Elite Opinion on Chinese Immigrants during the 19th Century in California

• In Event: Governing AAPI People Through Immigration

Abstract

This study examines the nature and distribution of elite opinion on Chinese immigrants during the 19th century in California. Specifically, it focuses on political elite opinion in California as they played a major role in shaping public opinion, enacting anti-Chinese laws at the state level, and furthering their agenda at national level. Combined with other anti-Chinese movements during this time period, political elites’ efforts to exclude Chinese immigrants resulted in the enactment of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 which was extended in 1892 and made permanent in 1902. While the laws were passed at the national level, California as a state played a central role in their enactment. Thus, it is important to understand the characteristics, sources, and changes in political elite opinion in California, which played a critical role in pushing an anti-Chinese immigrant agenda and obtaining the goal of Chinese exclusion at the national level.

Three sets of questions are pursued in this study regarding the nature of elite opinion on Chinese immigrants during this time period. The first set of questions is related to the nature and distribution of elite opinion on Chinese immigrants. What are the characteristics of elite opinion on Chinese immigrants? Did the elites have negative attitudes toward them from the beginning? Or did they change their attitudes over time? The second set of questions is about the sources of elite opinion on Chinese immigrants. If the elites maintain their negative (or positive) opinion on them, what are the main reasons behind their negative opinion toward Chinese immigrants? The existing theories on the sources of public opinion suggest potential sources: political predispositions (e.g., partisanship, ideology, and racial prejudice) and instrumental thinking (e.g., competition in job markets or economic benefits from trade and cheap labor). These sources will be tested. The third set of questions is related to whether elite opinion on Chinese immigrants changed or not; if elite opinion changed, how did the changes happen, what was the pattern of changes over time, and did different sources of elite opinion on Chinese immigrants become prominent over time due to changed political and economic contexts?

For the analysis of elite opinion on Chinese immigrants, state representatives’ debates and Governors’ addresses in the California State Assembly during this period (1849-1903) will be used. The primary materials of these debates can be obtained from the historical archive of California State Assembly journals, which include records of both the Senate and the House. As the volume of the text data is very large (e.g., each year’s journal has about 1500 pages for each chamber), the data can contribute to enhancing our understanding of the contours of elite opinion on Chinese immigrants. For the analysis of the text data, both automated text analysis and traditional text analysis will be used.

Author

• Dukhong Kim, Florida Atlantic University