Politician's Page

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And They Came to the StreetsThat Were Paved With Gold

Before you do anything, please click here to print out your answer sheet. It is this answer sheet that you will be sharing with your teammates.

Your first job is find out about the Foreign Miner's Tax.

Foreign Miner's Tax

Quotes from the diary of a tax collector

Your next job is to find out about the Chinese Exclusion Act.

Some background information for you:

After the Transcontinental Railroad was completed in 1869, thousands of Chinese railroad workers moved into the cities to look for work. They joined many of their fellow Chinese who were already working in the cities making boots, shoes, woolens, cigars, and tobacco, as well as those who were tailors. White workers viewed the Chinese as intelligent and competitive, and they began to worry that the Chinese were taking over jobs held by white workers.The anti-Chinese movement in California and in the United States in general became so strong that the United States government began to limit Chinese immigration. Bibliography

More information from the National Archives and Records Administration (hint: scroll down until you see Historical Background)

Chinese Exclusion Act text

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