The “Gentlemen’s
Agreement”
Chinese immigration
 Itinerant workers
 The “yellow peril”
 Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882
Japanese immigration-reasons
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Meiji Era (1868-1912)
political
economic
social changes
The passage
 Labor contractors
 Steamers
Work
 Groups (lower wage)
 Mining, agriculture, railroads
The “yellow peril”
 Social attitudes toward Asians, esp. on
the West Coast.
 Driving down wages, buying “prime” land,
populating
Calls to stop immigration
 The Sons of the Golden West, the AntiAsiatic League, American Legion
 Hostility toward “picture brides” and calls
to ban Japanese, cir. 1905.
Japan in the world
 Industrialization
 Sino-Japanese War 1895
 Russo-Japanese War 1905
Teddy Roosevelt
 Fear of armed conflict
(Former assistant Secretary of Navy)
 Economic incentives
(“Open Door” Policy in China)
 Personal affinity
Annoyed with California
They cannot behave worse than the State of California,
through its Legislature, is now behaving toward the
Japanese . . . . and at the same time . . . . they expect
to be given advantages in Oriental markets; and with
besotted folly are indifferent to building up the navy
while provoking this formidable new power—a power
jealous, sensitive and warlike, and which if irritated
could at once take both the Philippines and Hawaii
from us if she obtained the upper hand on the seas.
Most certainly the Japanese soldiers and sailors have
shown themselves to be terrible foes. There can be
none more dangerous in all the world. But our own
navy is respectable in numbers and more than
respectable in the efficiency of its units. If we act thus
we need not fear the Japanese . . . . In any event we
can hold our own in the future….only if we occupy the
position of the just man armed…
Terms of the agreement
 Japan to prevent laborers from leaving.
 Two types of visas
 Hawaii
Execution of GA
 Japanese Association of America
 Administrative tasks
 Lifestyle campaigns
Discriminatory legislation
 Alien Land Law, 1913
 “Picture bride” ban, 1920
 Perception of the G.A. not working
Exclusion Act of 1924