Chinese Exclusion Act

Chinese Exclusion Act

Long title	An Act to execute certain treaty stipulations relating to Chinese.
Nicknames	Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882
Enacted by	the 47th United States Congress
Effective	May 6, 1882
Citations
Public law	47-126
Statutes at Large	22 Stat. 58
Legislative history
Introduced in the House as H.R. 5804 by Horace F. Page (R–CA) on April 12, 1882 Committee consideration by House Foreign Relations Passed the house on April 17, 1882 (202-37) Passed the Senate on April 28, 1882 (32-15) with amendment House agreed to Senate amendment on May 3, 1882 (Agreed) Signed into law by President Chester A. Arthur on May 6, 1882

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. The act followed the Angell Treaty of 1880, a set of revisions to the US–China Burlingame Treaty of 1868 that allowed the US to suspend Chinese immigration. The act was initially intended to last for 10 years, but was renewed in 1892 with the Geary Act and made permanent in 1902. The Chinese Exclusion Act was the first law implemented to prevent a specific ethnic group from immigrating to the United States. It was repealed by the Magnuson Act on December 17, 1943.

The first significant Chinese immigration to North America began with the California Gold Rush of 1848–1855 and it continued with subsequent large labor projects, such as the building of the First Transcontinental Railroad. During the early stages of the gold rush, when surface gold was plentiful, the Chinese were tolerated, if not well received. As gold became harder to find and competition increased, animosity toward the Chinese and other foreigners increased. After being forcibly driven from the mines, most Chinese settled in enclaves in cities, mainly San Francisco, and took up low-wage labor, such as restaurant and laundry work. With the post-Civil War economy in decline by the 1870s, anti-Chinese animosity became politicized by labor leader Denis Kearney and his Workingman's Party as well as by California Governor John Bigler, both of whom blamed Chinese "coolies" for depressed wage levels. Another significant anti-Chinese group organized in California during this same era was the Supreme Order of Caucasians, with some 60 chapters statewide.

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