Chinese Exclusion Act 1882

Legislation prohibiting the entry of Chinese labourers into the USA. The initial act, passed in 1882 for a period of ten years, was renewed in 1892 and then made permanent in 1902. US immigration laws against the Chinese were finally repealed during World War II.

Chinese immigration into the USA rose sharply during the California Gold Rush 1848–56. Later, Chinese labourers were brought over to work on the Central Pacific Railroad 1864–69. The Burlingame Treaty, signed by China and the USA in 1868, safeguarded Chinese immigration. An economic depression during the 1870s, however, made US citizens increasingly hostile to Chinese immigrants. For more than ten years Californians mounted pressure on the US government to suspend Chinese immigration. The provisions of the Burlingame Treaty were amended in 1880 to allow this to happen. Two years later Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act.