Anti-Coolie Act
This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (August 2011) |
The factual accuracy of part of this article is disputed. The dispute is about the federal law of the same name, signed into law by Abraham Lincoln in 1862, which may be conflated by this article and pages linking to it. (August 2023) |
On February 19, 1862, the
Initial frustration with Chinese labor
Prior to the California gold rush of the 1850s, the Chinese population in the west, described at the time with the derogatory word "
The intense emotions felt by a dense workforce, however, had more room to heat up, as they were exacerbated when America went through a
Coolie clubs
In the wake of the 1853 recession, many Californians who owned the rights to the land on which the gold was mined were looking for cheap labor to maximize profits. Chinese immigrants came to America for a variety of reasons, including longstanding trans-Pacific economic connections, a culture of migrant work in the Pearl River delta region, and the presence of reasonably fast trade routes to the United States, and the allure of gold.[2] Many Chinese immigrants made the voyage on credit, and upon arrival in California had no choice but to accept lower wages to repay their creditors. As a result of their lower demand for wages, and their tendency to form self-supporting communities without much support from their employers, Chinese immigrants became the preferred option of labor for many landowners. Domestic miners responded with the creation of "anticoolie" clubs that sought to create clear divisions between white workers and Chinese workers. The clubs almost served like white unions that represented the interests of the white miners in the west, and they expanded in prominence as manufacturing jobs moved to the west and Chinese workers continued to play the role of cheap labor. In 1857, just a few years prior to the passage of the Anti-Coolie Act in California, Chinese workers were accepting wages between one and two dollars less than their white counterparts.
Anti-Coolie Act of 1862
The California legislature's formal attack on Chinese immigrants began in 1852 with the passage of a foreign miners' tax that imposed a three-dollar monthly tax on foreign miners in the state. In 1855, the California legislature followed up the passage of that act with another act entitled Discourage the Immigration to this State of Persons who Became Citizens thereof.[3] However, after more pressure came from white miners, who teamed up with sympathizers in the Democratic Party to encourage the passage of the Anti-Coolie Act, it was indeed passed. The act was ratified by California's state legislature on April 26, 1862[citation needed] and was an attempt to increase the scope of their authority by levying a $2.50 tax on anyone of Chinese origin who applied for licenses "to work in the mines, or to prosecute some kind of business...." Yet, with the Chinese population still steadily increasing, reaching 107,000 in 1890, the act marked only the beginning of direct segregation against the Chinese.
What would follow from the 1862 Anti-Coolie Act would be several anti-Chinese acts that served to discriminate against them. Eight years later, the Naturalization Act of 1870 allowed Africans to become citizens through naturalization, while continuing to exclude Asians. In 1882, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, which more directly restricted Chinese immigration and naturalization.
See also
- Stop Asian Hate
- Chinese immigration to the United States
- Chinese Labor in the Southern United States
References
- ^ "12 Stat. 340, ch. 27" (PDF). Retrieved 2021-04-08.
- ^ Kurashige, Lon; Alice Yang Murray. Major Problems in Asian American History. pp. 47–54.
- ^ California (1855). Statutes of California.
- Ancheta, Angelo N. Race, Rights, and the Asian American Experience. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers UP, 2006. Print.
- Boswell, Terry E. "A Split Labor Market Analysis of Discrimination Against Chinese Immigrants, 1850-1882." American Sociological Review 51.3 (1986): 352–71. Print.
- "California's Anti-Coolie Act of 1862." DRCNet Online Library of Drug Policy. Web. 28 Feb. 2011. <http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/history/1870/anticoolieact.htm>.This article needs additional citations for verification. (October 2015)
- Hittell, Theodore Henry. History of California, Vol. 4. N.J. Stone & Co., 1897.
- Coolidge, Mary. 1909. Chinese Immigration. New York: Holt
- Zarnowitz, Victor. Business Cycles: Theory, History, Indicators, and Forecasting. Chicago: University of Chicago, 1996. Print.