Historiographical essay
In the days after slavery had ended Asian and African American work on a sugar plantation under white owners in Louisiana, working in conditions that resemble slavery. The Chinese exclusion act of 1882 created an opportunity where Asian immigrants were in a place where they could be seen as second class citizens, similar to African Americans at the time. The Chinese exclusion act was passed in 1882 with the goal of eliminating Chinese immigration to the United States. In 1892 the act was renewed for another ten years until 1902 when Chinese immigration was made illegal. This also started movements to outlaw the immigration of other undesirable groups such as Middle Eastern, Indian, and Japanese. It was not until
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It was believed that because if the immigration it would only benefit the Americans who were already rich, with the Chinese acting as a cheap source of labor. Part of the scare of Chinese immigration was that there would be a large influx of skilled and unskilled laborers that would lower the overall cost of labor because of the excess of workers. The degradation of Chinese, and Asians was part of America's scare, as the common worker did not want to see an Asian take their job. The common person's fear of a foreigner being better than them is what led to the degradation of the Chinese and it was what put them next to African Americans working in condition that resembled slavery. This discrimination of Asians and their place next to African Americans redefines the impetus which allowed certain raced to be seen as second class, or inferior to whites. Before slavery was abolished the act of attempting to dehumanize African Americans was just an attempt to justify stealing them from their homes and treating them like animals. In comparison to Roman slavery where their slavers were treated in more humane ways and the cause of their slavery was justified because of the conqueror of their land, unlike American slavery where we had to justify it using African …show more content…
Over time I think that historians began to realize more about how it related to slavery and how what happened makes sense because of the roots that the more confederate side of America had with slavery. I think Historians were also able to make a connection to why the Asians were able to so easily be placed into a lower class of society similar to the African Americans. They began to realize that because of the shortage of free or cheap labor they needed a replacement and the Chinese were a perfect target because they were a minority and they were from a different culture. Historians over time have developed this further, although it is relatively recent with the repeal of the exclusion act in 1943, people's views toward the way others should be treated have changed a lot which also leads historians to focus more on things that wee now perceive as morally wrong. Overall historians can look at the Chinese exclusion act with less bias and a fuller understanding of the connections to slavery by looking at the economics, and politics of the
American citizens despised the Chinese workers because they worked very hard and followed instructions for very little pay, as stated in a speech given by a German immigrant on the Chinese exclusion act he said “It is almost impossible for a poor white servant girl to find employment in a white family. No! The mistress of the house wants a Chinaman. Why? He is very handy. She can say, ‘John Chinaman, do this’, and John does it, and John never says a word”. The white immigrants assumed that the Chinese were doing this to spite them and steal the jobs the white immigrants and American citizens thought they were entitled to. Another example of Americans and white immigrants accusing the Chinese of taking
The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was a nativist act passed by people who were afraid of a Chinese dominated workforce and the resulting backlash.
I believe that the Chinese exclusion act was a bad act for America due to it giving the Chinese men and women receiving more hate from the white men than they already had. In Document A it talks about how Chinese men are being perceived as from the white men. They made a play called “The Chinese must go” in which they not only made of them but racially/verbally attacked them with word as though a Chinese man was speaking. This play clearly shows us how poorly the white men treated the Chinese, they treated them exactly as if they were African American Slaves, which in that time era was normal due to the white men have hate against both races at the time. White men were acting in the play as Chinese men
With riots and protests to his previous veto of the bill, President Chester Arthur signed “An Act to Execute Certain Treaty Stipulations Relating to the Chinese” into law.” Nicknamed the Chinese Exclusion Act, it was one of the first Federal laws that discriminated against immigrants by their ethnicity. It remained law for over sixty years before Congress repealed it in 1943 to help improve Chinese morale against Japan. While originally intending to stay law for only ten years, it was renewed many times. In 1892, it was renewed as The Geary Act and in 1902 it was made permanent; requiring that Chinese immigrants carry with them there certificate of residence.The hostility against Chinese immigrants had been going on for decades prior to the Exclusion Act, going as far back as the end of the California Gold Rush. While Chinese immigrants were often discriminated it was at a local, not federal level. The Chinese Exclusion Act was the Gilded era’s worst policy because it negatively helped redefine the US federal government's stance on immigrants, had many people openly opposing it, and the arguments for the Act were mostly untrue.
