The Exclusion Act Of The United States

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

With riots and protests to his previous veto of the bill, President Chester Arthur signed “An Act to Execute Certain Treaty Stipulations Relating to the Chinese” into law.” Nicknamed the Chinese Exclusion Act, it was one of the first Federal laws that discriminated against immigrants by their ethnicity. It remained law for over sixty years before Congress repealed it in 1943 to help improve Chinese morale against Japan. While originally intending to stay law for only ten years, it was renewed many times. In 1892, it was renewed as The Geary Act and in 1902 it was made permanent; requiring that Chinese immigrants carry with them there certificate of residence.The hostility against Chinese immigrants had been going on for decades prior to the Exclusion Act, going as far back as the end of the California Gold Rush. While Chinese immigrants were often discriminated it was at a local, not federal level. The Chinese Exclusion Act was the Gilded era’s worst policy because it negatively helped redefine the US federal government's stance on immigrants, had many people openly opposing it, and the arguments for the Act were mostly untrue.

Besides, in congress debates, people talked about racism and discriminatory prejudice against Chinese and African American. One senator said this, “the Caucasian race has a right, considering its superiority of intellectual force and mental vigor, to look down upon every other branch of the human family…we are the superior race today.” The Chinese Exclusion Act began being harsher and harsher. Chinese immigrants who have right to return were also forced to go back to China in 1889 by the Scott Act. Later on, other Asians were also prohibited from entering the United States. This is the first law of prohibition of race-based restrictions. After 1882, Chinese visitors who want admission to America had to take strict screening process so that they could prove that they met the requirements for entering. In 1892, the Geary Act was enacted. The Act has three requirements. One is to extend the ban on Chinese immigrants for ten years. Two is to create a presumption that persons of Chinese descent were residing in the United States unlawfully. Three is a requirement for labor to acquire a certificate confirming their legal status.

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

During this time the Chinese Exclusion Act was in place, forbidding the entrance of Chinese immigrants into the United States.

The Chinese exclusion act was a movement that prohibited Chinese immigration; people used it as a discrimination against Chinese people. In one year Chinese immigration dropped from 40,000 to 23. This shows how people where violent and discriminant to Chinese fellows.

Over time many factors have been a part of molding the immigration policy that we know and hold true to. Not just one argument caused the view we see threw when pondering immigration, but many have settled their opinions into our policy. One of the many arguments used was the argument against the Chinese and how they were so-called dangerous. Horace Davis states, “The experience of other nations who have permitted Chinese immigration and showed you that wherever it has been allowed the same unvarying features mark their presence, and that after centuries of contact with other people in the islands of the East Indies their race peculiarities are just distinct as they are today in California; so that our only hope lies in a law restricting their

The Chinese Experience records the history of the Chinese in the United States. The three-part documentary shows how the first arrivals from China, their descendants, and recent immigrants have “become American.” It is a story about identity and belonging that is relative to all Americans. The documentary is divided into three programs, each with a focus on a particular time in history. Program 1 describes the first arrivals from China, beginning in the early 1800’s and ending in 1882, the year Congress passed the first Chinese exclusion act. Program 2, which details the years of exclusion and the way they shaped and distorted Chinese American

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.”

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 government targeted the Asian Americans as a threat. As Takaki asserted, “Unlike European immigrants, Asians were also victimized by the institutionalized racial discrimination of public policies.” These policies include the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and the National Origins Act of 1924. The social image of America can clearly be seen as only “whites” when the government institute policies to encourage European women to arrive to America so the immigrants can form families, while Asian women were barred the entry to prevent families to form

    Around the time of the Chinese Exclusion Act, there was the California Gold Rush of 1849, the American Civil War (1861-1865), and The Treaty of Tianjin (1858)/The Burlingame Treaty (1868). One of the first events that compelled Chinese immigrants to travel to the United States was the gold rush: “Chinese immigrants arrived on U.S. shores between the California gold rush in 1849 and 1882…” (Chineseimmigrationact). Also, the treaty of Burlingame, “… ultimately reinforced U.S. trade interests with China under the principle of the most-favored-nation concept, and it ensured a steady flow of low-cost Chinese immigrant labor for U.S. firms” (U.S. Department of State).  The Treaty of Burlingame, which was an extension of the Treaty of

From the 1850s, political agitation and financial weights at home provoked many Chinese settlers to move toward the western areas of the United States looking for transitory work. Many took low-paid employments as unskilled workers in mining, development, horticulture, assembling, or administration ventures. The 1890 decennial census reports a Chinese-conceived inhabitant populace surpassing 100,000; records demonstrate that almost 300,000 Chinese workers entered the United States in the vicinity of 1850 and 1889, however antiquarians evaluate that the same number of as half at last came back to China. This influx of Chinese movement was joined by developing hostility to Chinese Migrants causing ethnic segregation, in the U.S. Congress passed the Chinese Rejection Act in 1882 which restricted Chinese work relocation to the United States and banned Chinese inhabitants from getting U.S. citizenship. In spite of the fact that the law was canceled in 1943, minimal Chinese movement was allowed until the point that the Immigration and

The legislation of congress passed an immigration restriction to limit the amount of Chinese arriving to 15 per ship or vessel. The Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Acts with the terms of the Angell Treaty which suspended the immigration of Chinese labors for 10 years (Chinese Immigration and the Chinese Exclusion Acts). The act required every Chinese person traveling in or out the country to carry an ID, identifying its status as a laborer immigrant and the Chinese exclusion acts (Chinese Immigration and the Chinese Exclusion Acts). This law prohibited Chinese laborers who were skilled or unskilled and Chinese employees working as miners from entering the country. The Chinese immigrants learned to use courts as a venue to fight for their rights and won many cases (Yuning Wu). They encountered hostility and were forced to leave the field, and move an urban area, such as San