Scott Act
The Scott Act (German: Scott Law ) was a US federal law passed in 1888 that stipulated that Chinese migrants, even if they had previously entered the US legally, were not allowed to re-enter after leaving American territory.
Background and story
The law supplemented the provisions of the Chinese Exclusion Act , passed in 1880 , which provided the legal basis for preventing new Chinese immigrants from entering the United States. With the Scott Act, the American borders were also closed for Chinese people who had immigrated before these laws came into force: as soon as they left the USA, for example to visit China, they were not allowed to re-enter. Before the regulation came into force, the authorities had issued so-called exit visas on request , which enabled Chinese people to return to the USA without any problems. This possibility no longer existed.
The Scott Act, an initiative of MP William Lawrence Scott , was signed by US President Cleveland on October 1, 1888 , after the State Department's attempt to isolate the USA from China bilaterally , i.e. by means of an international treaty ( Bayard-Zhang Treaty ) had proven problematic.
While the Chinese government did not recognize the law, its adoption in California , the US state with the highest Chinese population, was celebrated by the population of European descent with mass demonstrations. The number of Sino-American migrants who were outside the American borders at the time was approximately 20,000. They weren't allowed to re-enter.
The law also affected thousands of Chinese-American fishermen who could no longer leave the 3-mile zone off the American west coast with their fishing boats and had to give up their business as a result.
See also
- United States history
- History of the Chinese in Hawaii
- Chronology of the Racial Laws of the United States
- Sino-Americans