In the late 1800’s, Chinese immigrants were largely discriminated against in America. Considering the past, and the way white Americans have treated anyone different from them, it’s no surprise they treated these immigrants with disdain. The Chinese Exclusion Act was a law passed in 1882 to stop the influx of Chinese people immigrating into America. Two huge factors in passing the law was that the Chinese were viewed as lower class barbarians and were seen as anti-white. Some say the law was passed due to the economic tensions between the Chinese and whites, however this is false.
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.
The Chinese Exclusion act banned all Chinese people moving to America. Chinese people emigrated to California in 1848 during the California Gold Rush. Massive amounts of Chinese people moved to the west Coast to make money and return home to the Qing Empire. They were mainly drawn to the west coast as a way to prosper economically. Many were discriminated against and given low wages, and had poor
There were multiple reasons why the Chinese experienced discrimination, most reasons coming from the fact that the Americans felt threatened by the presence of these foreign people they have never had experience with before. The Chinese stole jobs by working for cheap, they had an extremely different culture than the westerners, and the Americans did not like them; this made them targets of discrimination. As stated in the Chinese Exclusion Act, "...the coming of Chinese laborers to the United States be, and the same hereby,suspened" (DOC 1). This quote shows an example of one of the unfair laws made against the Chinese because they were disliked by the Americans. The Chinese Exclusion Act made them easier to be cruel towards.
The first reason it was terrible was because the Chinese were singled out from entering of solely the on the basis of their race. There were 3 main causes for this one of them was the inclusion of a head tax on people of Chinese descent even if you could get into Canada at the time which was very unlikely, you would have to pay a lot more than anyone else who wasn't Chinese trying to get into the Country. The Second reason was because the Chinese Exclusion Act ruined Family life and Economics for people of Chinese descent, it made people who are married and have families live alone when they can barely get out to see their family, people of Chinese descent were also paid lower wages than other citizens. The final reason the Chinese Exclusion act was unfair and terrible towards the Chinese was it was completely racist, people of Chinese descent could not evan vote i got so bad, that people of Chinese descent were treated at second class citizens. For all those reason it is undoubtedly clear that the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1923 was unfair and terrible towards the Chinese
In 1882, the U.S government passed the Chinese Exclusion Act to limit the immigration of Chinese people. This was because the Chinese immigrants had skills, and were able to do multiple tasks while getting paid in a low amount. This was beneficial for the owners, so this caused them to get hired easily and take over the jobs of other people in America. Americans will lose jobs because of this. According to document 1 a primary source it stated, “…Whereas, in the opinion of the government of the United States the coming of Chinese labors to this country endangers the good order of certain localities (areas) within the territory.” This means that the Chinese were strong enough to cause danger in the goods in areas, and take over/ affect the territory. They were that strong that even the government had to take this step. This act prevented Chinese labors to come to America for 10 years. According to the same document it stated, “ The ninety days after the passage of this act, and until the expiration of ten years next after the passage of this act, the coming of Chinese laborers to the united states be… suspended” This will prevent Americans to lose their jobs and also won’t over populate U.S. According to document 2, a cartoon analysis (secondary source) it shows a Chinese man with a lot of hands,
This worried the existing immigrants in fear that the Chinese immigrants would take their jobs and put them out of hire, and as seen in Document Eight, the Chinese Exclusion Act was made in an attempt to ban immigrants from East Asia from coming to the
In any case, financial misery in the 1870s raised hostile to Chinese assumption as white workers and lawmakers censured Chinese work for California's monetary troubles. After expanded savagery and segregation by hostile to Chinese developments, the United States passed the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, banning every single Chinese worker into the nation and extremely limiting vast scale Chinese migration. Just vendors, ambassadors, researchers and understudies, voyagers, and offspring of American residents were permitted. Incompletely because of China's interest with the Allied countries amid World War II, the U.S. canceled the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1943 permitting Chinese to wind up naturalized residents and allowed 105 Chinese to go into
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.
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.”
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