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Seattle riot of 1886
The Seattle riot of 1886 occurred on February 6–9, 1886, in Seattle, Washington, amidst rising anti-Chinese sentiment caused by labor competition in the Western United States. The dispute arose when a mob affiliated with a local Knights of Labor chapter formed small committees to carry out a forcible expulsion of all Chinese from the city. Violence erupted between the Knights of Labor rioters and federal troops ordered in by President Grover Cleveland. The incident resulted in the removal of over 200 Chinese civilians from Seattle and left two militia men and five rioters seriously injured, with one later dying from his injuries.
During the 1840s, the California Gold Rush brought many Chinese people to the United States. Many had come in the hopes of improving their economic conditions, and their arrival was initially welcomed due to labor shortages. [citation needed] According to information from the U.S. Census, the Chinese population increased at a dramatic pace until 1890, though they never accounted for more than 0.2 percent of the U.S. population through the 1800s.
After the Gold Rush, many Chinese people moved into the northwest territories of Oregon, Washington, and Montana in search of work, especially with the new mining opportunities and railroad expansion. Chinese workers developed a reputation for being efficient and were subjected to longer hours and lower wages than White workers despite strike efforts. White-owned companies recruited Chinese workers to undercut higher-paid White workers, which increased anti-Asian sentiment.
Violent outbreaks against Chinese people in America occurred as early as the 1860s and continued to intensify in the 1870s, especially in California. Corporations continued to flood the labor market with Chinese workers. With work in short supply, unions and the White European immigrants who constituted these organizations felt angered and threatened by the Chinese work force. Unions such as the Knights of Labor and the American Federation of Labor supported legislation that limited or excluded Chinese immigration. By the mid-1880s, a wave of anti-Chinese violence grew and spread into the Pacific Northwest.
Rock Springs was just the first outbreak of many in the West of anti-Chinese violence. It occurred in Rock Springs, in the Wyoming Territory. In the 1870s, the Union Pacific coal mines began firing white strikers and replacing its previously all-white work force with cheaper Chinese laborers. The incident occurred on September 2, 1885. Fighting broke out in the mines between white and Chinese laborers. A mob destroyed and set aflame many Chinese homes, causing an estimated $140,000 of damage, killing 28, injuring 14, and sending the remaining immigrants fleeing into the surrounding area. Later, Governor Francis Warren telegraphed President Cleveland requesting federal military assistance, due to a report that had surfaced that the Chinese, who had fled the town earlier, had now regrouped in nearby Evanston and had armed themselves.
The Chinese and anti-Chinese mobs were set to meet, which prompted the commitment of federal troops to Rock Springs. The soldiers were not under orders to protect the Union Pacific Railroad or to protect the Chinese, as required by the Burlingame Treaty of 1868 with China. Officially, troops were deployed to Rock Springs to "prevent any disruption to the United States mail or the routes over which they are received."
Eventually, diplomatic pressure from the Burlingame Treaty prompted President Cleveland to issue a new order to protect Chinese laborers "at points of threatened or actual violence" now that troops had been committed. The Chinese were then led by four companies of federal troops into the town without incident. This set a precedent for sending federal troops to protect the Chinese immigrants from frequent violence in the area, though the Cleveland administration evaded responsibility for the incident. It also set a precedent because not a single rioter was punished. They did pay a sum of $150,000 to the Chinese government, though never to the immigrants themselves. Federal forces remained in the area for another 14 years after the massacre, and, for the most part, union influence disappeared in the wake of the riot.
Tensions in Seattle continued to rise when the Chinese laborers shifted from mining and railroad construction to urban labor. Many whites felt as though the Chinese were driving them from the labor force by agreeing to work for less. They saw the Chinese as racially inferior "semislaves" who were unable to assimilate into the American way of life. Some argued that the hiring of Chinese workers would only serve to lower the standard of living for the average American working man in the West, who would be forced to accept lower wages to compete. Others asserted that the Chinese workers were stripping America of her wealth because many immigrants sent paychecks back to their families in China.
