In the 1850s, Chinese workers migrated to the United States, first to work in the gold mines, but also to take agricultural jobs, and factory work, especially in the garment industry. Chinese immigrants were particularly instrumental in building railroads in the American west, and as Chinese laborers grew successful in the United States, a number of them became entrepreneurs in their own right. As the numbers of Chinese laborers increased, so did the strength of anti-Chinese sentiment among other workers in the American economy. This finally resulted in legislation that aimed to limit future immigration of Chinese workers to the United States, and threatened to sour diplomatic relations between the United States and China.
Chinese immigrants first flocked to the United States in the 1850s, eager to escape the economic chaos in China and to try their luck at the California gold rush. When the Gold Rush ended, Chinese Americans were considered cheap labor. They easily found employment as farmhands, gardeners, domestics, laundry workers, and most famously, railroad workers. In the 1860s, it was the Chinese Americans who built the Transcontinental Railroad.
1. What event in California in the 1850s first attracted Chinese immigrants?
2. Why did anti-Chinese feelings grow in the United States?
3. What important transportation development did Chinese immigrants play a major role in constructing?
1. The California gold rush in the 1850s first attracted Chinese immigrants to the United States.
2. Anti-Chinese feelings grew in the United States as the numbers of Chinese laborers increased, and they began to take jobs from American workers. Additionally, cultural and language differences contributed to a lack of understanding and acceptance of Chinese immigrants.
3. Chinese immigrants played a major role in constructing the Transcontinental Railroad in the United States in the 1860s.