Impact Of The Chinese Exclusion Act

As someone with immigrant Asian parents, I’m glad my parents get to seek the opportunity to get a good-paying job and a house. Unfortunately, during Reconstruction and the Gilded Age, Chinese immigrants were gratefully hurt when the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed. This act banned Chinese immigrants from entering the U.S. for 10 years. As white Americans think this will benefit them in any way, this act came with many downsides. These acts caused a huge impact on the US economy, created a gateway to more exclusionary policies, and fueled xenophobia and racism towards Asians and other minorities. When the U.S. became independent, many immigrants came to America to gain opportunities. Many Asian immigrants wanted to work and live a simple

Approved on May 6, 1882, this act was the first ever act to single out a group of racial minorities and exclude them from anything. This act showed the U.S that the government can target any minority group. “in terms of ethnicity, gender, and class—could be admitted. Immigration patterns, immigration communities, and racial identities and categories were significantly affected.” (Wu, Britannica) The Act contains sections explaining and describing the rules that Chinese immigrants had to be punished just for arriving. “hat the master of any vessel who shall knowingly bring within the United States on such vessel, and land or permit to be landed, any Chinese laborer, from any foreign port or place, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars for every such Chinese laborer so brought” (National Archives, Chinese Exclusion Act (1882) ). Not only the U.S accepted this act to pass, several years later in 1923, but Canada also passed a similar act.“Around twenty years after the United States declared the Exclusion Act permanent, Canada followed suit. In 1923, Canada passed the Chinese Immigration Act, which was described as Canada’s Chinese Exclusion Act by the Chinese Canadian communities.”(David) This Act further enabled discriminatory acts like

During the Gilded Age, racism wasn’t uncommon in fact, it was probably at its peak during that time. During the California Gold Rush, many poor Chinese immigrants migrated to the U.S. for an opportunity. Due to the different work ethics of the east and west, they would be given the most hard-working jobs. In fear of domination, whites would riot and commit hate crimes. As more and more Asian immigrants moved to California for opportunity white people saw this as a threat. This would be the product of more wide-spread anti-Chinese movements in China. If any Chinese immigrant found gold, they would encounter hostility, and would forcibly leave to more urban areas such as San Fransico. (Wu) When the act was passed, not only did it make discrimination worse but other immigrants joined in. “Dennis Kearney, a populist leader of Irish background, openly denounced organizations such as the Central Pacific Railroad for hiring large numbers of Chinese to do the labor and often led violent attacks on the Chinese. His slogan eventually came to be simply that, “the Chinese must go” (David). The act was a major turning point because it was the first law to ever oppose a minority group.During those 20 years, the population of Chinese had a major decrease. “According to the U.S. national census in 1880, there were 105,465 Chinese in the United States, compared with 89,863 by 1900 and 61,639 by