Lawful Extremism: Chinese Exclusion Act

Abstract:

Was the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 extremist? The first paper in the “Lawful Extremism” series considered whether the 1856 Dred Scott decision that denied Black people citizenship and constitutional rights functioned as an extremist ideological text. This paper uses the same framework to examine the Chinese Exclusion era, covering roughly 1870-1943, and the anti-Chinese movement that traveled from the fringes to the mainstream, becoming the driving force behind the enaction of the Act. Focusing on congressional records supporting the enaction of Chinese exclusion, we consider whether they articulate an extremist system of meaning. We then analyze characteristics of the anti-Chinese movement as an extremist ideology in the process of taking power and conclude by considering how the lawful extremism framework can inform analyses of modern anti-immigration movements.

To Cite: Daviess, Beth, and Berger, J.M. “Lawful Extremism: The Chinese Exclusion Act.” Center on Terrorism, Extremism and Counterterrorism, Middlebury Institute of International Studies. Occasional paper. May 2024.