{"id":3106,"date":"2019-03-03T15:54:41","date_gmt":"2019-03-03T15:54:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-282pinsker\/?p=3106"},"modified":"2020-08-15T15:42:09","modified_gmt":"2020-08-15T15:42:09","slug":"chinese-exclusion-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-282pinsker\/2019\/03\/03\/chinese-exclusion-act\/","title":{"rendered":"Chinese Exclusion Act"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Congress in 1879 passed a bill limiting the number of Chinese who could come into the country on any ship.\u00a0 As anti-Chinese as he was anti-British, then-Senator [James G.] Blaine defended the legislation as a blow for the ‘civilization of Christ’ against the ‘civilization of Confucius.’\u00a0 Arguing that the bill violated U.S. treaty obligations, Hayes courageously vetoed it.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Congress immediately suspended immigration for twenty years, provoking an Arthur veto.\u00a0 The legislators responded with a new bill suspending Chinese immigration for ten years, the first such exclusion in U.S. history.\u00a0 More exclusionist laws followed.\u00a0 With no choice but to acquiesce, the Chinese in 1894 agreed to a new treaty that ‘absolutely prohibited’ the immigration of Chinese laborers for ten years.\u00a0 Diplomatic relations worsened during the 1890s.” –George Herring,\u00a0From Colony to Superpower,\u00a0<\/em>p. 283<\/p>\n

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Discussion Questions<\/strong><\/p>\n