"Whereas, in the opinion of the Government of the United States the coming of Chinese laborers to this country endangers the good order of certain localities... be it enacted... that from and after the expiration of ninety days next after the passage of this act... the coming of Chinese laborers to the United States be... suspended." — Chinese Exclusion Act, 1882
The act's stated rationale most clearly relied upon:
- Acheck_circle
Claims that Chinese laborers threatened domestic social and economic order
- B
Treaty obligations under the Burlingame Treaty of 1868
- C
A formal request from the Qing imperial government
- D
Findings of the Dawes Commission on Asian assimilation
Explanation
Congress justified exclusion by asserting that Chinese workers undermined American communities, codifying nativist hostility into the first major federal racial immigration ban.