Chinese and the Frustrations

James Marshall discovered the gold in California and started the California gold rush. Wherever they came from, it was often a hard decision to leave their homeland. Men often left behind their wives and children with little more than promises and hopes. It was also exceedingly dangerous. Accidents, disease, malnutrition and the violent habits of one's neighbors led to a exceedingly high mortality rate. One estimate is that one in every five miners who came to California in 1849 was dead within six months, a rate so high that insurance companies refused to write new policies for people coming to the gold fields.

James Marshal discovered gold in California and started the California gold rush which made a lot of immigrants migrate to America leave their old lives back in their homeland and start new ones in America. __________________

The  New Colossus' Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, With conquering limbs astride from land to land; Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lighting, and her name Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command The air-bridge harbor that twin cities frame. "Keep, ancient lands, your stories pomp!" cries she With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor," Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wrectched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-toss to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

When immigrants read this they thought that they could migrate there to have freedom but that wasn't what the Chinese gotten, they were discriminated more then any other ethnic group. The Chinese heard all the wonderful things about America, but when they came they faced many discriminating laws passed to limit the immigration of the Chinese and the hardships they had faced were challenging because many didn't know what to do when they came. They came to find gold America when they heard that there were a lot of riches. The Chinese came to America because Canton was torn by civil war, floods, droughts, typhoons and other disasters. From the time they landed, they patiently worked long hours for low pay, quickly earning the resentment of their white competitors. Like other non-whites, Chinese could not testify against whites in court, and many were the victims of racist savagery. In 1854, the First Chinese Baptist Church and the Chinese Benevolent Association opened here, and they operate to this day.

The Chinese have a strong passion for work. The Chinese panner must work, since they work so hard at it. The result was that the Chinese were welcomed; he was considered quite needed. They had left a land of war, starvation where work could not be had and food must be begged. They were everywhere welcomed and their wages were such that they could save a little part to send back to the families they had left at home in China; or, if they did not wish to labor for masters, they could go to the mines. The Chinese who came to California were largely of this class and so described themselves on their arrival.  In the years following 1854 this unthinking, prejudiced, anti-Chinese movement ran riot. Various schemes were proposed for ridding the country of the Chinese as if they were a pest. The courts declared many of these unconstitutional, but even the courts were not at all times consistent friends of the Chinaman. During the Civil War other issues overshadowed the Chinese question and the Orientals had a brief respite. But in 1868 the Burlingame treaty was entered into between the United States and China.

The Chinese were a cheap, reliable source of workers. Racism was furious in Arizona at this time. Anglo and Mexican workers deeply hated the Chinese laborers because they were adding competition to the job market, despite the difficulty and low wages of the jobs given to the Chinese. While the railroads originally brought the Chinese laborers to America, they never intended these workers to become permanent members of American society.

The Chinese worked in the railroads and the railroads, in turn, helped them escape persecution in northern California and brought them to less developed and populated territories. As the country developed, new opportunities attracted new waves of immigrants. The Exclusion Law of 1882 quickly followed. It provided for the rejection of laborers. It didn't allow laborers in, even skilled ones over the next ten years. The Geary Act of 1892 extended the Exclusion Law for another ten years and required certificates of residency with detailed particulars about the person, including a photograph. Even though there were many laws passed towards them, they kept on coming no matter what obstacles face them.

The anti-Chinese sentiment along the Pacific Coast was the most powerful factor that made the Chinese immigrants advance eastward. The prejudice against the Chinese were intense in the 1861's when economic conditions in America took a turn for the worse. The depression forced many laborers out of work, and because Chinese were a small, but visible minority, they became easy targets for persecution and humiliation. There were many anti-Chinese riots in San Francisco and Los Angeles. A law passed in 1863 unintentionally encouraged acts of violence against the Chinese by forbidding them to testify against white men in court.

Other Information

The Asians like the Italians came for work. America had jobs, religious freedom, and was a land of opportunities.

Peaks/Waves of Immigration

Chinese immigration was stopped in 1892 and 1902

Laws restricting the Chinese

-Propaganda was spread in favor of laws restricting immigration as a means of protecting the American wage earned

-In 1875 was the first restriction of immigration of prostitutes and felons

-In 1882 the government reacted to the anti-immigrant feelings, such as anti-Chinese riot and the U.S. enacted further restrictions barring the insane, the retarded, and people likely to need public care and the Chinese Exclusion Act suspending Chinese laborers for ten years

What the gold rush was?

The gold rush was when the Chinese came to the United States to get rich and then returning to China. The gold rush was when a large amount of Chinese came to find gold and to go back to China rich but it was hard and many Chinese died.

What attracted the Chinese to come to the U.S?

The thing that attracted the Chinese to come to the U.S. was the gold. The Chinese came to the United States to earn money and find jobs. They didn't care if they made less money then any other group as long as they made something and that people would hire them.

What their dream was?

Their dream was to get rich and then go back to China, but that didn't happen because most of the Chinese couldn't pay to come to California so they had to work to pay off their debt.

What role these people played in the construction of the nation

The Chinese's roles that were played in the construction of the nation were that they build the railroads. They were better workers then the whites so they hired them because they work harder for less pay.

What difficulties and obstacles they met when they arrived?

The difficulties they met when they arrived were that they were discriminated against, and when they came, many laws were made only targeting them. The obstacles they met when they arrived were that they didn't find jobs easily because they white have were talking bad about them, because they thought that they were stealing their jobs.

What role these people played in the construction of the nation

The Chinese's roles that were played in the construction of the nation were that they build the railroads. They were better workers than the whites so a lot of railroad owners hired them instead of the whites, so the Chinese impressed the railroad owners.

What difficulties and obstacles they met when they arrived

The difficulties they met when they arrived were that they were discriminated constantly, and when they came, many laws were made prohibiting the Chinese from immigrating to America. The obstacles they met when they arrived were that they didn't find jobs easily because the whites were asking Congress to pass laws to stop the immigration of the Chinese because they were 'stealing,' their jobs from them.

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