what was the economic impact of the chinese exclusion act
The Chinese Exclusion Act was the first major law restricting immigration to the United States. It was enacted in response to economic fears, especially on the West Coast, where native-born Americans attributed unemployment and declining wages to Chinese workers whom they also viewed as racially inferior. PBS Online. 2  New Perspectives on the West: Text of the Chinese Exclusion Act. 3  University of California Berkley, California Historical Society, Bancroft Library, and the Ethnic Studies Library. 4  The Chinese in California, 1850â1925.