Immigration to US: The Gold Rush Era (1849-1882) - Essay Sample

Paper Type:  Essay
Pages:  6
Wordcount:  1578 Words
Date:  2023-05-04

Introduction

Immigrants began again in the United States after the Civil War between 1970 to 1900, where about 12 million immigrants came to the country (Hooper and Jeanne, 7). At this time, a vast number of Chinese immigrants came to the U.S between 1849 and 1882 at the start of the California gold rush. It was in 1882 when the government stopped Chinese immigration through federal law. Most of the immigrants came to settle permanently in the United States, and some of them worked for some time, then returned to their country with whatever they saved (Hooper and Jeanne, 8). Most of them were attracted to North America, specifically California, where many prospected for their gold while others labored for others. Chinese Immigrants worked on railroad construction crews and as agricultural laborers, and in a low-paying industrial job. Chinese came to the U.S to seek employment and send money they get back to their families. Also, they came to American because they perceive the U.S to be a hope of freedom. Chinese were also forced to migrate to American because of economic hardships that resulted from rising British Dominance over China. The paper examines the obstacles faced by Chinese immigrants in the late 19th century (Kil, 663). It also examines how Chinese arrival singled out specific discrimination by Americans and reasons for Chinese immigrants' unique discrimination.

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Obstacles Faced by Chinese Immigrants in the Late 19th Century

The first obstacle experienced by Chinese immigrants in the United States was imposed upon their arrival. The immigrants were not granted citizenship like the other immigrants from other countries. The Chinese were to remain foreigners indefinitely, unlike the European immigrants who were given the possibility of naturalization. The Chinese experienced several culture shocks as they could not understand or speak English (Kil, 664). They encountered racial discrimination from the European Americans, which increased continuously and at last prevented the Chinese assimilation into the mainstream society of America. Also, Chinese immigrants were not allowed to use any infrastructure of the government, such as hospitals or schools, and they provided very cheap labor.

During the hard economic times in the 1870s, the European Americans, together with other immigrants, started competing for jobs that were traditionally reserved for Chinese Immigrants (Hooper and Jeanne, 15). The economic competition resulted in hatred, dislike, and racial suspicion, which were accompanied by pressure and anti-Chinese riots in California, which pressurized the Chinese immigrant's exclusion from the United States. The pressure resulted in the establishment of the Chinese Exclusion Act, which was passed in 1882 by Congress (Foner, 670).

The obstacle to Chinese immigrants started with discrimination and racism that became law. The new constitution of California of 1879 denied the naturalization of Chinese citizens (Kil, 665). It denied them the right to vote and even hold any state employment. They were prohibited from any local or state employment and any incorporated business in the State of California. (Foner, 671). The Act forbade further Chinese immigration into the United States for ten years, which later attracted various extensions. Most Chinese immigrants returned to China, and others who remained in the United States were stuck in the most menial, low-paying jobs. Chinese immigrants were victims of segregation, reservations, exclusionary and restricted immigration policies, and deportation schemes. Chinese immigrants experienced substantial prejudice in the United States. The prejudice was high by individuals who settled in the lower layers of the white society. The Chinese coolies were utilized as a scapegoat for lower levels of wages by labor and political leaders.

Furthermore, the Naturalization Act of 1870 extended the African American citizenship rights, but Chinese immigrants were barred from naturalization as they Americans argued that the Chinese could not be assimilated into the American culture and society as significant (Kil, 667). They were prohibited from serving on juries, and most of the U.S States passed laws like alien land laws that barred Chinese from purchasing real estate in the U.S land, which prevented the Chinese from setting up permanent businesses and homes. Even the Supreme Court was against the Chinese immigrants as illustrated in the words of Justice John Marshal Harlan in the case Plessy v. Ferguson, where justice referred Chinese as a race that is so different from Americans, and they should not be allowed to be American citizens.

How Chinese Arrival Singled Out Certain Discrimination by Americans

To some extent, the arrivals of Chinese to the United States singled out for positive discrimination, which caused various hardships to the Chinese Immigrants. The bias arises from perceptions of the European Americans on the Chinese as they view them to possess a super-human power because the immigrant was able to live in places that are overcrowded with poor conditions, and was able to work in hard jobs for low wages. According to Hooper and Jeanne (21), during the 1880s, the Chinese immigrants were viewed by the European Americans as undesirable and inferior, and through their hard work, they started to discriminate.

