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History of Anti-Chinese Legislation. Foreign-Born Groups in California, Sucheng Chan, “A People of Exceptional Character”. Governor Bigler, 1852.
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Foreign-Born Groups in California,Sucheng Chan, “A People of Exceptional Character”
Governor Bigler, 1852 • [I]n order to enhance the prosperity and to preserve the tranquility of the State, measures must be adopted to check this tide of Asiatic immigration, and prevent the exportation by them of the precious metals which they dig up from our soil without charge, and without assuming any of the obligations imposed upon citizens.
Governor Bigler • Let us consider the vile coolies, who like craven beasts work the goldmines only to return to their native land and bring no profit to our state.
Foreign Miner’s Tax • In 1850, California state legislature passed the first Foreign Miners' Tax Law, levying a $20-per-month tax on each foreigner engaged in mining. • Many foreign miners refused to pay the tax and left the country. • The tax was repealed in 1851 • A $4 tax was passed in 1852
Foreign Miner’s Tax (1853) • Section 1. That from and after the passage of this Act, no person, not being a citizen of the United States (California Indians excepted) shall be allowed to take gold from the mines of this State, unless he shall have a license therefor, as hereafter provided. . . .
Foreign Miner’s Tax (1853) • Section 6. The amount to be paid for each license shall be at the rate of four dollars per month, and said license shall in no case be transferable.
What is $4 in 1853 worth now? • By the 21st Century , $4.00 from 1853 was worth: • $94.65 (using the Consumer Price Index) • $1,234.33 (using the GDP per capita) • $14,355.75 (using the relative share of GDP)
Foreign Miner’s Tax (1853) • All foreigners residing in the mining districts of this State shall be considered miners under the provisions of this Act, unless they are directly engaged in some other lawful business avocation.
Tax Collecting:Diary of Charles De Young, Oct. 23, 1855 • Started with Dick Wade and Bob Moulthrop collecting: supper at Hesse’s Crossing went down the river in the night collected all the way had a great time, Chinamen tails cut off.
California Tax CollectorsQuoted in Chang, The Chinese in America • “I had no money to keep Christmas with, so sold the chinks nine dollars worth of bogus receipts.” • “I was sorry to have to stab the poor fellow but the law makes it necessary to collect tax, and that’s where I get my profit.”
Ex Parte Ah Pong19 Cal. 106 (1861) • The mere fact that the petitioner was a Chinaman residing in a mining district, does not subject him to the foreign miners' tax. If the act is to be construed as imposing this tax, it cannot be supported, any more than could a law be sustained which imposed upon every man residing in a given section of the State a license as a merchant, whatever his occupation.
An Act to Discourage Immigration of Persons who Cannot Become Citizens (1855) • Section 1. The master, owner, or consignee of any vessel, arriving in any of the ports of this State from any foreign State, country, or territory, having on board any persons who are incompetent by the laws of the United States or the laws and constitution of this State to become citizens thereof are hereby required to pay a tax, for each such person, of fifty dollars.
People v. Downer,7 Cal. 169 (1857) • State sued the owners of the ship “Stephen Baldwin,” to recover the sum of twelve thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars, passenger tax on two hundred and fifty Chinese passengers, brought on that ship from Hong Kong, under the provisions of the Act of April 28, 1855. • Defendants demurred, and the trial court sustained the demurrer.
People v. Downer,7 Cal. 169 (1857) • The question arising in this case was fully considered and settled in “the Passengers Cases,” 7 Howard, by the Supreme Court of the United States. . . . Where a question can only be argued upon refined distinctions, when once settled, it ought to remain settled. • We, therefore, decide that the Act of this State, laying a tax of fifty dollars each on Chinese passengers, is invalid and void.
An Act to Prevent the Further Immigration of Chinese or Mongolians (1858) • [A]ny person, or persons, of the Chinese or Mongolian races, shall not be permitted to enter this State, … and it shall be unlawful for any man …to knowingly allow …, any Chinese or Mongolian, … to enter any … place, …within the border of this State, and any person … violating any of the provisions of this Act, shall be held and deemed guilty of a misdemeanor,
An Act to Prevent the Further Immigration of Chinese or Mongolians (1858) • … and upon conviction thereof shall be subject to a fine in any sum not less than four hundred dollars, nor more than six hundred dollars, for each and every offense, or imprisonment in the County Jail of the County in which the said offense was committed, for a period of not less than three months, nor more than one year, or by both such fine and imprisonment.
The Fate of the 1858 Act • “The bill was duly enacted into law but was struck down by the California Supreme Court in an unpublished opinion when the first attempt to enforce it was made. • McClain, “California’s First Anti-Chinese Laws”
An Act to Protect Free White Labor (1862) • Sec 1. There is hereby levied on each person, male and female, of the Mongolian race, of the age of eighteen years and upwards, residing in this State, except such as shall, under laws now existing, or which may hereafter be enacted, take out licenses to work in the mines, or to prosecute some kind of business, a monthly capitation tax of two dollars and fifty cents, which tax shall be known as the Chinese Police Tax; provided, That all Mongolians exclusively engaged in the production and manufacture of the following articles shall be exempt from the provisions of this Act, viz: sugar, rice, coffee, tea.
