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Chinese Immigrants In The 19th Century

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The Irish that migrated to Boston in the early 19th century had many things in common when we talk about their phases of migration and immigration with the Chinese that came to California in the 19th century. The Irish and the Chinese had similar mentalities when they first immigrated to the New World, both saw a better life hoping and trying to plan to make enough money and return home and buy some land. With such a mindset both parties were able to put up with abuse and was very reluctant to join unions since they were only sojourners. Both groups, the Irish and the Chinese were transnational which meant they lived in two countries at the same time.
The movement to America was “artificial” because of the poverty of the Irish that has been …show more content…
Nearly all of them were young, poorly educated males who wanted to earn some money and return to china. Immigration to the United States began primarily in the middle of the 19th century. The California gold rush brought the first wave of Chinese immigrants to Gum Son (The Golden Mountain) in 1848. In the 1850s, some 15,000 Chinese immigrants played an essential role in building the transcontinental railroads. There were about 25,000 Chinese miners on the West Coast of the United States. But the differences in language, customs, clothing, and religion made them stand out, becoming objects of ridicule and mistrust among the other miners. After 1869, when the railroad was completed, Chinese laborers either joined their fellow countrymen already working in the towns or they settled in rural areas. In the later years, they accounted for almost 20 percent of California’s farm labor. At first the Chinese were welcomed. About 2/3 of the Chinese in the US worked in California gold fields. They were independent prospectors but they organized into small groups and created companies based on families and village ties. For the first few years the Chinese worked mainly placer claims. However, as the placer mining became exhausted in the early 1850s and the white miners forced that were forced to become laborers for mining companies they began to blame the Chinese miners. In 1852 Governor Bigler gave a speech and in that speech he accused the Chinese of not contributing to the country In 1852 the California State Legislature passed a Foreign Miners Tax which mainly applied to the Chinese who had to pay $3.00 a month for the right to mine. The Anti-Chinese sentiment died down until the 1870s when once again the Chinese were looked as interlopers and unfair competition to white workers. This Anti-Chinese movement led to the Chinese Exclusion Act of

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