Chinese immigration and exclusion
Thursday, October 9, 2014

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1:33 PM

1848 Gold Rush in California
1840=8 Chinese immigrants, 2 million by 1868
"willing to work harder for less"$
Competition!
Chinese workforce=railroads
Hard/dangerous work
Beaten, abused, threatened, vandalized, killed.
Skilled laborers, literate and skilled.

1882 Chinese Exclusion Acts
First restrictive federal immigration law in American history
Barred Chinese laborers from entering the US
Denied naturalization

Secondary Source 1: Roots of Chinese Immigration
1. Why did the Chinese begin to immigrate to the United States in large numbers in the
1850s?- The discovery of gold in Sutter's Mill in California attracted Chinese immigrants.
The Mexican Immigrants were kicked out during the Mexican American war, there were empty slots of jobs to be filled, so the jobs were filled by the Chinese.
2. How were they viewed by employers? How were they viewed by other laborers? The employers praised them for their hard work and loved them. The white laborers saw the
Chinese as a threat to their jobs and convinced the gov. to pass a law to tax the miner more. 3. How did American racial views influence the way the Chinese laborers were treated?
They used their political and violence to repress the progress of the Chinese.
Primary Source 1: The Chinese Exclusion Act
1. What is the purpose of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882? The White laborers felt threatened and the local jobs were being taken by the Chinese, so the whites had less jobs.
2. What do you think happens to Chinese immigration after the passage of this Act? They were all kicked