Chinese Exclusion Act - Research Paper Example

? Chinese Exclusion Act Chinese Exclusion Act Introduction In the chapters set herein by the American government, the Chinese Exclusion Act is a moderated act that sought to execute various treaty stipulations that related to the people of China. According to the preamble provided by the US government, the entry of the Chinese laborers into the United States soil posed a serious challenge to the good order of a number of localities (Soennichsen, 2011). Therefore, coming up with such an Act was substantial particularly according to the opinion of the US government. A closer outlook into the issues that this Chinese Exclusion Act resolved to address point out that it brought about many significant restrictions against free immigration into the United States (Gyory, 2008). This paper will seek to discuss the inbounds of the Chinese Exclusion Act provided therein by the Act. The Act The establishment of the Chinese Exclusion Act saw thousands of both skilled and unskilled laborers of Chinese decency barred from entering the United States for ten good years (Gold, 2012). According to historical analysts, the Act made it clear that if any of the mentioned persons went against this stipulation, he or she stood to face a punishment of either deportation or imprisonment of a term equal to or exceeding ten years (Hune & Nomura, 2003). In deed, this stipulation brought about a consistent weary among the Chinese people where they were unable to go against the Act as it became fully enforceable by the US laws. During this time when the Chinese Exclusion Act was in full force, large numbers of Chinese suffered aimlessly mainly because of their decency as they were beaten brutally (Soennichsen, 2011). Additionally, the few who were able to migrate had to undergo a series of requirements, which were very expensive as they involved individuals proving to the government that they were in a position to immigrate (Gold, 2012). Many scholars argued that the enforcement of the Chinese Exclusion Act was simply a misnomer and did not deserve to be in place under any circumstances. This is so because, the existing laws that witness the Chinese face exclusionary problems came about because of the enactment of the Chinese Exclusion Act (Gyory, 2008). Getting the certification needed by the US government for it to allow a potential Chinese to live in America was hard, tedious, and expensive. The Chinese individuals living during this time suffered a misdemeanor effect simply due to the existence of segregation among people along boundaries that consisted of race and gender among others. Suggestions show that the enactment of this Act also affected other people including the Asians. In fact, documented evidence maintains that if any Chinese individual left the United States for another country, he or she had to obtain a reentry permit when coming back (Hune & Nomura, 2003). This kind of certification went ahead to afflict the chances Chinese people had when it came to becoming full citizens of the United States. As such, the Chinese and Asians would remain complete aliens whenever residing in the US territorial boundaries (Soennichsen, 2011). Following this preamble, it is seeable that when this Act came into passage, all the Chinese men living in the United States lost any chances of ever reuniting with their families and wives back at home on one end. On the other end, they also unable to establish a family of their own since they were no more but just mere aliens who had few privileges and tones of restrictions (Gold, 2012). Amendments Although several capitalists opposed the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act on matters related to economic factors, many Chinese people staying in the US faced a huge dilemma; they wondered whether to choose to go back to China and reunite with their families or stay in US forever (Gyory, 2008). In spite of the widespread enmity and dislike for the Chinese, some of the US ruling clergymen did not seem to draw satisfaction from the already set restrictions. They went ahead to amend the Chinese Exclusion Act by including the Scott Act (1888) which deterred those Chinese who left the US from ever coming back (Hune & Nomura, 2003). The Scott Act clarifications stipulated that the set laws applied to any Chinese despite their ethnicity or country of origin. As such, whatever act of law was applicable to every single Chinese individual who happened to be living in the US. As a matter of essence, the stipulations of the Act frustrated many people of the Chinese decency as in most cases it only resolved to oppress them and fostered segregation towards Asians. In 1892, the Geary Act resolved to renew the Chinese Exclusion Act for ten more years where its provisions strengthened in some parts while in others, it provided no terminal date. During this time, the affected parties continued to suffer in misery but things worsened after the ten years (Gold, 2012). In 1902, any Chinese person living in the United States had to acquire a certification for residence if he or she so wished to reside in the United States (Gyory, 2008). As discussed, acquiring a certification for either migration was quite expensive and looking into the details, acquiring a residential certification was even worse. The process was long, expensive and filled with discrimination. The Chinese race living in the US faced total alienation and in some parts full extinction until a time in 1905 when approximately 10,000 Chinese appealed in opposition of the negative immigration imposed upon them (Soennichsen, 2011). The