1. Chinese Immigration to America
Gate-keeping nation
“racialization” of immigration
Social Darwinism

2. Sources of Chinese Migration
Guangdong Province
Pearl River Delta
About half from Taishan
Driven by poverty and overpopulation
Rebellion, natural disasters, ethnic fueds
1850s “Coolie” trade
Qing attempted to regulate
Gender imbalance

3. Taishan, Guangdong

4. Gold Miners 1852

5. Chinese Migration to US 1850s
Economic opportunity
California Gold Rush, 1848
Work in the gold mines
Agricultural jobs
Factory work, especially the garment industry
Trans-Pacific Railroad

6. Vetoed First Law Restricting Chinese Immigration

7. Background to Exclusion: State Laws
California Law
1852 tax on foreign miners
1858, the California law: illegal for any person "of the Chinese or Mongolian races" to enter the state;
1862 law struck down by State Supreme Court
1879, California adopted a new Constitution, allow state to decide who can reside there
1878 US Congress first legislation excluding the Chinese
Rutherford B. Hayes, vetoed first bill

8. Impact of Chinese Immigration
over 100,000 Chinese enter US
45,000 later return home
,000 Chinese enter US
70 percent settle in California

9. Panic of 1873 Bank Failures Worldwide economic crisis
Railway workers strike
Federal troops suppress strikes

10. Impact of Chinese Immigration
1870s and 1880s economic decline in US
Chinese laborers undercut wages
Denis Kearney, Irish-born labor leader
Workingman’s Party of California

11. Denis Kearney,

12. Anti-Immigration Cartoon

13. Denis Kearney, 1847-1907 "The Chinese must go."
Organized Labor in 1870s
Violent rallies, inflammatory speeches
Four Topics:
Contempt for the press,
Contempt for capitalists,
Contempt for politicians,
Contempt for Chinese immigrants
cause of white workers’ economic woes

14. Portrayals of Chinese Heathen Crafty Dishonest
“marginal members of the human race”
Chinese diet: “Rice and rats”
“coolies” and prostitutes

15. US-China Treaties Burlingame Treaty, 1858
Chinese Envoy: Anson Burlingame,
Free migration and immigration between two countries: “inherent and inalienable right of man”
Amended Treaty 1880, Allow Regulate, limit, suspend migrations
Domestic pressure from anti-Chinese agitators
Influx of immigrants threat to “national interest and order of US”
Pressure Qing court

16. Chinese Exclusion, 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, 1882 Geary Act, 1892
10-year moratorium on Chinese labor immigration
First law to prevent a specific ethnic group from immigrating to the United States
Geary Act, 1892
Extended 1902
Made permanent in 1904,
Added restrictions
Required register for a certificate of residence or face deportation.

17. Signed first Chinese Exclusion Act

18. Chinese Exclusion, 1882 President Chester A. Arthur, (1829-86)
Succeeded James Garfield after assassination
President
Signed Chinese Exclusion Act

19. Exempt Class
Merchants
Teachers
Diplomats
Students
Travelers

20. Chinese Exclusion, 1882

21. Anti-Chinese Sentiment

22. Albert Shelby Willis,

23. Albert Shelby Willis,
Democratic Congressman, Kentucky ( )
Outspoken supporter of exclusion:
“ .. the Chinese were an invading race.” “aliens with sordid and unrepublican habits.” “ … the Pacific States had been cursed with the evils of Chinese immigration and that they disturbed the peace and order of society.”

24. George Frisbie Hoar (1826-1904)

25. George Frisbie Hoar (1826-1904)
"It is impossible, it is incredible that a blow at the dignity of human nature, a blow at the dignity of labor, a blow at men, not because of their individual qualities or characters, but because of the color of their skin, should not fail to be a subject of deep regret and repentance to the American people in the nineteenth century.”

26. George Frisbie Hoar (1826-1904)
Republican Senator, Massachusetts
Advocate for African American and Native Americans
Women’s Suffrage
Voted against Chinese Exclusion
Anti-Imperialist
Critic of US War Crimes in Philipines
Portuguese and Italians unfit for US Citizenship

27. George M. Vest ( )

28. George M. Vest (1830-1904) Representative and Senator in Confederacy
Democratic Senator, Missouri ( )

29. George M. Vest
"They are parasites, like those insects which fasten themselves upon vegetables or upon animals and feed and feed until satiety causes them to release their hold. They come to this country not to partake in the responsibilities of citizenship; they come here with no love for our institutions; they do not hold intercourse with the people of the United States except for gain; they do not homologate in any degree with them. On the contrary, they are parasites when they come, parasites while they are here, and parasites when they go."

30. George M. Vest
" He pledged to stand with the citizens of the Pacific States, to show, "that the people of California are not alone in their belief that this is under God a country of Caucasians, a country of white men, a country to be governed by white men."

31. Chinese Exclusion Act, 1882 House of Representatives Vote:
201 in favor, 37 opposed, and 53 absent
Senate Vote:
32 in favor, 15 against, 29 absent

32. “Gate Keeping” Ideology
Racializing Chinese immigrants
Permanently alien
Inferior on the basis
Race, class, culture, and gender
Controlling
Limits on economic, geographic mobility
Prohibitions on naturalization
Using power of state to exclude and restrict new immigrants
Track and deport foreigners in the US

33. Federal Government Chinese Exclusion Act 1882 Customs Houses Courts
Immigration Bureau
Angel Island, 1910
West Coast Ellis Island

34. Federal Government Supreme Court “last word” on immigration
Federal Government has right to limit immigration
Upheld Citizenship by birth

35. Legal Resistance and Econmic Boycotts
American Lawyers defend Chinese immigrants
Northern California court,
7,080 writs of habeas corpus filed
1888, 87% of 4000 Chinese immigrants granted habeas corpus from federal courts in San Francisco
Chinese boycott US goods in Canton, Shanghai, Xiamen, 1905
American Asiatic Association defend Chinese immigration

36. Yee Wee Thing: Identity Certificate, 1916

37. Anti-Chinese Violence 1880s
200 “Roundups” in California
Chinatown, Denver, 1880, Destroyed by mob
Property damage and one death
US Secretary of State refuse indemnity, claim cannot interfere in local administration

38. Chinese Miners Rock Springs Wyoming

39. Rock Springs Massacre, 1885