The Page Act: How America Banned Chinese Women

INTRO

Hey everyone. Welcome back. In 1875, the United States Congress passed what appeared on the surface to be an innocuous bill aimed at protecting women. Known today as the Page Act, the bill stated partially that quote “The importation into the United States of women for the purpose of prostitution is hereby forbidden’ and all contracts and agreements in relation thereto, made in advance or in pursuance of such illegal importation and purposes, are hereby declared void; and whoever shall knowingly and willfully import, or cause any importation of, women in the United States for the purposes of prostitution, or shall knowingly or willfully hold, or attempt to hold any woman to such purposes, in pursuance of such illegal importation and contract or agreement, shall be deemed guilty of a felony,” end quote. 

But what if I told you that the bill had far reaching implications and that its true intent was anything but protective? 

When learning about restrictive immigration policy in the United States, most think about the Chinese Exclusion Act. Passed in 1882, the law established a ten year ban on Chinese laborers immigrating into the country and it is often listed as the first law to restrict immigration into the United States. Yet, almost a decade before President Chester A. Arthur signed the Chinese Exclusion Act, the Page Act would serve as a barrier to Chinese women looking to enter the country. So why doesn’t the Page Act get more ink? 

This week I am diving into the history of Page Act. What was it? What prompted the bill? And how did it target Chinese women? 

Grab your cup of coffee, peeps. Let’s do this. 

The story behind the Page Act does not start with its passage in 1875, but - as is true with so much of history - our story begins decades before. The discovery of gold in the California territory in 1849 served as a beacon for thousands hoping to strike it rich. As Americans made the dangerous journey west, others came from overseas - namely, China - to take their chance at mining in the waterways of California. Almost immediately, white laborers came to resent their Chinese co-workers, believing their presence only served to undercut wages and take jobs away from hardworking, native-born men. This resentment continued to build and occasionally escalated to spurts of violent acts against the Chinese. There was little recourse available for Chinese immigrants who would be hard pressed to find sympathetic ears with local law enforcement or politicians. Despite the harassment and sometimes-dangerous working conditions, Chinese laborers continued to pour into the west coast and by 1860 there were over 35,000 Chinese living in the United States. 

Most of the Chinese living in the country were concentrated in California and state legislators made several attempts to limit Chinese immigration including in 1858 when they passed “An Act to Prevent Further Immigration of Chinese or Mongolians to This State.” The law was challenged immediately and determined unconstitutional, but oddly remained on the books in California until 1955. Despite California politicians' best efforts, the population of Chinese immigrants grew after the signing of the Burlingame-Seward (Sue word) Treaty in 1868. Building on a treaty signed at the close of the second opium wars a decade prior, the Burlingame-Seward Treaty established, among other things, the right of Chinese citizens to immigrate to the United States.

Although they had the right to come into the country, it was clear that they were not welcome. Anti-Chinese sentiment continued to grow and Chinese migrants faced accusations that they were economically corrupting society by offering cheap labor. Some politicians helped fuel Anti-Asian sentiment by falsely claiming that Chinese people spread germs they had immunity to that could make whites sick. Denis Kearney, founder of the California Workingman’s Party, dealt heavily in anti-Chinese propaganda, calling Chinese the tools of wealthy capitalists who were in a conspiracy to undercut and eliminate the white working class laborers. Kearney was also famous for ending every speech with the claim that quote, “whatever happens, the chinese must go,” end quote. There were constant calls to enact immigration reforms in order to protect the quote unquote caucasian race of California. 

