1882
Chinese Exclusion Act
Forty-Seventh Congress. Session I. 1882
Chapter 126.-An
act to execute certain treaty stipulations relating to Chinese.
Preamble.
- Whereas,
in the opinion of the Government of the United States the coming of
Chinese laborers to this country endangers the good order of certain
localities within the territory thereof: Therefore,
- Be
it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States of America in Congress assembled, That from and after the
expiration of ninety days next after the passage of this act, and until
the expiration of ten years next after the passage of this act, the
coming of Chinese laborers to the United States be, and the same is
hereby, suspended; and during such suspension it shall not be lawful
for any Chinese laborer to come, or, having so come after the expiration
of said ninety days, to remain within the United States.
- SEC. 2.
That the master of any vessel who shall knowingly bring within the United
States on such vessel, and land or permit to be landed, and Chinese
laborer, from any foreign port of place, shall be deemed guilty of a
misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine of
not more than five hundred dollars for each and every such Chinese laborer
so brought, and may be also imprisoned for a term not exceeding one
year.
- SEC. 3.
That the two foregoing sections shall not apply to Chinese laborers
who were in the United States on the seventeenth day of November, eighteen
hundred and eighty, or who shall have come into the same before the
expiration of ninety days next after the passage of this act, and who
shall produce to such master before going on board such vessel, and
shall produce to the collector of the port in the United States at which
such vessel shall arrive, the evidence hereinafter in this act required
of his being one of the laborers in this section mentioned; nor shall
the two foregoing sections apply to the case of any master whose vessel,
being bound to a port not within the United States by reason of being
in distress or in stress of weather, or touching at any port of the
United States on its voyage to any foreign port of place: Provided,
That all Chinese laborers brought on such vessel shall depart with the
vessel on leaving port.
- SEC. 4.
That for the purpose of properly indentifying Chinese laborers who were
in the United States on the seventeenth day of November, eighteen hundred
and eighty, or who shall have come into the same before the expiration
of ninety days next after the passage of this act, and in order to furnish
them with the proper evidence of their right to go from and come to
the United States of their free will and accord, as provided by the
treaty between the United States and China dated November seventeenth,
eighteen hundred and eighty, the collector of customs of the district
from which any such Chinese laborer shall depart from the United States
shall, in person or by deputy, go on board each vessel having on board
any such Chinese laborer and cleared or about to sail from his district
for a foreign port, and on such vessel make a list of all such Chinese
laborers, which shall be entered in registry-books to be kept for that
purpose, in which shall be stated the name, age, occupation, last place
of residence, physical marks or peculiarities, and all facts necessary
for the indentification of each of such Chinese laborers, which books
shall be safely kept in the custom-house; and every such Chinese laborer
so departing from the United States shall be entitled to, and shall
receive, free of any charge or cost upon application therefor, from
the collector or his deputy, at the time such list is taken, a certificate,
signed by the collector or his deputy and attested by his seal of office,
in such form as the Secretary of the Treasury shall prescribe, which
certificate shall contain a statement of the name, age, occupation,
last place of residence, personal description, and fact of identification
of the Chinese laborer to whom the certificate is issued, corresponding
with the said list and registry in all particulars. In case any Chinese
laborer after having received such certificate shall leave such vessel
before her departure he shall deliver his certificate to the master
of the vessel, and if such Chinese laborer shall fail to return to such
vessel before her departure from port the certificate shall be delivered
by the master to the collector of customs for cancellation. The certificate
herein provided for shall entitle the Chinese laborer to whom the same
is issued to return to and re-enter the United States upon producing
and delivering the same to the collector of customs of the district
at which such Chinese laborer shall seek to re-enter; and upon delivery
of such certificate by such Chinese laborer to the collector of customs
at the time of re-entry in the United States, said collector shall cause
the same to be filed in the custom house and duly canceled.
- SEC. 5.
That any Chinese laborer mentioned in section four of this act being
in the United States, and desiring to depart from the United States
by land, shall have the right to demand and receive, free of charge
or cost, a certificate of indentification similar to that provided for
in section four of this act to be issued to such Chinese laborers as
may desire to leave the United States by water; and it is hereby made
the duty of the collector of customs of the district next adjoining
the foreign country to which said Chinese laborer desires to go to issue
such certificate, free of charge or cost, upon application by such Chinese
laborer, and to enter the same upon registry-books to be kept by him
for the purpose, as provided for in section four of this act.
