Chinese Exclusion Act
The Chinese Exclusion Act was a United States federal law signed by President Chester A. Arthur on May 6, 1882, prohibiting all immigration of Chinese laborers for 10 years. The law made exceptions for merchants, teachers, students, travelers, and diplomats.[1] The Chinese Exclusion Act was the first major U.S. law ever implemented to prevent all members of a specific national group from immigrating to the United States, and therefore helped shape twentieth-century race-based immigration policy.[2][3]
For Chinese Exclusion Act in Canada, see Chinese Immigration Act, 1923.Nicknames
Chinese Exclusion Act
May 6, 1882
Passage of the law was preceded by growing anti-Chinese sentiment and anti-Chinese violence, as well as various policies targeting Chinese migrants.[4] The act followed the Angell Treaty of 1880, a set of revisions to the U.S.–China Burlingame Treaty of 1868 that allowed the U.S. to suspend Chinese immigration. The act was initially intended to last for 10 years, but was renewed and strengthened in 1892 with the Geary Act and made permanent in 1902. These laws attempted to stop all Chinese immigration into the United States for ten years, with exceptions for diplomats, teachers, students, merchants, and travelers. They were widely evaded.[5]
The law remained in force until the passage of the Magnuson Act in 1943, which repealed the exclusion and allowed 105 Chinese immigrants to enter the United States each year. Chinese immigration later increased with the passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, which abolished direct racial barriers, and later by the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which abolished the National Origins Formula.[6]
Impact of international developments[edit]
In the American effort to change many aspects of the Burlingame Treaty, the U.S. took advantage of China's weakened position on the international stage. China was dealing with various challenging situations, such as the French government establishing a protectorate over Vietnam, which was a tributary country to China for a long time.[60] More importantly, it faced the Senkaku Islands dispute with Japan. Ex-President Ulysses S. Grant visited China in 1879, Viceroy Li Hongzhang, an important diplomat, told Grant that if the U.S. helped China pressure the Japanese out of Senkaku Islands, he would make a concession on the Chinese immigration issue. This paved the way for the Angell Treaty of 1880, which greatly diminished Chinese immigrants' rights and interests.[61] The Angell Treaty opened the door for the complete prohibition of Chinese immigrants, as politicians realised that the immigrant question was not a priority for the Chinese Government, and that China was weak, meaning that even if they had violate the treaties, China would not invade or create major problems. Overall, this shows how the U.S. used its foreign relations with China to achieve its own domestic objectives.
Impact on U.S.-China relations[edit]
Prior to the approval of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882, relations between China and the United States were good. This was mainly because of the Burlingame Treaty, a treaty which included the right of Chinese people to free immigration and travel within the U.S., and protection of Chinese citizens residing in the United States.[62] Moreover, the treaty gave the two countries reciprocal access to education and schooling when living in the other country. Although the U.S. viewed China as an inferior partner, nevertheless the relationship was positive. American politicians and presidents continued to maintain and uphold the treaty, for example, President Rutherford B. Hayes vetoed bills that contrasted the Burlingame Treaty.[63] As tensions grew domestically in the U.S. however, Hayes began a revision of the Treaty and China agreed to limit immigration to the U.S. However, once discussions began to enforce the Chinese Exclusion Act, and the law was then passed, "the Chinese Government considered this a direct insult".[64] Furthermore, when the USA extended the law to Hawaii and the Philippines, this was greatly objected by the Chinese Government and people, who viewed America as a bullish and imperial power who undermined China.[65]
Impact on women[edit]
The Chinese Exclusion Act had many impacts on Chinese women as such unique categories were created in the act to prevent their entry and so the main way they immigrate was through marrying Chinese or native men. The interrogation was similar to male workers but they had specific questions regarding bound feet in the early period, women with feet that had been bound tended to be from wealthy families, unbound feet were a sign off being from a low class and so were seen as less desirable by US border officers.[59]
Many women were forced to find alternative immigration methods to be able to reunify with loved ones after the Chinese Exclusion Act. Women would marry or even re-marry their partners in Canada so that they were approved for immigration to join their merchant husbands in America. These women navigated and successfully overcame the US government in their many workarounds of the Chinese Exclusion Act. The Chinese Exclusion Act significantly impacted single women, married women has a better chance of immigration due to their merchant husbands. However, for single women it was nearly impossible to immigrate. Often the presumption was if they were single Chinese women they were prostitutes or were to be sold into prostitution.[59]
Impact on education in the U.S.[edit]
Recruitment of foreign students to U.S. colleges and universities was an important component in the expansion of American influence. International education programs allowed students to learn from the examples provided at elite universities and to bring their newfound skill sets back to their home countries. As such, international education has historically been seen as a vehicle for improving diplomatic relations and promoting trade. The US Exclusion Act, however, forced Chinese students attempting to enter the country to provide proof that they were not trying to bypass regulations.[48] Laws and regulations that stemmed from the act made for less than ideal situations for Chinese students, leading to criticisms of American society.[48] Policies and attitudes toward Chinese Americans in the US worked against foreign policy interests by limiting the ability of the U.S. to participate in international education initiatives.[66]
Impact on the U.S. economy[edit]
