Question

Why did the Americans pass the Chinese Exclusion Act?

Answer 1

because americans are all-rounders who like to include everyone

Answer 2

@arabpride wait, thats an oxymoron..........

Answer 3

In 1882, the U.S. had just emerged from its longest business depression in its history, brought on by the Panic of 1873. In a business depression, money created by banks is destroyed in the course of bankruptcies, and the money supply collapses violently. The result is that prices are driven into the ground, firms with long-term contracts at the old money relation no longer can pay their bills, and they go bust, leading to unemployment of the workers.

At the same time, a lot of the Chinese in the country (many imported to build the railroads) were taking their wages in silver coin and sending them back to family in China (where silver is especially prized). This made them easy targets for demagogues, who not only could whine about their willingness to work for low wages but also could accuse them of being responsible for the disappearance of the money. Add to that their non-Christian culture and foreign language, and it was easy to whip up local sentiment against them.

A leading proponent of exclusion was George Hearst, a mining tycoon and sometime politician, father of newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst. In his autobiography (The Way It Was), Hearst admitted that the Chinaman was "a better man than I am" because Chinamen could stretch resources to support 10 people where the same resources would support only one white man. This raised the danger of having "yellow hordes" of Chinamen "invading" the country and taking over local (white) administrations. Per George Hearst, this was reason to exclude Chinamen altogether from the country. George's son, William Randolph Hearst, later expanded this opposition to include the "yellow peril," which included the Japanese as well, though this was long after the original act had been passed by Congress.

Answer 4

Hope that helps!<3

Answer 5

I sense some sarcasm~ x'DD