Closing the Gate

The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 which barred practically all<br/>Chinese from American shores for ten years was the first federal<br/>law that banned a group of immigrants solely on the basis of race<br/>or nationality. By changing America's traditional policy of open<br/>immigration this landmark legislation set a precedent for future<br/>restrictions against Asian immigrants in the early 1900s and<br/>against Europeans in the 1920s.<br/>Tracing the origins of the Chinese Exclusion Act Andrew<br/>Gyory presents a bold new interpretation of American politics<br/>during Reconstruction and the Gilded Age. Rather than directly<br/>confront such divisive problems as class conflict economic<br/>depression and rising unemployment he contends politicians<br/>sought a safe nonideological solution to the nation's industrial<br/>crisis - and latched onto Chinese exclusion. Ignoring workers'<br/>demands for an end simply to imported contract labor they<br/>claimed instead that working people would be better off if there<br/>were no Chinese immigrants. By playing the race card Gyory<br/>argues national politicians - not California not organized<br/>labor and not a general racist atmosphere - provided the motive<br/>force behind the era's most racist legislation.