The Chinese Exclusion Act affected the US economy substantially.[67] The departure of many skilled and unskilled Chinese workers led to an across-the-board decline. Mines and manufacturers in California, where the majority of Chinese immigrants resided, closed and wages did not climb as anticipated. Furthering this, the value of agricultural produce declined due to falling demand reflective of the diminished population.[68] Joaquin Miller remarked in 1901 that since the Chinese departure, property value in Californian cities had remained at a standstill and capital investment had been hesitant.[69]
Impact on further U.S. legislation[edit]
The Act was the first legislature which prohibited entry to an immigrant based on race and class, in this way it facilitated further restriction by both being the model by which future groups could be radicalized as unassimilable aliens, and by also marking a moment where such discrimination could be justifiable.[1] The act's method of 'Radicalizing' the Chinese as a threat to Americas' values and working class, 'containing' the danger by limiting their social and geographic mobility, and 'defending' America through expulsion became the foundation of Americas 'Gate keeping' ideology.[1] The 1924 Immigration act placed quotas on all nationalities apart from northwest Europe, this could be seen as building off the gate-keeping ideology established with the Chinese exclusion act; Public perceptions of many immigrant groups such as southern and eastern Europeans in the late 19th and early 20th century had become one of 'undesirability' when compared to those with Anglo-Saxon heritage, this was due largely to popular nativity attitudes and accepted racialism.[1][47] In this way, the restriction of these groups by 1924 compared to their north western 'desirable' counterparts could be seen to be carrying on the discrimination by perceived racial inferiority of immigrants that started with the Chinese exclusion act.[1]
Repeal and status[edit]
The Chinese Exclusion Act was repealed by the 1943 Magnuson Act when China had become an ally of the U.S. against Japan in World War II, as the U.S. needed to embody an image of fairness and justice. The Magnuson Act permitted Chinese nationals already residing in the country to become naturalized citizens and stop hiding from the threat of deportation. The act also allowed Chinese people to send remittances to people of Chinese descent living in mainland China, Macao, Hong Kong, and Taiwan and other countries or territories, especially if the funding is not tied to criminal activity. However, the Magnuson Act only allowed a national quota of 105 Chinese immigrants per year and did not repeal the restrictions on immigration from the other Asian countries. The crackdown on Chinese immigrants reached a new level in its last decade, from 1956 to 1965, with the Chinese Confession Program launched by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, that encouraged Chinese who had committed immigration fraud to confess, so as to be eligible for some leniency in treatment. Large-scale Chinese immigration did not occur until the passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965.
The first Chinese immigrants who entered the United States under the Magnuson Act were college students who sought to escape the warfare in China during World War II and study in the U.S. The establishment of the People's Republic of China and its entry into the Korean War against the U.S., however, created a new threat in the minds of some American politicians: American-educated Chinese students bringing American knowledge back to "Red China". Many Chinese college students were almost forcibly naturalized, even though they continued to face significant prejudice, discrimination, and bullying. One of the most prolific of these students was Tsou Tang, who would go on to become the leading expert on China and Sino-American relations during the Cold War.[70]
Although the Chinese Exclusion Act was repealed in 1943, the law in California prohibiting non-whites from marrying whites was not struck down until 1948, in which the California Supreme Court ruled the ban of interracial marriage within the state unconstitutional in Perez v. Sharp.[71][72] Some other states had such laws until 1967, when the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled in Loving v. Virginia that anti-miscegenation laws across the nation are unconstitutional.
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".[73] It is the only chapter of the 15 chapters in Title 8 (Aliens and Nationality) that is completely focused on a specific nationality or ethnic group. Like the following Chapter 8, "The Cooly Trade", it consists entirely of statutes that are noted as "Repealed" or "Omitted".
On June 18, 2012, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.Res. 683, a resolution introduced by Congresswoman Judy Chu which formally expresses the regret of the House of Representatives for the Chinese Exclusion Act.[74] S.Res. 201, a similar resolution, had been approved by the U.S. Senate in October 2011.[75]
In 2014, the California Legislature took formal action to pass measures that formally recognize the accomplishments of Chinese Americans in California and to call upon Congress to formally apologize for the 1882 adoption of the Chinese Exclusion Act. Senate Republican leader Bob Huff (R-Diamond Bar) and incoming Senate president pro-Tem Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles) served as joint authors for Senate Joint Resolution (SJR) 23[76] and Senate Concurrent Resolution (SCR) 122,[77] respectively.[78]
Both SJR 23 and SCR 122 acknowledge and celebrate the history and contributions of Chinese Americans in California. The resolutions also formally call on Congress to apologize for laws that resulted in the persecution of Chinese Americans, such as the Chinese Exclusion Act.[76][77]
Perhaps most important are the sociological implications for understanding ethnic/race relations in the context of American history; minorities tend to be punished in times of economic, political, and/or geopolitical crises. Times of social and systemic stability, however, tend to mute any underlying tensions between different groups. In times of societal crisis—whether perceived or real—patterns of retractability of American identities have erupted to the forefront of America's political landscape, often generating institutional and civil society backlash against workers from other nations, a pattern documented by Fong's research into how crises drastically alter social relationships.[79]