Chinese and Mexicans The Development of Policy Tools for US Entry Control Policy, 1850-1920

Amy Staebler

Date of Award

2003

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Tegtmeyer-Pak, Katherine

Keywords

Chinese, Mexican, Gold Rush, Historical Institutionalism

Area of Concentration

Political Science

Abstract

The Chinese exclusion movement actually germinated from the pre-existing anti-Mexican movement in California, 1853 with the proposal of the Tingley Bill, suggesting that Chinese be forced to work like slaves in the mines. In 1853, this was an anti-Chinese movement, not a Chinese exclusion movement. The idea of exclusion as a policy option did not develop until 1855, when a special legislative committee considered exclusion and the American Party ran on the idea. After this split, the anti-Mexican movement never developed a conception of exclusion as a policy option: the anti-Mexican movements in California in the early 1850s were able to create the policy tools necessary to regulate Chinese immigration, but not Mexican immigration itself. Events following this split were consequential of the pathway that had already developed for the two groups so that the riots and laws against the Chinese between the 1860s and the early 20th century were not momentous--they were reproductions of the existing path. The path towards immigration regulation for the Chinese and Mexicans did not change again until 1924 when the gatekeeping ideology of the Chinese Exclusion Act was applied to Mexicans, resulting in a border patrol.

Rights

This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

This document is currently not available here.

Share

COinS