Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882

Cultural  

1. A federal law passed in response to complaints by workers on the West Coast that competition from Chinese immigrants was driving down their wages and threatening white “racial purity.” It suspended Chinese immigration for ten years and declared Chinese immigrants ineligible for naturalization as American citizens. The law was renewed in 1892 for another ten years, and in 1902 Chinese immigration was permanently banned. Chinese immigrants did not become eligible for citizenship until 1943.

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Example Sentences

Eventually their pressure prompted President Cleveland to sign the notorious Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 22, 2021

The series covers well-known events like the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the World War II internment of Japanese Americans and the 1982 beating death of Vincent Chin in Detroit.

From Washington Times • May 8, 2020

The artifacts spotlight women’s suffrage, Japanese-American internment, and the anti-Chinese immigrant fervor that led to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.

From Seattle Times • Jun. 19, 2018

Only when the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 forbade further immigration from China for a ten-year period did the flow stop.

From Textbooks • Dec. 30, 2014

The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, reenacted and strengthened again in 1892 and in 1902, excluded all Chinese laborers from the United States.

From Sociology and Modern Social Problems by Ellwood, Charles A. (Charles Abram)