Video: 'The Chinese Exclusion Act'

(Saturday, May 6, 1882) — President Chester Alan Arthur today signed the Chinese Exclusion Act, which called for barring Chinese immigrants from the U.S. for ten years.

Building on the earlier Page Act of 1875, which banned Chinese women from migrating to the United States, the Chinese Exclusion Act was the first – and remains the only – law to have been implemented to prevent all members of a specific ethnic or national group from immigrating to the United States.

The act was initially intended to last for 10 years, but was renewed and strengthened in 1892 with the Geary Act and made permanent in 1902. These laws attempted to stop all Chinese immigration into the United States for ten years, with exceptions for diplomats, teachers, students, merchants, and travelers. They were widely evaded.