Chinese Exclusion Act (United States) Totally Explained

Everything about The Chinese Exclusion Act totally explained

The Chinese Exclusion Act was a United States federal law passed on May 6, 1882, following 1880 revisions to the Burlingame Treaty of 1868. Those revisions allowed the U.S. to suspend immigration, and Congress subsequently acted quickly to implement the suspension of Chinese immigration, a ban that lasted well over 60 years.

Background

The Chinese came to America in large numbers during the 1849 California Gold Rush and in the 1860s when the Central Pacific Railroad recruited large labor gangs to build its portion of the Transcontinental Railroad. Large-scale immigration continued into the late 1800s, with 123,201 Chinese recorded as arriving between 1871 and 1880, and 61,711 arriving between 1881 and 1890.
At first, when surface gold was plentiful, the Chinese were well tolerated and well-received. As gold became scarcer and competition increased, animosity to the Chinese and other foreigners increased. Organized labor groups declared that California's gold was only for Americans, and began to physically threaten foreigners' mines or gold diggings. Most, after being forcibly driven from the mines, settled in Chinese enclaves in cities, mainly San Francisco, and took up low end wage labor such as restaurant work and laundry. With the post Civil War economy in decline by the 1870s, anti-Chinese animosity became politicized by labor leader Dennis Kearney and his Workingman's Party as well as by Governor John Bigler, both of whom blamed Chinese "coolies" for depressed wage levels. Another significant anti-Chinese group organized in California during this same era was the Supreme Order of Caucasians with some 64 chapters statewide.

The Act

The Chinese Exclusion Act was the first significant restriction on free immigration in U.S. history. The few Chinese non-laborers who wished to immigrate had to obtain certification from the Chinese government that they were qualified to immigrate, which tended to be difficult to prove.
On the other hand, many people strongly supported the Chinese Exclusion Act, including the Knights of Labor, a labor union which called for improved conditions for workers, who supported it because it made jobs easier to find. The laws were driven largely by racial concerns; immigration of persons of other races was unlimited during this period.
Among labor and leftist organizations, the Industrial Workers of the World were the sole exception to this pattern of hostility toward Asian immigrants. The IWW openly opposed the Chinese Exclusion Act from its inception in 1905.

Effects and aftermath

For all practical purposes, the Exclusion Act, along with the restrictions that followed it, froze the Chinese community in place in 1882, and prevented it from growing and assimilating into U.S. society as European immigrant groups did.
Even today, although all its constituent sections have long been repealed, Chapter 7 of Title 8 of the United States Code is headed, "Exclusion of Chinese." It is the only chapter of the 15 chapters in Title 8 (Aliens and Nationality) that's completely focused on a specific nationality or ethnic group.

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