- Henry George’s “The Chinese in California” was printed in the New York Tribune, May 1, 1869. As Anti-Chinese sentiments began to grow the before the recession of the early 1870s , labor unions pushed for a resolution for the “Chinese problem”. Since Asian immigrants were used as tools by big business to undermine the rising power of labor unions, the Chinese Exclusion Act was seen as a victory for the white working class. Thus in Henry George’s article we see one of the three significant variables (race, class, and politics) that played a major role in the enactment of the Chinese Exclusion Act, Class. He counters any arguments that Chinese immigration would benefit U.S. economy. Arguing that the lower wages paid to the Chinese laborer will lower wages for all while the cost for consumer remains the same. He then goes on to compare Chinese to Black Americans whereas the Blacks are like docile children, easy to train whereas the Chinese have a long prideful history/civilization and looks down upon other races. He continues by saying that the Chinese will not assimilate well and their Americanization is only superficial.
- Prior to reading Henry George’s argument, I thought that racism was the major argument for exclusion. Likewise, the arguments of jobs being lost to the Chinese was just a way to scapegoat the Chinese as racism was prevalent during those day. Also, I was a bit shocked to see how the Chinese were compared to Black Americans and viewed as the less desirable minority.
- This resource will be useful in explaining different reasoning people used to enact the Chinese Exclusion Act/law and how many of these same arguments are used to depict other minority groups.
Kurashige, L., & Yang Murray, A. (2003). Confronting Immigration Exclusion, 1860s – 1920s : Editor Henry George Supports Chinese Exclusion on Economic and Racial grounds, 1896. In Major problems in Asian American history: Documents and essays (pp. 97 – 99). Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Photo: http://henrygeorgethestandard.org/
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