ASAMST 20A Lecture Notes - Meiji Restoration, Asiatic Exclusion League, Japanese In Hawaii
7 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Resistance to Hostilities
● Self-defense
● Hiring security guards
● Hiring skilled white attorneys - most effective (legislation)
● Demanding constitutional rights
● Public statements
● International appeal - support to oppose discrimination against Chinese
Legal Resistance
● Chan Chae Ping vs. US (1889)
○ Re-entry case - used Scott Act (1888) against him
○ Federal government absolute power to exclude if necessary
● Wong Kim Ark vs. US (1898)
○ Re-entry case
○ Citizenship by birth Jus solis (birthright) overrides Jus sanguinis (by blood)
○ 4th Amendment all persons
● Fong Yue Ting (1893)
○ Violation of Geary Act
○ Required proof, certification of residency
■ 2 white witnesses
■ Only had Chinese witnesses
○ Round-ups of Chinese
○ Court: U.S. had sovereign right to deport non-citizens
● Yick Wo vs. Hopkins (1886)
○ Class action suit vs SF Board of Supervisors
○ A special ordinance passed that stipulated if your laundry was made out of
wood, you have to get a special permit
○ A law which appears neutral but applied in a discriminatory manner is
unconstitutional under 14th Amendment
○ 240/310 Chinese laundries charged
● Discrimination inside U.S. borders - 14th Amendment
● Outside U.S. borders - more difficult, sovereignty
Other Forms of Resistance
● Miner Lookout Systems
● Labor strikes
● Boycotts of American products in China
○ A way to leverage boycott pressures against U.S. companies → U.S.
government
● Discourse (writing counter-arguments)
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Wong Chin Foo (1847-1898)
● Coined term Chinese American
● Self-proclaimed China’s first missionary to U.S. satirical - in response to U.S.
sending Christian missionaries to China)
○ Represent Confucian thought
● Public statements - $500 reward for anyone who could prove that Chinese ate rats
● Argued that Chinese should have the right to U.S. citizenship
● Challenged Denis Kearney to public debate, duel
● Established Chinese Equal Rights League to oppose Geary Act
● Involved in anti-prostitution campaigns in Chinatown
● Assimilationist, Chinese nationalist
○ Concerned about change in China
○ Only character and fitness should be the requirement for people who want
to become American citizens
○ U.S. missionaries misreporting on China
Previous reliance on homeland government negotiations with U.S.
● Burlingame Treaty (1868)
● Appeals to Chinese consulate
● Weak and ineffective
● Uneven battle
○ Victories related to 14th Amendment rights
○ Defeats because of immigration policy
Historical Context of Japanese Migration
● Japan studied Chinese experience in U.S.
● Took measures to avoid Chinese mistakes (i.e. Chinese Exclusion Law)
● Japanese government decided who could immigrate
● Learning from the Chinese
○ Wore Western garb
○ Family migration (avoid image of single bachelor men)
○ Avoid cheap labor image
○ Education requirements
○ Financial requirements - have some type of capital to sustain themselves in
business or to get started
● Still viewed the same
○ Hawaii: less overt racism
○ Mainland: suffered blatant racism
○ Mistaken for Chinese
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
○ Adaptive abilities in economy seen as more dangerous than Chinese
Background to Japanese Migration
● Isolationist policy
○ Tokugawa Period (1600-1868)
○ Imposed policy of isolation from West
○ Persecution of Christian converts
○ Expulsion of missionaries
● Similar to China
○ Not immune to Western expansion (Matthew Perry - 1853)
○ British bombed Kageshima (1863)
○ Japan wasn’t colonized
○ Economy was affected
■ Taxation and dispossession as a result of modernization
■ Labor pool to Hawaii and U.S.
● Unlike China
○ Path of Meiji Restoration (1868)
○ Throne established to fend off West
○ Unification campaign
○ Embracing Western technology
○ Established Naval and Military Technology Institute
○ Students were sent abroad to study in the West
Reasons for Migration
● New tax system
○ Harvest Yield (amount that is produced) replaced by Land Levi Tax (based on
amount of land you own, increased yearly to pay for modernization)
● Samurai stipend program
○ Increased taxation
● National Conscription Law (1873) - required all young people to join military
○ Student exemptions
○ Encouraged overseas study
● Tradition of dekasegi
○ Second son has to leave home to seek and build wealth and fortune outside of
the home
● Overpopulation
○ Approaching 40 million
○ Industrialization created large labor pools
○ Policy to reduce population density
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Hiring skilled white attorneys - most effective (legislation) International appeal - support to oppose discrimination against chinese. Re-entry case - used scott act (1888) against him. Federal government absolute power to exclude if necessary. Citizenship by birth jus solis (birthright) overrides jus sanguinis (by blood) Court: u. s. had sovereign right to deport non-citizens. Class action suit vs sf board of supervisors. A special ordinance passed that stipulated if your laundry was made out of. A law which appears neutral but applied in a discriminatory manner is. Only had chinese witnesses unconstitutional under 14th amendment wood, you have to get a special permit. Discrimination inside u. s. borders - 14th amendment. Outside u. s. borders - more difficult, sovereignty. A way to leverage boycott pressures against u. s. companies u. s. government. Wong chin foo (1847-1898) sending christian missionaries to china) Self-proclaimed china"s first missionary to u. s. (cid:523)satirical - in response to u. s.
