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What We Can Learn from the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882
Recently, we’ve been exploring lesser-known historical events of the 1800s and we’ll end this series by tackling the topic of immigration. But it might not be what you think it is.
On May 6, 1882, President Chester A. Arthur signed the Chinese Exclusion Act into law. The first major law in United States History restricting voluntary immigration. The act banned all immigrants from China for 10 years, prohibited Chinese immigrants from becoming American citizens, and restricted the entry and re-entry of Chinese nationals.
As Chinese people joined the flow of migrants to the West Coast of the U.S. after the Gold Rush of 1849, many white Americans resented economic competition from Chinese workers, denounced Chinese people as racially inferior, and blamed them for white unemployment and declining wages. The Exclusion Act kept many Chinese nationals from entering the U.S. and fueled the mistreatment of Chinese people in America. Anti-Chinese violence in states like Wyoming and Idaho left Chinese immigrants dead, wounded, and fleeing their homes in fear.
Though initially authorized to last 10 years, the Exclusion Act was extended and strengthened over the next 80. 1892 Congress…
