Changes

In 1875, Congress passed the Page Act. The Page Act signaled a shift in American immigration policy. Rather than define who could come in to the United States, this act sought to define who could not come to the United States. The Page Act—often neglected in the study of American immigration laws—was, in many ways, a precursor to the more frequently studied Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. After the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad, anti-Chinese hostility rose throughout the U.S. but became much more visible in the West Coast. Chinese laborers, who had been instrumental to the completion of the rail, were now seen as foreign competition for scarce jobs.

The Page Act prevented the immigration of anyone from “China, Japan, or any Oriental country” who was coming into the United States for contract labor. It also sought to ban single women from these countries from entering the United States because it was feared these women were entering the U.S. for immoral purposes (like prostitution). The Act, therefore, was justified as something to protect American families and homes by eliminating coolie labor competition (thereby protecting an American standard of living) and preventing prostitutes from seducing American men and introducing foreign diseases to the nation.