"Chinese Exclusion Act", CAAM Media Source: Stephen Gong
Whereas, in the opinion of the Government of the United States the coming of Chinese laborers to this country endangers the good order of certain localities within the territory thereof. (Sec.1)"
-The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882
The Court determined that Congress’ authority to pass immigration legislation is “an incident of sovereignty”and necessary to preserve the nation’s independence from foreign aggression, including the “vast hordes … crowding in on us.” Although Chae Chan Ping had argued his constitutional rights were violated, the Court didn’t directly address that point, except to state that if Congress “considers the presence of foreigners of a different race in this country, who will not assimilate with us, to be dangerous … [that] determination is conclusive upon the judiciary."
-Gary Chodorow, 2012
I have just discovered that I am the only individual in New York that has no country. The very thought of it knocks all the light and hope out of a fellow. A man without a country, kicked out of China, disowned by the United States, and all for what? . . . Has the Federal government of the United States the right to make a law which would be retroactive, as in this case, to strip me of my citizenship and franchise?” |
How effective were the Chinese Exclusion Acts at excluding the Chinese? For the last half of the 1870s, immigration from China had averaged less than nine thousand a year. In 1881, nearly twelve thousand Chinese were admitted into the United States; a year later the number swelled to forty thousand. And then the gates swung shut. In 1884, only ten Chinese were officially allowed to enter this country. The next year, twenty-six."
-“An Alleged Wife: One Immigrant in the Chinese Exclusion Era” by Robert Barde, Prologue Magazine, National Archives, Spring 2004, Vol. 36, No. 1.