Americans viewed the 300,000 Chinese who came to mine for gold and work on the railroads during the Gold Rush, from 1850 to 1880, as the reason for U.S. unemployment and falling wages. What started as a threat to the economy became a conflict against the entire ethnic group which resulted in President Chester A. Arthur signing the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882, preventing Chinese laborers from coming to America and banning those who were here from becoming citizens. This unjust landmark law caused mass anti-Chinese agitation and unfair treatment for the race as a whole; there was no compromise until the law was repealed in 1943 when a quota of 105 Chinese was allowed per year. Large-scale immigration was not restored until the Immigration and Naturalization Act was passed in 1965 which eliminated the restrictions based on national origin, reuniting families and upholding civil rights not only for the Chinese American, but also opening the doors for immigrants from around the world to contribute to the U.S. economy.
Chinese immigrants are "uncivilized, unclean, and filthy beyond all conceptions, without any of the higher domestic or social relations."