Historical Letter: Letter from Banker John Alton to Secretary of State John Hay Regarding the Chinese Exclusion Act

Chinese Exclusion Act

Historical Letter: Letter from Banker John Alton to Secretary of State John Hay Regarding the Chinese Exclusion Act

05/14/1901

Historical Letter

DocsTeach features a 1901 letter from the banker John Alton of the Farmers and Merchants Bank of Los Angeles to Secretary of State John Hay about the issue of readmitting Chinese immigrants back into the United States within one year of departure. According to John Alton, allowing Chinese residents of the United States to be readmitted after they make a trip to China “would not conflict with existing laws as to increasing the number of Chinese persons in the country.” The source features the original typed letter and a brief description that provides contextualization.

View Source Here

DocsTeach

Rights Statement: Project Reconstruction curates links to primary and secondary sources from a wide variety of digital newspapers, museums, libraries, universities, historical societies and other governmental and nongovernmental websites. Use of said content is solely at your own risk. Consult each source’s original publisher for all rights and terms of use associated with their content.

Insensitive Language/Images: Some sources may include insensitive language or images that were created just before, during or after the Reconstruction Era. We try our best to include advisory “notes” in the description section of each source to inform site visitors about potentially insensitive material.

Fairness & Accuracy Statement: We strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that seems inaccurate or doesn't look right, please contact us.