Background
During the latter half of the 19th century, there was a major increase in immigration to the United States from China. Much of this was due to severe economic and political turmoil in China. The discovery of gold in California in 1848 made the United States a particularly desirable new home for Chinese people. Chinese immigrant men found work in gold mines and, later, in the railroad industry. Discrimination against Chinese immigrants increased in the 1870s because white laborers began to fear they would lose their jobs to the growing population of Chinese immigrants.
Chinese women, however, faced discrimination that was not directly connected to work. Instead, discrimination against Chinese women specifically centered on their perceived sexuality. Americans often assumed that all Chinese immigrant women were prostitutes. This fallacy became an excuse to keep Chinese women from coming to the United States. Americans feared that female Chinese immigrants would corrupt society, marry white men, and have mixed-race children, resulting in an increased non-white population. Politicians were hesitant to restrict the immigration of Chinese men because businesses profited from their cheap labor, so they focused their attention on keeping out Chinese women. The goal was to limit the size of the Chinese population in America by preventing Chinese men from bringing their families to the United States or starting new ones.
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-An act supplementary to the acts in relation to immigration.
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