Critics also portrayed the Chinese as morally bankrupt, pointing to the prostitution rings prevalent throughout Chinatowns. These criticisms, of course, neglected to extend to the business owners who fired white laborers and replaced them with cheaper Chinese labor and those critical of the brothels failed to recognize that prostitution was still legal as an occupation in California. In response to ongoing anti-Chinese sentiment, the California legislature passed a series of laws aimed at limiting Chinese immigration and curtailing their ability to earn a living. These laws included everything from limiting what occupations Chinese immigrants could work in and establishing laws requiring securing licenses and paying fees in order to work. In 1870, the California statehouse passed yet another bill, this time aimed at women from East Asia. The bill required that any woman entering the state had to show sufficient evidence that they were of a high moral standard and were not traveling under threat or force. Specifically, the law aimed to weed out the importation of prostitutes which California residents and politicians believed most Chinese women to be. 

Just like in 1858, the bill was challenged when more than twenty women were detained and denied entry to California under the belief that they were secretly prostitutes. A suit was filed challenging the law, stating that it violated the Burlingame Treaty and that as a state, California had no authority in passing immigration legislation as that authority belonged to Congress. When the case landed in the state supreme court, the justices sided with the women finding that the California law was unconstitutional. In writing his opinion, Justice Stephen Field wrote partially quote, “if their further immigration is to be stopped recourse must be had to the federal government, where the whole power over this subject lies,” end quote. At least one California politician, Horace Page, took note. 

Horace Page was born in 1833 in New York and moved to California in 1853 where he set up a legal practice. He unsuccessfully ran for state senate in 1869, before winning election to the federal house of representatives in 1872. Page held deeply racist beliefs about Chinese immigrants, saying at one point quote, “the Chinese are constitutionally and by race an inferior people to any of the nations of Europe,” end quote. Page made it his life’s work to ban Chinese immigration, offering several proposals while sitting in the house, none of which made it out of committee. Debates over Chinese immigration and what rights they were due arose during the arguments over the fifteenth amendment when Congress was trying to determine just who would get access to the franchise. In 1870, when it was questioned whether Chinese immigrants should be eligible for citizenship, Nevada Representative William Morris Stewart asked his colleagues on the floor quote, “Do you want to have the Chinese slaughtered on the Pacific coast?” end quote. In his plea, Stewart argued that if the Chinese were granted the right to citizenship, the local governments out west would be quote “overpowered by the mob element that seeks to exterminate the Chinese," end quote. 

So when the California Supreme Court determined that the authority to control and limit immigration fell to Congress, Horace Page knew it was time to act. Using questionable evidence to support his case, including affidavits that claimed that 9 out of every 10 Chinese women in San Francisco were prostitutes, Page introduced yet another bill aimed at regulating the immigration of quote-unquote undesirables. Page argued that the Anti-Chinese movement in the west had been incredibly peaceful, but that their patience was wearing thin and that it was incumbent upon Congress to finally act. 

In February 1875, Page introduced the bill he hoped would finally make it out of committee. Titled an act supplementary to the acts in relation to immigration, the bill required that anyone from Japan, China or quote-unquote any other Oriental country hoping to immigrate to the United States had to demonstrate that they were doing so of their own free will and were not seeking entry for quote unquote lewd purposes. The bill sought to achieve three main goals: restrict immigration for any convicted criminal who had not yet completed their sentence, prevent women from entering the country for the purposes of prostitution, and making it illegal for any United States citizen to bring migrants from Asia for forced labor. The law put the onus on immigration consuls living overseas to evaluate and determine whether an Asian woman was being trafficked and while they were not called out specifically in the text, the resulting administration of the law would target Chinese women. In making the case for his legislation, Page claimed that China was intentionally sending sex workers and therefore were in violation of the previously established Burlingame Treaty. Page stated his intent was to quote “send the brazen harlot who openly flaunts her wickedness in the faces of our wives and daughters back to their native country,” end quote. 