An Act to Protect Free White Labor (1862) • Sec. 4 The Collector shall collect the Chinese police tax, … from all persons liable to pay the same, and may seize the personal property of any such person refusing to pay such tax, and sell the same at public auction, by giving notice by proclamation one hour previous to such sale; and shall deliver the property, together with a bill of sale thereof, to the person agreeing to pay, and paying, the highest thereof, which delivery and bill of sale shall transfer to such person a good and sufficient title to the property.
An Act to Protect Free White Labor (1862) • And after deducing the tax and necessary expenses incurred by reason of such refusal, seizure, and sale of property, the Collector shall return the surplus of the proceeds of the sale, if any, . . .
An Act to Protect Free White Labor (1862) • Sec. 7. Any person or company who shall hire persons liable to pay the Chinese police tax shall be held responsible for the payment of the tax due from each person so hired; and no employer shall be released from this liability on the ground that the employee in indebted to him (the employer), and the Collector may proceed against any such employer in the same manner as he might against the original party owing the taxes.
Lin Sing v. Washburn, 20 Cal. 534 (1862) • It must be admitted that the act before us is a measure of special and extreme hostility to the Chinese, and that the power asserted in its passage is the right of the State to prescribe the terms upon which they shall be permitted to reside in it. This right, if carried to the extent to which it may be carried if the power exists, may be so used as to cut off all intercourse between them and the people of the State, and obstruct and block up the channels of commerce, laying an embargo upon trade, and defeating the commercial policy of the nation. The act is sought to be maintained as a police regulation; but this branch of the police power has been surrendered to the government as a part of the power to regulate commerce, and its exercise by a State is incompatible with the authority of the government.
Lin Sing v. Washburn, 20 Cal. 534 (1862) • We may dismiss from the case the question of the power of the States to exclude obnoxious persons, such as paupers and fugitives from justice, for it nowhere appears that the Chinese as a class are of that description; nor does the act pretend to deal with them as such. . . . That they may be taxed as other residents is not disputed, but that they may be set apart as special subjects of taxation, and be compelled to contribute to the revenue of the State in their character of foreigners, is a proposition which cannot be maintained. If this may be done, there is no restriction upon the power that does it, and a tax may be imposed which no human industry can pay, precluding all intercourse, and making it as impossible as if it were positively prohibited.
An Act to Prevent the Importation of Chinese Criminals and to Prevent the Establishment of Coolie Slavery (1870) • Whereas, Criminals and malefactors are being constantly imported from Chinese seaports, whose depredations upon property entail burdensome expense upon the administration of criminal justice in this State; and whereas, by the importation of such persons a species of slavery is established and maintained which is degrading to the laborer and at war with the spirit of the age; now, therefore, in the exercise of the police powers appertaining to this State, ...
An Act to Prevent the Importation of Chinese Criminals and to Prevent the Establishment of Coolie Slavery (1870) • Section 1. [It’s unlawful] to bring or to land from any ship, boat or vessel, into this State, any Chinese or Mongolian, born either in the Empire of China or Japan, or in any of the islands adjacent to the Empire of China, without first presenting to the Commissioner of Immigration evidence satisfactory to him that such Chinaman or Mongolian desires voluntarily to come into this State, and is a person of correct habits and good character, and thereupon obtaining from such Commissioner of Immigration a license or permit, …
An Act to Prevent the Importation of Chinese Criminals and to Prevent the Establishment of Coolie Slavery (1870) • Sec. 2. Any master, officer, owner or part owner of any steamship, sailing or other vessel, or any other person, violating any of the provisions of this Act, or assisting in such violation, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be punished by a fine of not less than one thousand dollars nor more than five thousand dollars, or by imprisonment for a term of not less than two nor more than twelve months, or by both such fine and imprisonment
An Act to Prevent the Importation of Mongolian, Chinese, and Japanese Females (1870) • Whereas, The business of importing into this State Chinese women for criminal and demoralizing purposes has been carried on extensively during the past year, to the scandal and injury of the people of this State, and in defiance of public decency; and whereas, many of the class referred to are kidnapped in China, and deported at a tender age, without their consent and against their will; therefore, in exercise of the police power appertaining to every State of the Union, for the purpose of remedying the evils above referred to and preventing further wrongs of the same character . . .
