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View Full Version : The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882


Golgo13
May 12th, 2008, 04:48 PM
I've always found it amazing that this racist U.S. government policy was never covered in history classes in school (at least when I went to school) with the same emphasis as black slavery, Indian massacres, or Japanese-American Internment camps.

This Act was not repealed for 60 years. Some of its provisions were:

- excluded Chinese "skilled and unskilled laborers and Chinese employed in mining" from entering the country;

- The few Chinese non-laborers who wished to immigrate had to obtain certification from the Chinese government that they were qualified to immigrate, which tended to be difficult to prove;

- Any Chinese who left the United States had to obtain certifications for reentry; and

- Chinese immigrants could only become permanent aliens and excluded from U.S. citizenship.

Further, the Immigration Act of 1924 would restrict immigration even further, excluding all classes of Chinese immigrants and extending restrictions to other Asian immigrant groups.

Despite the fact that the exclusion act of 1882 was repealed in 1943 the law in California that Chinese-Americans were not able to marry whites wasn't repealed until 1948.

One of the critics of the Act was Republican Senator George Frisbie Hoar of Massachusetts who described the Act as "nothing less than the legalization of racial discrimination.

Makulita
May 12th, 2008, 11:17 PM
Gentlemen's Agreement and Tydings-McDuffie Act FTL.

jaehwan
May 13th, 2008, 02:18 AM
One of the critics of the Act was Republican Senator George Frisbie Hoar of Massachusetts who described the Act as "nothing less than the legalization of racial discrimination.

Thanks for the post.

I'm curious though; why did you underline and bold the word "Republican?" Considering the fact that the Republican party was founded in the 1850's on a platform of fighting slavery, which finally erupted in 1961 with the Civil War, it shouldn't be surprising that a Republican senator in the nineteenth century would be against discrimination.

Golgo13
May 13th, 2008, 04:32 PM
Thanks for the post.

I'm curious though; why did you underline and bold the word "Republican?" Considering the fact that the Republican party was founded in the 1850's on a platform of fighting slavery, which finally erupted in 1961 with the Civil War, it shouldn't be surprising that a Republican senator in the nineteenth century would be against discrimination.


That was my whole point. Very few people know about the facts you brought up. Most think of the Republican party as the party of the rich white people, and was always that way.