Asian Americans

Asian Americans

Donja Kirkland

Eth125

03/18/2013

Christine Tocco

The first Asians to come to America were Chinese Filipinos around 1750 in the Louisiana territory. They came to America to escape the recently acquired British control over China and the Opium War of 1839-1842. This war was between England and China over the strict trade policies China had put in place. The English did not want to deal with the restrictions the Chinese government had enacted. When the British government won the Opium War part of the deal they made was to send some of the Chinese people to America as slaves this sent a small wave of Chinese immigrants to America. (Wallbank, Taylor, 1992)

In 1848 the tales of the gold rush in California reached China and many more immigrants decided to travel to America to strike it rich in the gold mines. Some of the Chinese worked directly in the gold mines, some built small businesses around the gold mines, and others worked for the miners doing odd jobs. The majority of the Chinese that traveled to America did not plan to stay. They wanted to make enough money to live comfortably and return home with their newfound riches. (Wallbank, Taylor, 1992)

The Chinese that worked directly in the mines ran into problems with the American government. The American government decided to implement the Foreign Miner tax. With this tax came a rebuttal from the Chinese that resulted in the abuse of the Chinese people when they rebelled against the tax. (Le, C.N. 2013)

Another significant job the Chinese held was with the Central Pacific railroad. They worked on the railroad from the beginning until it was finished in 1869. When the railroad was finished European decent Americans decided they did not want to compete with the Chinese to find jobs. They attacked the Chinese but the Chinese tried to fight back legally in court. The European Americans won the battle and the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was created. With this act the European Americans were...