Chinese immigrants were levied tax under the Miners Tax of 1852, which excluded the White Americans and only applied to Chinese and Mexicans (Hooper and Jeanne, 24). The origin of tax was a complaint from the American miners that the Chinese miners had an unfair advantage over them as the Chinese were able to work in teams and successfully work on large projects which surprised Americans who could not manage. The legislatures of California listened to the complaints and imposed the Californian Foreign Miners Tax of 1850 (Hooper and Jeanne, 28). The tax was not effective in California alone, but it was also used in Montana, Oregon, and Idaho as gold and other valuable ores search extended to such regions.

The Chinese immigrants were denied citizenship and excluded as they were perceived to be non-assimilable by the white mainstream. Through the judicial and congressional decisions, they were made ineligible for naturalization that made them politically disenfranchised. The Chinese immigrants were marginalized, and the Act exposed them to violations of their rights in the constitution; they were politically disenfranchised and discriminated against legally. They suffered from campaigns of murder and persecution, which seems shocking today. They were forced to run out of town, beaten. Lynched, tortured, forced out of business, and massacred with very little help from the law (Hooper and Jeanne, 38). The weak government contributed to the whole climate of terror on those days, uncertain economy, racial hatred, and new territories. The crimes perpetrators were Americans who went unpunished, and they came from many segments of society.

More so, the origin of the anti-Chinese arguments is the missionaries, American merchants, and diplomats who sent negative messages from China to the United States, showing reports of the Chinese they encounter in China. The attitudes of such individuals were transmitted to Native Americans in the North, who triggered the Yellow Peril.

Reasons for Chinese Immigrants Unique Discrimination

Chinese received such unique discrimination like the Chines Execution Act of 1882 because the United States found them to be a threat to the overall American government and culture (Foner, 672). They were also viewed as a threat to the Caucasian race, and the European Americans were being amazed by the Chinese survival in the United States. The religion of Chinese was regarded as mysterious, and their culture was seen to be isolated and strange in the U.S. Some United States native people were of believing that, Chinese immigrants were secret plans to take over and invade the government of the United States and to replace the culture of American with Chinese Culture. The Americans viewed society and race through the lens of Social Darwinism, and such a widespread belief was developed to a point which resulted in strengthening the effort to exclude Chinese immigrants from the United States.

The passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act was due to social factors such as increased Chinese citizens to California because of the 1949 gold rush who came to provide labor in railroad construction and the mining industry. The gold rush in California caused increased unemployment rates, which then contributed to racist hostility on Chinese immigrants as American laborers lacked jobs as Chinese were hired at a lower wage (Hooper and Jeanne, 43). Employing Chinese lead the American laborers who worked at the mining industry to adopt xenophobic, protectionist tactics that were directed to stem the alleged intrusion from Chinese workers.

The discrimination of Chinese immigrants gained strength as the number of Chinese laborers increased. The objection took several forms, and it stemmed from cultural and economic tensions. The Non-Chinese laborers needed higher pays to support their families in the United States. In contrast, Chinese immigrants needed lower pay as they wanted money to send to their families and pay merchants who brought them to the United States. Hence, non-Chinese laborers saw that the Chinese are squeezing their pays. Also, a tale spread that most of Chinese settled in Chinatowns where they live in large numbers. The towns led to anti-Chinese legislation as they argued that a large number of Chinese entering America lowers the moral and cultural standards of American society.

Works Cited

Foner, Eric. Give Me Liberty! An American History: One Volume. WW Norton & Company, 2016. https://pdfemporium.com/account.php?action=download_item&data=MTM1LDExNywyNDEsYjE2MjBiNzI0YjM3NzJmMmYwYTdmNGQ2YzdiODMwYWQsNTIwODk2NTMwODY3NTAxNTQ1NzI2MDE1NDA3MDI5ODE2

Hooper, Kate, and Jeanne Batalova. "Chinese immigrants in the United States." Migration Policy Institute 28 (2015). http://www.immigrationresearch-info.org/system/files/Chinese_Immigrants_in_the_United_States.pdf

Kil, Sang Hea. "Fearing yellow, imagining white: A media analysis of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882." Social Identities 18.6 (2012): 663-677. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504630.2012.708995

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Immigration to US: The Gold Rush Era (1849-1882) - Essay Sample. (2023, May 04). Retrieved from https://proessays.net/essays/immigration-to-us-the-gold-rush-era-1849-1882-essay-sample

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