The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882

The Americans passed the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 due to the fact that the Americans felt threatened by the Chinese. In the eyes of the American nation the Chinese were talking away their “precious” jobs, over populating the United States, and getting paid a lot of money for a job that is supposed to come cheap.  One strong opinionated American Henry Grimm who was a famous writer in the 19th century engendered a play that had the common stereotypes of Chinese men, it was called “The Chinese Must Go”. The first page of the play highlights the fact that the Chinese are putting the poor American men out of a job. The men that have a family to take care of,the ones who have actual responsibilities and obligations to consider. To the Americans in 1879 when the play was constructed they thought that the Chinese were in no need of the jobs of America because they had no family or actual care. Grimm accentuates the idea a little further when he states, “White man fools; keep wifee and children-cost plenty money; Chinaman no wife, no children, save plenty money. By and by, no more white working man in California; all chinaman- sabee?”. Grimm underlines the perception of the Americans about the way they viewed Chinese men during that time. The Chinese were supposedly not wanting to acquire a family but that was a complete lie because they were prohibited by the laws that America had implemented on them.

There was a Chinese man named Lee Chew who established a bibliography called “The Biography of a Chinaman” written in 1903 February 19 discussing the inequalities that a Chinese man would go through. Chew mention in his bibliography, “Chinese were persecuted not for their vices [sins], but for their virtues [good qualities]”. The Americans were jealous of the Chinese men because there work was always done best there was never any complaints from their bosses. The Chinese man worked harder than the American men did because they wanted to make money and their labor was not cheap. The Chinese were not a danger or a horrific add to the community but an ethnicity that were converting to Christianity which meant they respect the American culture and wanted to join along.

According to the workingmen of San Francisco on August 16, 1888 there was an immigration problem with the Chinese. Due to this the Americans wanted all Chinese men out because they were taking their money, jobs, and also living space. The Americans wanted to take back what was there in the first place the jobs. Even if in reality none of the Americans even the poor white man did not want. They just decided that their hardships were the cause of the Chinese that were occupying the job space. Is is then when the Americans were trying to pass the Chinese Exclusion Act. According to the speech that the working men gave in 1888 the year before the Act passed they said, “...Chinese immigration to our State had been checked and was in a fair way to be entirely stopped…”. As i stated before the Americans wanted the Chinese out because they did not want to compete with them to attain a job. The Americas wanted to get rid of the Chinese and saw this act as a way to do accomplish what exactly they wanted.