Chinese Exclusion Act
The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was a significant piece of legislation that suspended immigration by Chinese laborers to the United States for ten years and barred Chinese residents from becoming naturalized citizens. This act emerged in the context of rising anti-Chinese sentiment, driven by fears of job competition and racial prejudice, particularly in the rapidly industrializing West. Initially, Chinese immigrants had arrived in large numbers, particularly after the Taiping Rebellion, to work in labor-intensive roles, especially during the California Gold Rush.
Despite being framed as a temporary measure, the Exclusion Act laid the groundwork for a series of increasingly restrictive laws targeting Chinese immigrants, including the Scott Act of 1888 and the Geary Act of 1892, which further tightened immigration controls and limited the rights of existing Chinese residents. These laws reflected broader patterns of racial discrimination and xenophobia prevalent in American society at the time.
The Chinese Exclusion Act remained in effect until its repeal on December 17, 1943, during World War II, when changing geopolitical circumstances diminished the perceived threat of Chinese competition. This historical episode highlights the complexities of immigration policy and the enduring impact of exclusionary practices on communities in the United States.
Chinese Exclusion Act
Significance: This act represents the first time the United States sought to exclude immigrants by race and nationality; it marked a turning point in what had been, until then, an open door to immigrants from around the world.
The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 suspended immigration by Chinese laborers to the United States for a period of ten years and prohibited Chinese residents in the United States from becoming naturalized citizens. Merchants, students, and tourists, however, were still permitted to enter the United States for visits. Although the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was established as a temporary suspension of immigration by Chinese laborers, it was only the first of many laws designed to exclude Asians from entry into the United States.
This law was both a political and social reaction to increasing non-European immigration in the second half of the nineteenth century. As the country became more industrialized and its frontier began to disappear, Americans became increasingly apprehensive about employment and the role of immigrants. American labor organizations objected to what they perceived as unfair competition by Chinese laborers.
Background
Chinese immigration to the mainland United States began in earnest after the Taiping Rebellion in 1848. Most Chinese immigrants headed for California, where the gold rush of 1849 led to an increased need for labor. In 1854, 13,100 Chinese immigrants came to the United States. This immigration, regulated by the Burlingame Treaty in 1868, was unrestricted; by 1880, the number of immigrants had risen to 105,465. The majority remained in California, where they were hired as laborers by the railroads, worked as domestics, and opened small businesses. San Francisco was the port of entry for many Chinese; the population of its Chinatown grew from two thousand to twelve thousand between 1860 and 1870.
The size and nature of this early Chinese immigration brought a long-lasting prejudice. Californians thought of Chinese laborers as “coolies”—that is, as cheap labor brought to the United States to undercut wages for American workers. Chinese workers were also accused of being dirty. Authorities in San Francisco suspected that crowded areas of Chinatown were the focus for disease and passed the Cubic Air Ordinance, prohibiting rental of a room with fewer than five hundred cubic feet of space per person. This municipal ordinance was later declared unconstitutional.
Anti-Chinese discrimination and violence increased during the 1870s. In 1871, a mob attacked and killed nineteen people of Chinese descent in Los Angeles. Dennis Kearney, a naturalized citizen from Ireland, organized the Workingmen’s Party in 1877 to oppose Chinese immigrants. Shouting, “The Chinese must go!” Kearney threatened violence to all Chinese immigrants. In July 1877, men from an “anti-coolie club” led workers into San Francisco’s Chinatown on a rampage that lasted several days.
Because most local ordinances against the Chinese had been declared unconstitutional, people who opposed Chinese immigration turned to Congress for new legislation. Congress responded in 1879 with a bill to limit Chinese immigration by prohibiting ships from bringing more than fifteen Chinese immigrants at a time. The bill was vetoed by President Rutherford B. Hayes on the grounds that it violated the Burlingame Treaty. With popular sentiment against continuing Chinese immigration, however, the treaty was amended in 1880, allowing the United States to limit the number of Chinese immigrants.
Exclusionary Legislation
The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was a response to the intensity of anti-Chinese feelings in the West and to close political elections that made western electoral votes critical. As signed into law by President Chester A. Arthur, the act suspended immigration by Chinese laborers for ten years. The vote in the House of Representatives reflected the popularity of the measure. There were 201 votes in favor, 37 against, and 51 absent. Representatives from every section of the country supported the bill, with southern and western House members voting unanimously for the legislation.
Later laws were even more draconian. An amendment in 1884 excluded all Chinese and Chinese residents living in other countries from entering the United States except as students, merchants, or tourists. The Scott Act of 1888 prohibited outright the entry of Chinese laborers and denied reentry to those who traveled abroad, even if they held reentry visas. The law also placed additional restrictions on those who were still permitted to come to the United States. In 1892 the Geary Act extended for an additional ten years the exclusion of Chinese immigrants, prohibited the use of habeas corpus by Chinese residents in the United States if arrested, and required all Chinese people to register and provide proof of their eligibility to remain in the United States. The act was renewed in 1902, and Congress made permanent the exclusion of Chinese immigrant laborers in 1904.
These exclusionary laws reflected a bias in American attitudes toward immigration by non-Europeans and increasing racial discrimination. Restrictions on intermarriage and land ownership by Chinese in many western states in the early 1900’s led to a reduction in the number of Chinese residing in the United States from more than 100,000 in 1890 to 61,639 by 1920.
On December 17, 1943, the Chinese Exclusion Act was repealed. By then the threat of competition by Chinese labor was no longer an issue, and China was an ally of the United States in the war with Japan.
Bibliography
Hoexter, Corinne K. From Canton to California: The Epic of Chinese Immigration. New York: Four Winds, 1976. Print.
Jones, Maldwyn Allen. American Immigration. 2d ed. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1992. Print.
Knoll, Tricia. Becoming Americans: Asian Sojourners, Immigrants, and Refugees in the Western United States. Portland: Coast to Coast, 1982. Print.
Takaki, Ronald. Strangers from a Different Shore: A History of Asian Americans. Boston: Little, 1989. Print.
United States Commission on Civil Rights. The Tarnished Golden Door: Civil Rights Issues in Immigration. Washington, DC: US GPO, 1980. Print.