Chinese Exclusion Act Pros And Cons

The chinese exclusion act was a federal law that did not allow people from china, asia, or the philippines to enter the united states for 10 years, which then became 20 years when they decided to add an additional 10 years
Passed by congress and signed by President Chester A. Arthur, on May 6th, 1882
This act was the first act to not allow a certain race into the country for working jobs or anything
Some chinese non laborers like teachers, students, merchants, travelers ets. had to have chinese certification in able to show that they were qualified to enter US, but this was still hard because the whites assumed they were all laborers
The act also made it harder to for the chinese who have already entered the country because once they left,
This was all made possible by the Burlingame treaty of 1868 which allowed full diplomatic relations and free immigration from China to US. Due to the civil war, many American employers looked for cheap labor and there was a motive to reach out to the Chinese as replacements towards blacks on plantations. But as the Chinese population grew, more and more the way Americans viewed them also grew, only it grew negatively. White laborers found the growth as a threat to them, since they were “taking their jobs”. Sound familiar to a particular ethnic group from today? Many Americans then started to form the anti Chinese sentiment. Most of the sentiment was in the pacific coast of the United States. The strongest sentiment was in California because of the gold rush. One man who was against the immigration was named Denise Kearney, who was born in Ireland. Once he reached the United States he realized how many chinese workers there were here. Because of this, he made speeches, and in every speech he began with ¨The chinese must go!¨ Which is hypocritical since he himself is an immigrant from ireland. People then elected him as the secretary of the anti-chinese sentiment of california, later known as the working men of california. The working men of California then caused destruction and death to the chinese. Whites then began to believe that Chinese labor was also a threat to
The Chinese exclusion act was passed by congress and was also signed by President Chester A. Arthur In 1882. Once he signed that document, the law became the very first act to deny access into the United States based on the someone's ethnicity. This act lasted for 10 years, but was then renewed for another 10 years because of the Geary Act, and was then made permanent in 1902. This made it harder for the Chinese to not only enter, but re enter as well. Chinese laborers who already lived in the United States would be denied the access to come back if they went to China for a brief visit. An example of this would be a man named Jung Pui Lung, who came to the United States to work with his brother. But soon after he came, his brother had decided to go back to China. Jung could go back as well, but because the United States had decided to make it harder for the Chinese to re enter the country, he could not go back to China. But thanks to the San Francisco Earthquake, he was able to return and claim he was actually here legally because all of the records were destroyed. He then decided to go to China and get his three sons so they could be claimed legal to the United States as well. The San Francisco earthquake was a major event for the Chinese to enter the United States. They could not be proven to be there illegally because Americans didn't have proof if they were or not.