Question

If this document were your only piece of evidence, how would you answer the question: 'Why did Americans pass the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act?'​

Answer 1

Democrats were mostly Southern farmers and laborers. Those that moved to the west or labored in the west found it harder to get jobs because of Chinese laborers who would work for a lower wage. The North were more industrialized so they didn’t have to worry as much about losing their jobs to Chinese laborers. Also, during this time, Southern Democrats were still more openly racist than Northern Republicans, so pure racism may have played a role as well. The key here is to point out that the evidence was made by Democrats, so Americans passed the Exclusion Act mostly by Democratic concerns and beliefs.