- SEC. 6.
That in order to the faithful execution of articles one and two of the
treaty in this act before mentioned, every Chinese person other than
a laborer who may be entitled by said treaty and this act to come within
the United States, and who shall be about to come to the United States,
shall be identified as so entitled by the Chinese Government in each
case, such identity to be evidenced by a certificate issued under the
authority of said government, which certificate shall be in the English
language or (if not in the English language) accompanied by a translation
into English, stating such right to come, and which certificate shall
state the name, title, or official rank, if any, the age, height, and
all physical peculiarities, former and present occupation or profession,
and place of residence in China of the person to whom the certificate
is issued and that such person is entitled conformably to the treaty
in this act mentioned to come within the United States. Such certificate
shall be prima-facie evidence of the fact set forth therein, and shall
be produced to the collector of customs, or his deputy, of the port
in the district in the United States at which the person named therein
shall arrive.
- SEC. 7.
That any person who shall knowingly and falsely alter or substitute
any name for the name written in such certificate or forge any such
certificate, or knowingly utter any forged or fraudulent certificate,
or falsely personate any person named in any such certificate, shall
be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor; and upon conviction thereof shall
be fined in a sum not exceeding one thousand dollars, an imprisoned
in a penitentiary for a term of not more than five years.
- SEC. 8.
That the master of any vessel arriving in the United States from any
foreign port or place shall, at the same time he delivers a manifest
of the cargo, and if there be no cargo, then at the time of making a
report of the entry of vessel pursuant to the law, in addition to the
other matter required to be reported, and before landing, or permitting
to land, any Chinese passengers, deliver and report to the collector
of customs of the district in which such vessels shall have arrived
a separate list of all Chinese passengers taken on board his vessel
at any foreign port or place, and all such passengers on board the vessel
at that time. Such list shall show the names of such passengers (and
if accredited officers of the Chinese Government traveling on the business
of that government, or their servants, with a note of such facts), and
the name and other particulars, as shown by their respective certificates;
and such list shall be sworn to by the master in the manner required
by law in relation to the manifest of the cargo. Any willful refusal
or neglect of any such master to comply with the provisions of this
section shall incur the same penalties and forfeiture as are provided
for a refusal or neglect to report and deliver a manifest of cargo.
- SEC. 9.
That before any Chinese passengers are landed from any such vessel,
the collector, or his deputy, shall proceed to examine such passengers,
comparing the certificates with the list and with the passengers; and
no passenger shall be allowed to land in the United States from such
vessel in violation of law.
- SEC. 10.
That every vessel whose master shall knowingly violate any of the provisions
of this act shall be deemed forfeited to the United States, and shall
be liable to seizure and condemnation on any district of the United
States into which such vessel may enter or in which she may be found.
- SEC. 11.
That any person who shall knowingly bring into or cause to be brought
into the United States by land, or who shall knowingly aid or abet the
same, or aid or abet the landing in the United States from any vessel
of any Chinese person not lawfully entitled to enter the United States,
shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall, on conviction thereof,
be fined in a sum not exceeding one thousand dollars, and imprisoned
for a term not exceeding one year.
- SEC. 12.
That no Chinese person shall be permitted to enter the United States
by land without producing to the proper officer of customs the certificate
in this act required of Chinese persons seeking to land from a vessel.
And any Chinese person found unlawfully within the United States shall
be caused to be removed therefrom to the country from whence he came,
by direction of the United States, after being brought before some justice,
judge, or commissioner of a court of the United States and found to
be one not lawfully entitled to be or remain in the United States.
- SEC. 13.
That this act shall not apply to diplomatic and other officers of the
Chinese Government traveling upon the business of that government, whose
credentials shall be taken as equivalent to the certificate in this
act mentioned, and shall exempt them and their body and household servants
from the provisions of this act as to other Chinese persons.
- SEC. 14.
That hereafter no State court or court of the United States shall admit
Chinese to citizenship; and all laws in conflict with this act are hereby
repealed.
- SEC. 15.
That the words "Chinese laborers", whenever used in this act, shall
be construed to mean both skilled and unskilled laborers and Chinese
employed in mining.
Approved, May 6, 1882.
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