Home > U.S. Immigration and Migration > Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882

Enacted by U.S. Congress, May 6, 1882

Reprinted from U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Laws and Issues: A Documentary History

The United States begins a ban on Chinese immigrants

"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…."

The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 barred any more Chinese workers from coming to the United States for ten years, the beginning of a ban on Chinese immigrants that lasted for sixty years. It was the first time the United States had enacted a law aimed at a specific national or ethnic group.

For much of the 1870s, the United States experienced difficult economic times. Jobs were hard to find. Many businesses failed as a result of a financial crisis that started in New York on September 18, 1873. On that day, a major bank in New...