportation and sanitation, which improved overall standard of living. All advancements that took place in The Gilded Age still effect American life today. The rapid development of the cities in the 19th century served as both a separation and togetherness factor in American political, economic and social life. Cities in the area created a wealthy cross-section of the world’s population, making the cities a diverse, metropolitan area, drawing a lot of attention to the social classes of the people surrounding. At the same time, cities drove people from completely different backgrounds to live and work together, creating unity. The never-ending inundation of immigrants from different countries including, Britain, Germany, and Mexico, created a diverse population united by sharing their determination for financial wealth, social oppression and the American Dream. As the 19th century came to an end, how did the explosion of civilization contradictorily make Americans more similar and more diverse simultaneously?

The late nineteenth century was an era of growth in the USA. It introduced railroads, telephone lines, opportunities for entrepreneurs, and cheap goods for consumers. Mark Twain dubbed this time period the Gilded Age; the period was glittering on the surface but corrupt underneath. Between 1870 and 1900, corporations grew significantly across the board in number, size, and influence. The newfound efficiency of resources and mass production resulted in an increase in the production of American goods and the amount of unskilled laborers but also created a wide divide between classes and a maldistribution of power. The American people responded to these impacts through both an increased participation in consumerism and the formation of both

Millions of immigrants over the previous centuries have shaped the United States of America into what it is today. America is known as a “melting pot”, a multicultural country that welcomes and is home to an array of every ethnic and cultural background imaginable. We are a place of opportunity, offering homes and jobs and new economic gains to anyone who should want it. However, America was not always such a “come one, come all” kind of country. The large numbers of immigrants that came during the nineteenth century angered many of the American natives and lead to them to blame the lack of jobs and low wages on the immigrants, especially the Asian communities. This resentment lead to the discrimination and legal exclusion of immigrants,

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.”

The Gilded Age saw the United States shift from an agricultural to an urban, industrial society, as millions of Americans flocked to cities in the post, Civil War time zone. Nearly 40 percent of Americans lived in urbanized areas by 1900, as opposed to 20 percent in 1800s. Industrialization and the rush to the cities led to the development of consumerism and a middle class. The rich had many advantages to the new age.

According to the documents, describing the cruel actions of wicked men who intended nothing but hate towards the Chinese and racist comments that targeted specifically the Chinese depicts the idea that the Chinese Exclusion Act should have not been implemented in the United States in the year of 1882. The Chinese were strongly discriminated just like the African American people. To start on with (Document A) about a play divided in four parts called “The Chinese Must Go” by Henry Grimm in 1879, shows of the stereotypes about the Chinese. This document is nothing else but mimicking or impersonating how the Chinese tend to speak English in America. Their English maybe be taken as broken English, another way to describe someone’s struggle to speak

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

One of the most notable times during the late 19th century was the Gilded Age. This is a term often used to describe this time period since from the outside looking in urban life in America seemed perfect, but in reality, many citizens did not like the changes that were occurring. Since the verb gild means to cover with or as if with a thin coating of gold[1], historians often refer to this time period as “the Gilded Age”. New ideals about poverty, social reforms, different political approaches, and a new women’s culture brought forth political, economic, social, and cultural changes in urban growth during the

American middle class life was greatly influenced throughout 1870-1917. There were many profound changes, however the American industrialization and urbanization were the most rapid and unquestionably the most important. The industrialist brought forth household names that are still around today such as Swift, Armour, Westinghouse, Pillsbury, Pullman, Rocketfeller, Carnegie, and Duke. Due to the rapid movement of industrialization, so began a movement of urbanization. Between 1860 and 1910, urban population increased sevenfold and by the 1920’s more than half of all Americans lived in cities. Along with the cities came more use of electricity, electric lights, telephones, and eventually appliances. Appliances