The Chinese in California, 1850-1925
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Nineteenth-Century Immigration: The Burlingame Treaty and Exclusion
Much of the anti-Chinese agitation of the nineteenth century took the form of opposition to Chinese immigration. The U.S. government took its first official stance on Chinese immigration in 1868 when, pressured by railroad companies wanting cheap labor, it negotiated a policy of open immigration with China in the Burlingame Treaty:
"The United States of America and the Emperor of China cordially recognize the inherent and inalienable right of man to change his home and allegiance and also the mutual advantage of the free migration and emigration of their citizens and subjects, respectively from the one country to the other, for the purpose of curiosity or trade or as permanent residents...."
Text of the treaty between China & the United States, pages 5 and 6
Use the Subject Index heading, Anti-Chinese Movement & Chinese Exclusion, to access the text of the Burlingame Treaty as well as items reflecting the debate over Chinese immigration. Read the 1878 speech by California Congressman Horace Davis to the House of Representatives, proposing a revision of the Burlingame Treaty and the exclusion of Chinese immigration. The following year, Edwin Cowdin criticized the arguments used to arouse public support for exclusion legislation in his speech before the New York Chamber of Commerce.
- What are the reasons Davis gives for supporting a ban on Chinese immigration?
- How persuasive is his speech?
- Compare Davis's arguments to other appeals for Chinese exclusion.
- What evidence does Cowdin offer to counter arguments presented by those demanding legislation to exclude Chinese immigration?
After the 1877 Sand Lot Riots in San Francisco, calls for Chinese exclusion increased, spurred on by Dennis Kearney and his Workingmen's Party. In 1879, Congress passed a bill abrogating the section of the Burlingame Treaty that permitted unrestricted Chinese immigration, but President Hayes vetoed it. In 1882, with President Chester Arthur in office, Congress finally passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, prohibiting the immigration of Chinese laborers for ten years. Read the remarks of Senator John Jones of Nevada, who argued vehemently for exclusion during the Congressional debate over the legislation.
- Whom and what does this Wasp cartoon blame for the failure of the 1879 bill to abrogate the Burlingame Treaty?
- What arguments does Senator Jones use to support legislation excluding Chinese immigration?
- How does Jones' view of Chinese history conflict with Kwang Chang Ling's description of it in his letters published in the San Francisco Argonaut in 1878?
- Why do you think that Kwang Chang Ling wrote such extensive letters on Chinese history to the San Francisco Argonaut?
Debate over the Exclusion Act did not end with its passage in 1882. The following years saw the right of the United States to exclude Chinese immigrants challenged in the courts. In 1889, however, the United States Supreme Court upheld the exclusionary law in Chae Chan Ping vs. The United States on the basis that Congress's right to restrict immigration to the United States was a fundamental aspect of national sovereignty.
In 1888, Congress also passed the Scott Act prohibiting the return of Chinese laborers who had temporarily left the United States. Even Chinese fishermen who had ventured out of the coastal waters were expelled from the United States under the provisions of the act. Ng Poon Chew, editor of a Chinese language newspaper, wrote of an episode illustrating how officials interpreted the term "laborer" in immigration legislation and treaties.
"A Chinese by the name of Wah Sang was admitted to the country as a student in theology, and as long as he was a student he was allowed to remain in the country; but when he completed his course in theological training, and entered into active service in preaching the Gospel to this countrymen under the auspices of the Methodist Church, he was arrested in Texas as a laborer, was tried and ordered deported in February, 1905, the Court sustaining the contention of the immigration officials that a preacher is a laborer, and therefore subject to the operation of the Exclusion Law."
The Treatment of the Exempt Classes of Chinese in the United States, page 6
- On what grounds did Ng Poon Chew argue that the exclusion of Chinese was a violation of the Burlingame Treaty?
- According to Ng how was the interpretation of the Exclusion Laws used to harass Chinese professionals and students?
- How did Ng use specific case studies to support his arguments?
Despite the passage of the Exclusion Act and the Scott Act, the press continued to excite public opinion by criticizing the effectiveness of the legislation and its implementation. Search on Wasp for cartoons editorializing these issues, such as "How They Will Evade the Chinese Treaty," "And Now They Come as Spaniards," "The Back Door, The Wily Chinese Sneaking Over the Northern Frontier," and "The Chinese Question Again."
- What messages are expressed in these cartoons?
- How did the cartoons criticize U.S. immigration policy and the enforcement of Chinese exclusion?