The Political Economy of the Anti-Chinese Movement in California in the 19th Century

Abstract

The passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882 painted one of the most unsettling themes in the history of discrimination against ethnic minorities in the 19th century. The enactment marked the first federal legislation to prevent the immigration of laborers of a specific ethnic group. This paper develops a model to study the anti-Chinese movement in California by drawing on the previous literature. The model suggests that adverse economic conditions in the labor market, direct competition between Chinese workers and native workers, well-organized native labor, durable legislation can explain why there was a three-decade time lag between the first wave of Chinese agitation and the passage of the exclusion act. It can also explain why political actors frequently responded to the demands of labor organizations.