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Seattle riot of 1886
The Seattle riot of 1886 occurred on February 6–9, 1886, in Seattle, Washington, amidst rising anti-Chinese sentiment caused by labor competition in the Western United States. The dispute arose when a mob affiliated with a local Knights of Labor chapter formed small committees to carry out a forcible expulsion of all Chinese from the city. Violence erupted between the Knights of Labor rioters and federal troops ordered in by President Grover Cleveland. The incident resulted in the removal of over 200 Chinese civilians from Seattle and left two militia men and five rioters seriously injured, with one later dying from his injuries.
During the 1840s, the California Gold Rush brought many Chinese people to the United States. Many had come in the hopes of improving their economic conditions, and their arrival was initially welcomed due to labor shortages. [citation needed] According to information from the U.S. Census, the Chinese population increased at a dramatic pace until 1890, though they never accounted for more than 0.2 percent of the U.S. population through the 1800s.
After the Gold Rush, many Chinese people moved into the northwest territories of Oregon, Washington, and Montana in search of work, especially with the new mining opportunities and railroad expansion. Chinese workers developed a reputation for being efficient and were subjected to longer hours and lower wages than White workers despite strike efforts. White-owned companies recruited Chinese workers to undercut higher-paid White workers, which increased anti-Asian sentiment.
Violent outbreaks against Chinese people in America occurred as early as the 1860s and continued to intensify in the 1870s, especially in California. Corporations continued to flood the labor market with Chinese workers. With work in short supply, unions and the White European immigrants who constituted these organizations felt angered and threatened by the Chinese work force. Unions such as the Knights of Labor and the American Federation of Labor supported legislation that limited or excluded Chinese immigration. By the mid-1880s, a wave of anti-Chinese violence grew and spread into the Pacific Northwest.
Rock Springs was just the first outbreak of many in the West of anti-Chinese violence. It occurred in Rock Springs, in the Wyoming Territory. In the 1870s, the Union Pacific coal mines began firing white strikers and replacing its previously all-white work force with cheaper Chinese laborers. The incident occurred on September 2, 1885. Fighting broke out in the mines between white and Chinese laborers. A mob destroyed and set aflame many Chinese homes, causing an estimated $140,000 of damage, killing 28, injuring 14, and sending the remaining immigrants fleeing into the surrounding area. Later, Governor Francis Warren telegraphed President Cleveland requesting federal military assistance, due to a report that had surfaced that the Chinese, who had fled the town earlier, had now regrouped in nearby Evanston and had armed themselves.
The Chinese and anti-Chinese mobs were set to meet, which prompted the commitment of federal troops to Rock Springs. The soldiers were not under orders to protect the Union Pacific Railroad or to protect the Chinese, as required by the Burlingame Treaty of 1868 with China. Officially, troops were deployed to Rock Springs to "prevent any disruption to the United States mail or the routes over which they are received."
Eventually, diplomatic pressure from the Burlingame Treaty prompted President Cleveland to issue a new order to protect Chinese laborers "at points of threatened or actual violence" now that troops had been committed. The Chinese were then led by four companies of federal troops into the town without incident. This set a precedent for sending federal troops to protect the Chinese immigrants from frequent violence in the area, though the Cleveland administration evaded responsibility for the incident. It also set a precedent because not a single rioter was punished. They did pay a sum of $150,000 to the Chinese government, though never to the immigrants themselves. Federal forces remained in the area for another 14 years after the massacre, and, for the most part, union influence disappeared in the wake of the riot.
Tensions in Seattle continued to rise when the Chinese laborers shifted from mining and railroad construction to urban labor. Many whites felt as though the Chinese were driving them from the labor force by agreeing to work for less. They saw the Chinese as racially inferior "semislaves" who were unable to assimilate into the American way of life. Some argued that the hiring of Chinese workers would only serve to lower the standard of living for the average American working man in the West, who would be forced to accept lower wages to compete. Others asserted that the Chinese workers were stripping America of her wealth because many immigrants sent paychecks back to their families in China.