Chinese Exclusion Act Research Paper

The Chinese Exclusion Act was passed in 1882. The act prohibited Chinese immigration in the United States, where the immigration population dropped from 40,000 to 23. There was many conflicts leading up to the act with the Chinese, they came to the U.S for cheap labor. Some of these conflicts consists of the Chinese coming to mine gold, Chinese employe to build a railroad, laws passed against the Chinese and a couple anti-Chinese violences. The Chinese Exclusion Act happened because the Chinese worked and had more money than Americans, other nationalities are jealous and the U.S was crowded with Chinese immigrants.

First, the Chinese Exclusion Act happened because the Chinese worked and received more money than the Americans. In “The Chinese Must Go” play, Ah Coy said, “By and by white man catchee no money; Chinaman catchee heap money; Chinaman workee cheap, plenty work; white man workee dear, no work-sabee?” This shows that the Chinese were being treated better than the Americans because they worked for cheap, received plenty of money and did plenty of work. Also, in the speech to the workingmen of San Francisco, it stated that the boot, shoe and cigar industries are almost

Other nationalities were jealous because the Chinese were working more and made more money than them. In the political cartoon drawn by Thomas Nast, it shows that the Germans and the Irish were trying to attack a Chinese man because they did not like the Chinese. Also, in the autobiography of Lee Chew, he states that, “It was the jealousy of laboring men of other nationalities - especially the Irish - that raised the outcry against the Chinese.” This shows that other nationalities were jealous of the Chinese men, which created the conflict of people against the Chinese. Also, the Chinese said that others were not hired for jobs because the Chinese were more honest, industrious and steady, compared to