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Primary Source Sets
Immigration through Angel Island
A 1901 letter from a Los Angeles banker asking US Secretary of State John Hay to reconsider a portion of the Chinese Exclusion Act.

A 1901 letter from a Los Angeles banker asking US Secretary of State John Hay to reconsider a portion of the Chinese Exclusion Act.

In this letter, Los Angeles banker John Alton writes to John Hay, Secretary of State under President William McKinley, who was visiting California. Alton asks Hay to reevaluate a part of the Chinese Exclusion Act that only allows the wealthiest immigrants to visit their home country. Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 in response to American anxiety about the growing number of Chinese immigrants in the United States. It targeted unskilled laborers for exclusion, allowing only merchants, diplomats, students, and other privileged classes to enter the country and visit their homes. While many white Americans feared Chinese immigrants would take their jobs, others benefitted from Chinese immigration by employing Chinese workers at low wages.

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Citation Information
Department of Commerce and Labor, Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization, “Letter from Banker John Alton to Secretary of State John Hay Regarding the Chinese Exclusion Act,” Digital Public Library of America, https://dp.la/item/44e97c13e71f6236d04e259e95724e2f.
Note: These citations are programmatically generated and may be incomplete.
Courtesy of National Archives and Records Administration.

Tips for Students

For this source, consider:

  • the author's point of view
  • the author's purpose
  • historical context
  • audience

Item 1 of 15 in the Primary Source Set Immigration through Angel Island

Next Item
A 1901 letter from a Los Angeles banker asking US Secretary of State John Hay to reconsider a portion of the Chinese Exclusion Act.
A letter from a Sing Fat & Company executive asking immigration officials to cancel sponsorship for two employees, 1905.
An excerpt from Angel Island: The Ellis Island of the West by Mary Bamford, 1917.
A photograph of immigrants arriving at Angel Island, 1939.
A photograph of young immigrants standing outside Angel Island’s hospital, 1923.
A photograph of an Angel Island dormitory room as it looked when the immigration station was in use, 2003.
A photograph of immigration officials interviewing an Angel Island detainee, 1923.
A photograph of a missionary conducting an English lesson for a group of immigrant women, 1933.
A photograph of a Chinese poem carved into an Angel Island dormitory wall by a detainee.
A photograph of the Lee family, including their “paper son,” in San Francisco, ca. 1920.
A photograph of the Angel Island administration building soon before the station’s closure, 1930s.
A photograph of the Angel Island administration building on fire, August 12, 1940.
A photograph of a note left by a Japanese prisoner of war held at Angel Island during World War II.
A poster advertising a San Francisco art gallery’s exhibition about the Chinese experience at Angel Island, 1976.
A photograph of a former Angel Island detainee returning with his family, 2003.

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