Chinese immigration to America

Chinese immigration to the United States was generally frowned upon due to the hard economic times during the 1870s. This led many people, mostly other immigrants and European Americans to compete for jobs traditionally reserved for the Chinese. This caused many people to have a dislike for the Chinese. This led to violence towards the Chinese eventually leading up to the Chinese Exclusion Act. Back then, the Chinese immigrants were extremely hardworking and dutifully obeyed their employers. They could adapt to any situation really well and made for very good house servants. Most of the upper class citizens respected the Chinese, as Mark Twain said, only the scum of the population dislike the Chinese. In spite of the hate towards the Chinese, the Chinese still wanted to live in the United States, a representative Chinamen in America sent a memorial to the then President of the United States, Ulysses S. Grant. In the memorial, the representative of the Chinamen gave a list of all the reasons why they should not be oppressed against, some of those reasons included, the Chinese not being the only group of immigrants in the United States and that the Chinese have been peaceful, law abiding and industrious. It was found that "intelligent men" saw the beneficial results of the Chinese labors as railroad builders, as miners, as gardeners, as agriculturists, and as assistants in manufacturing establishments. Many people were also in favor of them being employed in any of those jobs, with most of them agreeing that without their help, the natural wealth of California could not have reached its present development in a quarter of a century. R.W. Waymond, a United States Commissioner on mining statistics, etc, in an official report stated that the Chinese, while just as skilled as other immigrant miners, were more faithful than the other miners, thus, giving them an edge over other miners.