Our Misery And Despair By Chinese Immigrants

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Chinese Immigration
When Chinese people started immigrating from a vast number of small cities in China to the United States, it was for a better life and better job opportunities. Chinese immigrated mostly for the same reason, to find freedom. Immigration not only changed the lives of those moving away from China, but the American citizens themselves who already had their lives put together. Hard working Chinamen move to the US to work for a small amount of money to provide for their families. Companies in the US were in need for cheap laborers, this made Chinese immigrants a prime group of people as they had the values, and desire to work hard for their families no matter the risks they took, or the extra hours they had to work. It was a …show more content…

Californian labor leader Dennis Kearny, author of the letter “Our Misery and Despair”: Kearney Blasts Chinese Immigration (1878) was known for his nativist and racist persona. As the title portrays, this document is an example of the strong animosity several people had towards Chinamen, specially Kearny. For instance, President Kearny “described the Chinese as a race of “cheap working slaves” who undercut American living standards and thus should be banished from America’s shores.” (Kearny, 1) President Kearny was a very opinionated person who was aware of his words and his translation of things. That is to say, he disliked the Chinese people who migrated to the country. He wanted something to be done, something that would evict the Chinese; For President Kearny Chinamen were intruders. While Kearny regards the Chinamen as intruders he is quick to forget the fact that before the immigration of Europeans into the US, the only people who resided in North America were Native Americans, and in their eyes the Europeans were the ones who were intruding. Taking everything in account, like President Kearny there was a great amount of citizens who disagreed with the Chinamen immigration. People who had their strong feeling about keeping the country sane and clean with only the American population, there was nothing but hatred towards

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