The Chinese Exclusion Act

Chinese exclusion is the policy of prohibiting immigration of Chinese laborers to the United States, which began in 1882. Many Chinese had immigrated before that time to California, to work as laborers building the railroads. By 1867, there were about 50,000 Chinese in California.

In 1868, the United States signed the Burlingame Treaty with China, which guaranteed the right of Chinese laborers to immigrate, but not to become citizens. Other people in California began to resent the Chinese workers. American workers did not want to compete with cheap immigrant labor; also many people were prejudiced against people of other races.

In 1882, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, which banned Chinese immigration for 10 years. When that period expired, Congress passed other laws to continue to prohibit Chinese immigration. The immigration law of 1924 excluded all Asian immigration.

In 1943, the acts were repealed when a law was signed setting an annual immigration quota of 105 and extending citizenship privileges to Chinese.

--adapted from the Columbia Encyclopedia, "Chinese Exclusion"