Closing the Gate

Race, Politics, and the Chinese Exclusion Act

Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Cultural Studies, Emigration & Immigration, History, Americas, United States, 19th Century
Cover of the book Closing the Gate by Andrew Gyory, The University of North Carolina Press
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Author: Andrew Gyory ISBN: 9780807866757
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press Publication: November 9, 2000
Imprint: The University of North Carolina Press Language: English
Author: Andrew Gyory
ISBN: 9780807866757
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
Publication: November 9, 2000
Imprint: The University of North Carolina Press
Language: English

The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which barred practically all
Chinese from American shores for ten years, was the first federal
law that banned a group of immigrants solely on the basis of race
or nationality. By changing America's traditional policy of open
immigration, this landmark legislation set a precedent for future
restrictions against Asian immigrants in the early 1900s and
against Europeans in the 1920s.
Tracing the origins of the Chinese Exclusion Act, Andrew
Gyory presents a bold new interpretation of American politics
during Reconstruction and the Gilded Age. Rather than directly
confront such divisive problems as class conflict, economic
depression, and rising unemployment, he contends, politicians
sought a safe, nonideological solution to the nation's industrial
crisis--and latched onto Chinese exclusion. Ignoring workers'
demands for an end simply to imported contract labor, they
claimed instead that working people would be better off if there
were no Chinese immigrants. By playing the race card, Gyory
argues, national politicians--not California, not organized
labor, and not a general racist atmosphere--provided the motive
force behind the era's most racist legislation.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which barred practically all
Chinese from American shores for ten years, was the first federal
law that banned a group of immigrants solely on the basis of race
or nationality. By changing America's traditional policy of open
immigration, this landmark legislation set a precedent for future
restrictions against Asian immigrants in the early 1900s and
against Europeans in the 1920s.
Tracing the origins of the Chinese Exclusion Act, Andrew
Gyory presents a bold new interpretation of American politics
during Reconstruction and the Gilded Age. Rather than directly
confront such divisive problems as class conflict, economic
depression, and rising unemployment, he contends, politicians
sought a safe, nonideological solution to the nation's industrial
crisis--and latched onto Chinese exclusion. Ignoring workers'
demands for an end simply to imported contract labor, they
claimed instead that working people would be better off if there
were no Chinese immigrants. By playing the race card, Gyory
argues, national politicians--not California, not organized
labor, and not a general racist atmosphere--provided the motive
force behind the era's most racist legislation.

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