The Chinese exclusion act was a federal law signed in 1882 by Chester A. Arthur, allowing the suspension of Chinese immigration. The Chinese gold rush of 1848-55 is what led to the exclusion act, for it was the first significant immigration to the United States. The Chinese built the transcontinental railroad, between Omaha and Sacramento connecting the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, in 1869 in search of gold. They rejection for the Chinese and other foreigners grew as the competition for gold increased. The Chinese were then blamed for the depressed wage levels. At first, the act was delayed because of financial worries; although once they had enough money, they passed the act. The population of the Chinese in California increased, and violence began breaking out. Once the law was passed, they began creating laws that were unconstitutional. The act itself excluded “skilled and unskilled laborers and Chinese employed in mining” from entering the country for ten years under the penalty of deportation and imprisonment. The act even affected those who were already in America, requiring them to obtain their certifications for reentry while permanently making them aliens. Once the act was passed, Chinese men had a slim chance of ever being reunited with their families. The act was revised in 1884, allowing previous immigrants to leave and return. The revision also corrected that it applied to the Chinese ethnicity. The act was continuously extended and in 1902, it required “each Chinese resident to register and obtain a certificate of residence. Without a certificate, he or she faced deportation.” The law was finally repealed by the Magnuson Act on December 17, 1943. The Chinese exclusion act brought up the idea of human smuggling across a border that spread to other national and ethnic groups that are now used today.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Exclusion_Act#Effects_and_aftermath
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/ch1882/racepol.html
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