What does the story of Wong Kim Ark suggest about the roles of citizens and immigrants in US diplomatic history?
Wong Kim Ark
Cast of Characters
- Wong Kim Ark (born 1870)
- Parents: Wee Lee and Wong Si Ping
- Wife: Yee Shee
- Sons: Yuk Foon, Yuk Sue (paper son), and Yook Jim
- Benevolent association: Chinese Six Companies
- Plaintiff lawyers: Maxwell Evarts and Joseph Hubley Ashton
- Government lawyers: Holmes Conrad plus George Collins
- Supreme Court: 6-2 decision (Majority opinion: Horace Gray // Dissent: Chief Justice Melville Fuller and Assoc. Justice John Marshal Harlan)
Chinese Exclusion Act
“So it was no surprise that the Chinese Exclusion Act passed by overwhelming majorities in the House and Senate and was signed into law by President Chester A. Arthur on May 6, 1882.” –Amanda Frost
“Arguing that the bill violated U.S. treaty obligations, Hayes courageously vetoed it. Recognizing the political strength of the agitators, however, the government negotiated a new treaty with China permitting the United States to limit or suspend but not to ‘absolutely prohibit’ Chinese immigration. Congress immediately suspended immigration for twenty years, provoking an Arthur veto. The legislators responded with a new bill suspending Chinese immigration for ten years, the first such exclusion in U.S. history.” –George Herring
- First Chinese Exclusion Act (1882) (National Archives)
- Background on Wong Kim Ark, litigant in Supreme Court case (1898)
- Jonathan Katz, “Birth of a Birthright,” Politico (2018)
