Extracts from U.S. Senate speeches regarding a Chinese exclusion bill, 1882

In the spring of 1882, bigotry against Chinese immigrants, which was particularly virulent on the West Coast, prompted the U.S. Congress to propose a bill that banned entry of Chinese laborers into the United States for 20 years. This bill passed both houses of Congress. However, President Chester A. Arthur vetoed the bill on the grounds that he believed that the 20-year length of the ban would violate the spirit of a recent treaty between the U.S. and China; the Senate was unable to gain the two-thirds votes necessary to override this veto. In response, a modified version of the bill was put forth, which reduced the length of the ban to 10 years. This bill also passed, and Arthur signed it into law as the Chinese Exclusion Act on May 6, 1882, just over one month after his veto message.

In 1892, the Geary Act renewed the ban for 10 years. In 1902, the Chinese Exclusion Law was renewed and made permanent. The law was repealed in 1943.

Sources: "Asian America: Chinese and Japanese in the United States since 1850," by Roger Daniels (Seattle, Wash.: University of Washington Press, 1988), pages 55-56; "Chinese Americans in Oregon," by Douglas Lee, Oregon Encyclopedia, https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/chinese_americans_in_oregon/#.Y0BIHnbMIuU.