Page’s proposal made it out of committee and landed on President Grant’s desk on March 3, 1875 which he signed without comment. However, Grant hinted that he believed the pervasive stereotypes about Chinese women and would be willing to support regulations to protect them, writing in his annual message to Congress in 1874 quote “Hardly a perceptible percentage of them perform any honorable labor, but they are brought for shameful purposes, to the disgrace of the communities where settled and to the great demoralization of the youth of those localities. If this evil practice can be legislated against, it will be my pleasure as well as duty to enforce any regulation to secure so desirable an end,” end quote. In Grant’s opinion, Congress needed to act to stem the tide of individuals imported for involuntary servitude and prostitution. Grant wasn’t completely wrong in his assessment of the situation. Although it was greatly exaggerated to help fan the flames of Anti-Chinese sentiment, there were several brothels in Chinatowns throughout the west coast and prostitution was overseen by Chinese Secret Societies known as tongs. These tongs did engage in questionable practices, hiring people to kidnap women and bring them to the United States to serve as prostitutes. So while Grant was correct in that there was an issue, it seems as if he and Congress sought to punish the victims instead of those who engaged in human trafficking. 

The law instituted a $2,000 fine and a maximum jail sentence of one year for anyone convicted of violating it. The legislation also vested the immigration officials living overseas with the authority to interrogate any Asian individual seeking entry to the United States. Between the bills passage in 1875 and the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882, three men served as American consuls overseas, each taking great pains to enforce the Page Act to the fullest extent possible. They questioned all but the wives of upper class Chinese immigrants about their intentions for immigrating to the United States. If they were not satisfied with the responses provided, they had the authority to deny their request to immigrate. And even if they made it past the American consuls overseas, Chinese women were still at risk for deportation upon landing in California if they were unable to successfully convince the agent in charge that they were not attempting to enter the country for quote unquote lewd and immoral purposes. 

As a result of the bill, the number of Chinese women entering the United States between 1876 and 1882 dropped 68% from the prior 7 year period. The number of women immigrating to the United States, always smaller than men, plummeted. Given the low wages and high cost associated with traveling to the United States, Chinese men could rarely afford to bring their wives and children to America which prevented many of them from attempting to set up permanent living situations. According to the 1880 census, there were just 4,779 Chinese women in the country, representing just 4.5% of the total Chinese population. And in 1882, between the passage of the Exclusion Act and its enactment, some 39,579 Chinese entered the country, but only 136 were women. In essence, the Page Act was successful in its aim at all but eliminating Chinese women from immigrating to the United States.

Despite successfully limiting the number of women coming into the country, the Page Act failed to address the main issue of Chinese laborers migrating to the United States and whites continued to blame the oversupply of Chinese as the reason for ongoing depressed wages and limited job opportunities. Anti-Asian sentiment continued to flourish in the United States, culminating in 1882 with the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act which established an outright ban on Chinese migration. 

The Page Act remained on the books until 1974 and in 2011, the United States Senate passed Resolution 201 expressing their regret for passing discriminatory immigration laws including the Page Act and reaffirming their commitment to preserving the civil rights of Chinese and other Asian immigrants entering the country. 

So why isn’t the Page Act listed as the first immigration law aimed at banning a specific population? It is likely because when looking at the text of the bill, there is no singular exclusion based on race. While the bill names individuals coming from China and other asian countries, it doesn’t list their race as reason for denying entry. Instead, the bill focused on trying to prevent human trafficking. That all changed in 1882 when Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act specifically suspending the importation of Chinese laborers into the country. 

A law used to discriminate against Chinese women hoping to enter the United States, the Page Act curbed the ability of Chinese migrants to establish a family unit in the country and made it all the more difficult for Chinese immigrants to attempt assimilation, blunting their hopes for establishing a stable community. The Page Act wasn’t just a law; it was a message. It declared who was welcome in America and who was not, using morality as a mask for racism and exclusion. By targeting Chinese women, it laid the groundwork for a broader system of discriminatory immigration policies that would follow. Its legacy is a reminder that immigration laws are never just about borders. They often reflect a nation’s fears, values, and its deepest prejudices. Understanding the Page Act means confronting how the U.S. has struggled—and still struggles—to live up to its ideals of opportunity and equality for all.

Thanks, peeps. I will see you next week.

OUTRO