Chinese Exclusion Act

The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 reversed the Burlingame Treaty of 1868 and excluded all but 105 Chinese immigrants per year to the United States for 10 years. The act was renewed in 1892 for another 10 years, and in 1902 with no terminal date. It was repealed in 1943 although large scale Chinese immigration did not occur until the passage of the Immigration Act of 1965.

The act was passed in response to the large number of Chinese who had immigrated to the Western United States as a result of unsettled conditions in China and the availability of jobs working on railroads.