The Pros And Cons Of The Chinese Exclusion Act

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

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.

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 not a good idea because the Chinese faced discrimination and were mistreated. In document D, it states how the Chinese men are loyal and hardworking. For those reasons, the Irishmen hate them. This evidence suggests that the Chinese men did no harm to the Irishmen. The Chinese worked more diligently than any other race and still faced discrimination because of resentment from the Irishmen. The Irish and Germans believed the Chinese were taking all the jobs available and cause them to lose money. Furthermore, in document B, it demonstrates how the Irishmen and Germans want to attack a powerless and emotionally drained Chinese man but the symbol of America, Columbia, is attempting to protect him from getting harmed.

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.

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.

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.

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

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).

The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was tailored to cripple the immigration of Chinese into the United States, because they were deemed inassimilable and seen as uncivilized, unclean and filthy, creating an anti-Chinese fervor (Zia). This era promoted resentment towards Chinese which further escalated, with the Johnson-Reed Act of 1924 that extended to other Asian groups. Nonetheless, this did not prevent Chinese immigrants from entering the United States. Chinese found loopholes in the law that allowed them to bring their family members as ‘paper sons’. The 1906 earthquake in San Francisco destroyed municipal records, which catalyzed immigration from China by allowing Chinese-men to claim US citizenship and bring their family from China

In the late 1800s, America passed a fierce act due to the rising tension between the Chinese immigrants and whites. Chinese immigrants were troubled with biased laws and stereotyping. The Chinese Exclusion Act was one of these law. It... The immigrants were stereotyped as barbarians, anti-christian, anti-white, or as slaves. They were called heathens, racial slurs, and much worse; and the Chinese were seen as idolaters, the lowest, and the vilest. Some may argue they were taking over jobs because of how they were willing to work for less. But ultimately, the most influential factor in why Americans passed the Chinese Exclusion Act was racial prejudice toward the Chinese.

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.

Additionally, a distinctive aspect that sets the Chinese apart from all the other AAPI groups was the fact that they were the first Asian-American group to be exposed to exclusionary acts such as the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. The Act efficiently halted Chinese immigration and prohibited Chinese from becoming naturalized citizens. It was ordained in reaction to widespread economic concerns and fear about maintaining white purity. The U.S. government did not stop; they successively issued more discriminatory acts into the law. One such proposal was the Scott Act of 1888, which banned Chinese workers abroad or who intended future travels from returning to America. The act expanded on the Chinese Exclusion Act and stranded thousands of Chinese outside the United States. Furthermore, the Chinese Exclusion Act was renewed for another decade by the Geary Act (1892). Geary Act by itself established a central system for all Chinese inhabitants in America. It became