aspect of leaving and never coming back made life not worth living for some of the affected Chinese. Accordingly, the reciprocation of the case devastated many Chinese people working and living in the US. On one hand, these Chinese people did not want to leave their families to starve in their mother country but on the other hand, things were not working in their favor. Previously, any Chinese or Asian who left the country could not reenter after the second amendment of the Chinese Exclusion Act. However, further amendments into the law saw tones of Chinese turn out in large numbers to contest against the negative immigration decisions set thereof by the federal court through petitioning for the so-called habeas corpus (Soennichsen, 2011). In many instances, the court judged in favor of the Chinese petitioners who sought to overturn the existing discriminatory acts brought unto them by the set Chinese Exclusion Act (Hune & Nomura, 2003). Chinese exclusions continued until 1943 when things started to shift from negation towards what came to open up as a way of deliberation in the case of the Chinese (Gyory, 2008). The years between 1882 and 1943 witnessed a series of outrageous opposition against the Chinese Exclusion Act by Chinese to an extend that, there rose Knights of Labor which was part of the many labor unions seeking to abolish the restrictions provision by the Chinese Exclusion Act. Fight for equal rights After going through a number of petitions involving the Chinese against either the US government or its citizens, various petitioners such as Ju Toy (1905) and Yee Bing Quai (1938) provided a base for even the Americans to fight for equal rights (Gyory, 2008). Some US activists who saw the Chinese Exclusion Act as demeaning towards the Chinese went ahead to reveal this in public and kicked off a journey towards attaining equal rights by doing away with the restrictions that Chinese people underwent while living in the United States. One of these bold critics included George Frisbie Hoar (a Republican Senator) from Massachusetts who strongly opposed the Chinese Exclusion Act by claiming that it was largely a racial concern (Hune & Nomura, 2003). Apart from Hoar, other people who sympathized with the Chinese and felt like sharing their grief with them decided to take part in the fight towards the amendment of this Act. He forged forward by stating that upholding the rules and stipulations set herein by the Chinese Exclusion Act was no different from legalizing inhumane acts such as racial and ethnic discrimination (Hune & Nomura, 2003). Even though there was strong opposition against the presence of the Chinese in the labor market, certain labor unions upheld that some economists kept the Chinese workers as their wedge towards keeping the sector wages low (Soennichsen, 2011). Such labor organizations like the Industrial Workers of the World among other leftist organizations continued to wage wars against the Chinese Exclusion Act since their inception in the year 1905. The pattern of fight against the Chinese Exclusion Act stipulations continued until the targeted organizations started to feel the pressure. For any practical purposes, the presence and enforcement of the Chinese Exclusion Act led to not just discrimination but also brought about the greatest wave of commercial human trafficking or rather smuggling (Gyory, 2008). As time went by, this activity of commercial-human smuggling stretched its abilities into later including other ethnic and national groups. In the later years after the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act, many Chinese people had no choice but to live their lives apart and forced to build their own society where they were to survive on their own. A good example of this incidence is the creation or formation of what is known today as “Chinatown” in the US (Hune & Nomura, 2003). However much the Americans strove to reinforce the Chinese Exclusion Act, they failed to understand that it did not address any issues affecting the white people. Due to this reason, the Chinese presence was quickly over turned by the Japanese whom, with a lot of zeal and passion for America, took over the latter’s role at the working industry (Gyory, 2008). Repeal and status As opposed to their Chinese counterparts, a substantial number of the Japanese immigrants were able to engage themselves in the American way of living by assuming working positions as truck farmers and opening up businesses. Nevertheless, this did not go on that long, as their luck did not last more than two years when the National Origins Act (1924) banned any sort of migration to the US from the East Asia (Soennichsen, 2011). This struck down the possibility of Chinese and Asians into becoming full citizens of America with adequate working requirements. One of the remarkable acts that indicated that China as a country was against the Chinese Exclusion Act is when it declined to accept the then US minister to China Mr. Henry W. Blair following his remarks that China termed as abusive at the time of negotiation (Gold, 2012). References Gold, M. (2012). Forbidden citizens: Chinese exclusion and the U.S. Congress : a legislative history. Alexandria, VA: TheCapital.Net. Gyory, A. (2008). Closing the gate: Race, politics, and the Chinese Exclusion Act. Chapel Hill [u.a.: Univ. of North Carolina Press. Hune, S. & Nomura, G. (2003). Asian - Pacific Islander American women: A historical anthology. New York: New York University Press. Soennichsen, J. (2011). The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. Santa Barbara, Calif: Greenwood. Read More