The first Chinese entered California in 1848, and within a few years, thousands more came, lured by the promise of Gam Sann or “Gold Mountain”. Soon, discriminatory legislation forced them out of the gold fields and into low-paying, menial jobs. They laid tracks for the Central Pacific Railroad, reclaimed swamp land in the Sacramento delta, developed shrimp and abalone fisheries, and provided cheap labor wherever there was work no other group wanted or needed.
During the 1870s, an economic downturn resulted in serious unemployment problems and led to politically motivated outcries against immigrants who would work for low wages. In reaction to states starting to pass immigration laws, the federal government asserted its authority to control immigration and passed the first immigration law in 1882. The Exclusion Acts, a series of restrictive laws prohibiting immigration, specifically targeted Chinese immigrants. Subsequent immigration laws were eventually consolidated under the Immigration Act of 1924, effecting certain nationalities and social classes of Asian immigrants.
Surrounded by public controversy from its inception, the station was finally put into operation in 1910. Immigrants arrived from approximately 84 different countries, with Chinese immigrants constituting the single largest ethnic group entering at San Francisco until 1915, when Japanese outnumbered the Chinese for the first time. Widely known as the “Ellis Island of the West” the station differed from Ellis Island in one important respect – the majority of immigrants processed on Angel Island were from Asian countries, specifically China, Japan, Russia and South Asia (in that order). Dubbed as the “Guardian of the Western Gate,” by its staff, this facility was built to help keep Chinese and eventually other Asian immigrants out of the country
Adam Smith proposed a new and broader view of wealth. ... Smith had not been one to let religious attitude restrict his thinking. He believed that more wealth to common people would benefit a nation's economy and society as a whole.
A skilled military tactician, he served as a Confederate general under Robert E. Lee in the American Civil War, leading troops at Manassas, Antietam and Fredericksburg. He is remembered today for being a brilliant strategist (his war strategies & tactics are still studied today) and he was one of very few people that were aligned with the Confederacy to hold sympathy for African American slaves. He actually taught Sunday school classes to many slaves, despite this being a direct violation of Virginia law at the time. He was a very respected and feared lieutenant general in the Confederate army and led his troops to various victories against Union armies during the Civil War.
In conclusion, both philosophically and actually, the founding fathers were representative of the Enlightenment and the Age of Reason. While it maybe said that our Founding Fathers "did not turn to the Bible," they were influenced by its contents
