Page Act

The Page Act of 1875 was the first federal law to restrict immigration. It was also known as the Asian Exclusion Act and designed to limit the immigration of female East Asians who came to the United States to work as prostitutes. It also restricted the immigration of known convicts and those brought into the country for forced labor. However, it eventually became a barrier for any East Asian immigrant, especially Chinese women, and contributed to racist behavior against Asians. It also led the way for further immigrant restriction legislation in the United States, which continues to be a divisive political topic in the twenty-first century.

Brief History

Prior to the Page Act in 1875, the United States had an open border policy, where people could freely immigrate to the country. In the early to mid-nineteenth century, immigrants came to the United States in large numbers mainly from Britain, Ireland, and Germany. However, by the mid-nineteenth century, more immigrants were also coming from other parts of the world, including East Asia. Immigrants came seeking relief from poverty and took advantage of work opportunities.

Early Chinese immigrants were mostly males who came in the late 1840s to meet the demand for inexpensive labor during the California Gold Rush. From 1863 to 1869, the Central Pacific Railroad hired about fifteen thousand Chinese laborers to help construct the 1,776-mile- (2,858-kilometer-) long Transcontinental Railroad. The derogatory term coolies was used to refer to Chinese or Indian men who worked long hours for little money performing manual labor. These men often borrowed money to make the trip and paid it back with interest from their wages.

While they were initially tolerated, animosity toward Asian immigrants slowly increased over time. These immigrants represented competition for jobs and were blamed for driving down wages. As a result, outright discrimination and anti-Asian violence became more common. Immigrants were driven into communities in larger California cities, such as San Francisco and Sacramento, where they could find low-wage work. Since the men often did not have enough money to send for their wives or did not wish to raise families in the United States, prostitution developed in Asian immigrant communities.

Prostitution had become a commonplace industry in the male-dominated West during the mid-1800s, and Chinese women were brought to the United States to work as prostitutes in Asian communities. Some of these women were forcibly brought, while others sought relief from impoverished conditions at home. The women lived and worked in poor conditions and were often subjected to violence and inhumane treatment.

Sensational news stories of Chinese prostitutes were published by the media and alarmed the American public, who saw them as a threat to the moral health of the country. This also further fueled anti-Asian sentiments, which included a distaste for the patriarchal Chinese society that allowed men to have concubines or multiple wives.

Overview

States began to pass their own immigration laws to manage the influx of migrants in the 1800s. Because of this, in 1875, the US Supreme Court ruled that immigration legislation would become a federal responsibility. The concern about Asians immigrating to the United States was the first matter to be legislated, and the Page Act was sponsored by Republican Representative Horace F. Page.

Asians could not be outright banned from coming to the United States, especially since the Burlingame Treaty of 1868 between the United States and China officially lifted any immigration restrictions against the Chinese people. However, politicians reasoned that it was possible to enact a law that would prevent the degradation of morality by imported Chinese prostitutes and prevent involuntary servitude that drove down laborers’ wages, especially since slavery had been abolished in 1865. Legislators hoped that this act would in turn curb the overall immigration of Asians.

A violator of the Page Act was subject to a fine of not more than $5,000 and a jail sentence of one year if they were found guilty of bringing anyone into the United States from East Asia, specifically China and Japan, for involuntary servitude or prostitution. If a Chinese woman wished to enter the United States, she had to prove that she was not a prostitute by submitting a declaration of morality, along with an application and fee to the American consulate. The women could further be subjected to character assessments, family background checks, interrogation, and medical assessment. Women who were deemed unfit or had any missing documentation could be returned to China at any point during their immigration journey.

After the Page Act became law, many men were unable to bring their wives and children to the United States because of the rigorous and expensive process that was put into place. It became increasingly difficult for unmarried Asian immigrant men to marry and start families, especially since many states had laws that made interracial marriages illegal. Many Chinese men worked as much as they could in the United States for a few years and then returned to their families in China.

The number of Chinese women who worked as prostitutes decreased significantly but did not affect the prevalence of the prostitution industry in the United States. While the overall population of female Chinese immigrants dropped by the 1880s, the number of Chinese male immigrants increased. Although many Americans still disliked the idea of Asian laborers, these men filled the need for inexpensive labor in many Western cities, and labor contracts continued.

To address the steady increase of primarily Chinese Asian immigration, a set of revisions was made to the Burlingame Treaty that allowed the United States to suspend Chinese immigration. In 1882, the Chinese Exclusion Actwas signed by the president, and this law prohibited any immigration of Chinese laborers for a term of ten years, except for students, teachers, diplomats, merchants, and travelers. The Geary Act of 1892 strengthened the anti-Asian immigration law and was made permanent in 1902. However, in 1943, the Magnuson Act repealed the exclusion, and the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, along with the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, finally abolished any racial restrictions to immigration in the United States.

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