Closing the Gate: Race, Politics, and the Chinese Exclusion ActThe Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which barred practically all Chinese from American shores for ten years, was the first federal law that banned a group of immigrants solely on the basis of race or nationality. By changing America's traditional policy of open immigration, this landmark legislation set a precedent for future restrictions against Asian immigrants in the early 1900s and against Europeans in the 1920s. Tracing the origins of the Chinese Exclusion Act, Andrew Gyory presents a bold new interpretation of American politics during Reconstruction and the Gilded Age. Rather than directly confront such divisive problems as class conflict, economic depression, and rising unemployment, he contends, politicians sought a safe, nonideological solution to the nation's industrial crisis--and latched onto Chinese exclusion. Ignoring workers' demands for an end simply to imported contract labor, they claimed instead that working people would be better off if there were no Chinese immigrants. By playing the race card, Gyory argues, national politicians--not California, not organized labor, and not a general racist atmosphere--provided the motive force behind the era's most racist legislation. |
Contents
| 1 | |
| 3 | |
| 17 | |
Yanki vs Yankee Americans React to Chinese Laborers in 1870 | 39 |
All Sorts of Tricks Defining Importation 18711875 | 60 |
To Overcome the Apathy of National Legislators The Presidential Campaign of 1876 | 76 |
The Reign of Terror to Come Uprising and Red Scare 18771878 | 92 |
An Unduly Inflated Sack of Very Bad Gas Denis Kearney Comes East 1878 | 109 |
An Earthquake of Excitement California and the Exodus East 18791880 | 169 |
No Material Difference The Presidential Campaign of 1880 | 185 |
The Gate Must Be Closed The Angell Treaty and the Race to Exclude 18811882 | 212 |
A Mere Question of Expediency The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 | 242 |
Text of the Chinese Exclusion Act | 261 |
Notes | 265 |
Bibliography | 317 |
Index | 339 |
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1st sess 2d sess 45th Cong American laborer anti-Chinese movement Blaine Boston Burlingame Treaty campaign chap Chicago China Chinaman Chinese Exclusion Act Chinese immigration Chinese issue Chinese laborers Chinese question cigar makers Cincinnati Civil Congress convention coolie Crispin debate delegates Democrats Denis Kearney denounced East eastern workers election emigration Evarts favor Fifteen Passenger Bill George George Frisbie Hoar Gilded Age Greenbackers History Hoar ibid immi immigration restriction Irish James John Journal July June June 17 Kearney's Knights of Labor labor movement legislation Massachusetts Morey letter Movement in California National Labor newspaper North Adams numbers NYTr opposed Pacific platform political politicians president presidential quoted race racial racism reported Republican Party Roach San Francisco Saxton Senate sentiment Sept slavery speech strike tion trade Union United urged vote Washington William working-class workingmen Workingmen's Party York Tribune