An Act to Prevent the Importation of Mongolian, Chinese, and Japanese Females (1870) • Section 1. It shall not be lawful, from and after the time when this Act takes effect, to bring, or land from any ship, boat, or vessel, into this State, any Mongolian, Chinese, or Japanese females, born either in the Empire of China or Japan, or in any of the islands adjacent to the Empire of China, without first presenting to the Commissioner of Immigration evidence satisfactory to him that such female desires voluntarily to come into this State, and is a person of correct habits and good character …
An Act to Prevent the Importation of Mongolian, Chinese, and Japanese Females (1870) • Sec. 2. Any master, officer, owner or part owner of any steamship, sailing or other vessel, or any other person violating any of the provisions of this Act, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be punished by a fine of not less than one thousand dollars nor more than five thousand dollars, or imprisonment for a term not less than two nor more than twelve months, or by both such fine and imprisonment.
An Act to Prevent the Importation of Mongolian, Chinese, and Japanese Females (1870) • Sec. 3. Every individual person of the class hereinbefore referred to, transported into this State contrary to the provisions of this Act, shall render the person so transporting liable to a separate prosecution and penalty, and the transportation of each one as aforesaid shall create a separate and distinct offense, and render the person offending liable to the pains and penalties herein provided.
California Constitution, Art. XIX, Sec. 1 (1879) • Section 1. The Legislature shall prescribe all necessary regulations for the protection of the State, and the counties, cities, and towns thereof, from the burdens and evils arising from the presence of aliens who are or may become vagrants, paupers, mendicants, criminals, or invalids afflicted with contagious or infectious diseases, and from aliens otherwise dangerous or detrimental to the well-being or peace of the State, and to impose conditions upon which persons may reside in the State,
California Constitution, Art. XIX, Sec. 2 (1879) • No corporation now existing or hereafter formed under the laws of this State, shall, after the adoption of this Constitution, employ directly or indirectly, in any capacity, any Chinese or Mongolian.
California Constitution, Art. XIX, Sec. 3 (1879) • No Chinese shall be employed on any State, county, municipal, or other public work, except in punishment for crime.
California Constitution, Art. XIX, Sec. 4 (1879) • The presence of foreigners ineligible to become citizens of the United States is declared to be dangerous to the well-being of the State, and the Legislature shall discourage their immigration by all the means within its power. Asiatic coolieism is a form of human slavery, and is forever prohibited in this State, and all contracts for coolie labor shall be void. All companies or corporations, whether formed in this country or any foreign country, for the importation of such labor, shall be subject to such penalties as the Legislature may prescribe.
United States Constitution and Immigration • Art. I, sec. 8 The Congress shall have Power . . . To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization. . . . • Art. I, sec. 9 The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a Tax or duty may be imposed on such Importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each Person.
California Constitution, Art. XIX, Sec. 4 (1879) • The Legislature shall delegate all necessary power to the incorporated cities and towns of this State for the removal of Chinese without the limits of such cities and towns, or for their location within prescribed portions of those limits, and it shall also provide the necessary legislation to prohibit the introduction into this State of Chinese after the adoption of this Constitution.
People v. Hall (1854) • The 394th section of the Act Concerning Civil Cases, provides that no Indian or Negro shall be allowed to testify as a witness in any action or proceeding in which a White person is a party. • The 14th section of the Act of April 16th, 1850, regulating Criminal Proceedings, provides that “No Black, or Mulatto person, or Indian, shall be allowed to give evidence in favor of, or against a white man.”
People v. Hall (1854) • Why are Chinese to be considered “Indians”? • When Columbus first landed upon the shores of this continent, in his attempt to discover a western passage to the Indies, he imagined that he had accomplished the object of his expedition, and that the Island of San Salvador was one of those Islands of the Chinese sea, lying near the extremity of India, which had been described by navigators.
People v. Hall (1854) • When Columbus first landed upon the shores of this continent, in his attempt to discover a western passage to the Indies, he imagined that he had accomplished the object of his expedition, and that the Island of San Salvador was one of those Islands of the Chinese sea, lying near the extremity of India, which had been described by navigators.
People v. Hall (1854) • Ethnology, at that time, was unknown as a distinct science, or if known, had not reached that high point of perfection which it has since attained by the scientific inquiries and discoveries of the master minds of the last half century. Few speculations had been made with regard to the moral or physical differences between the different races of mankind.
People v. Hall (1854) • The general, or perhaps universal opinion of that day was, that there were but three distinct types of the human species, which, in their turn, were subdivided into varieties or tribes. This opinion is still held by many scientific writers, and is supported by Cuvier, one of the most eminent naturalists of modern times.
People v. Hall (1854) • The word “Black” may include all Negroes, but the term “Negro” does not include all Black persons. By the use of this term in this connection, we understand it to mean the opposite of “White,” and that it should be taken as contradistinguished from all White persons.In using the words, “No Black, or Mulatto person, or Indian shall be allowed to give evidence for or against a White person,” the Legislature, if any intention can be ascribed to it, adopted the most comprehensive terms to embrace every known class or shade of color, as the apparent design was to protect the White person from the influence of all testimony other than that of persons of the same caste. The use of these terms must, by every sound rule of construction, exclude every one who is not of white blood.
