Primary Sources

Primary Source for Immigrants!

DOCUMENT #4:  Delegate C. C. O’Donnell, December 11, 1878.
Doctor C.C. O'Donnell likewise came from a prominent family, having Alexander Hamilton and Charles Carroll (two signers of the Declaration of Independence) for ancestors. He came to San Francisco in 1850 and stayed there. He was Active early in the "anti-coolie" crusade and was elected on the Workingman's ticket.
"Now, Mr. Chairman, I am not going to detain you but a few moments. I only want to refer to the record ... According to the Custom House report, from eighteen hundred and sixty-eight and seventy-six -- eight years -- we have drawn from that country over one hundred thousand Chinese/ Over one hundred thousand of these Chinese have come to this coast for the last eight years. Now, think of that! They have taken from this State two hundred and forty million dollars. Do you wonder at the cry of hard times in the State of California? Take one hundred and fifty thousand of these Chinese in this state, getting wages from a dollar and a half a day, and out of the dollar they send seven bits to China. Over ninety thousand dollars leaves the state every day and goes to China, never to return. They do not pay taxes sufficient..."

1. The Chinese have been migrating to western America for eight years from 1868 to 1876 and in those years have taken $240 million from the state and send $90,000 a day to China.
2. The intended audience is anti immigrant citizens such as the Know Nothing party, pro white labor Unions, and others who dislike the influx of immigrants.
3. The authors point of view is anti- Chinese immigrants or just anti-immigrants in general. They feel this way because of the impacts they have had on the economy. He feels that they are taking money and bringing it out of circulation which counts as a loss of money for the Americans and Californians.
4. This relates to the recent immigration reform bill released to the senate in 2013 that will put millions of immigrants contributing to Americas growing economy on the road to citizenship. This offers immigrants who come here as children a five year path to becoming a citizen and gives immigration judges more decision based on what they think. However this bill requires thousands of tax payers money to pay for more borderland security, surveillance, mandated checkpoints, etc. This also relates to the McCarran-Walter Act, otherwise known as the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 which was supposed to exclude certain immigrants entering the United States post-World War II. This act denied immigrants who were unlawful, immoral, diseased in any way, politically radical etc. and accepted those who were willing and able to assimilate into the United States economic, social, and political structures. People affiliated with communism were denied since then communism was a big threat to American democracy.
5. This document could also be linked to the farmers and miners (just a few examples) desire for more money circulating the economy. They want silver coins to have more value. Having more money in circulation would help the farmers pay back debts and borrow more money. However this would decrease the value of the dollar. These people were essentially the Hard Money Advocates.

 Primary Source for Women

http://ecssba.rutgers.edu/resources/wompolls.html
1. This article displays the amount of women who attempted to vote after the fourteenth and fifteenth amendment made it seem like they were entitled to the right to vote.
2. The intended audience would most likely be the public of that time especially the women to promote suffrage movements.
3. The passage of the fourteenth and fifteenth amendment gave unclear messages to the women making them believe that they could vote just like anybody else. This should have been the case but women were not seen as an equal.
4. The National Organization for Women (NOW) is an organization that is fighting for women's rights. They are attempting to win economic equality and securing it with an amendment to the U.S. Constitution. This will guarantee equal rights for women; championing abortion rights, reproductive freedom and other women's health issues; opposing racism; fighting bigotry against the LGBT community and ending violence against women. This relates to some of the various reform groups of the gilded age who were trying to achieve the right for women to vote and to have equal labor/job opportunities.
5. This brings to mind the increase in voter turnout when African Americans were treated as citizens. However this significantly decreased when states began establishing poll taxes and literacy tests which was required of men to take. Since the blacks had just gained their freedom they did not have much money and were often unable to pay the poll taxes. As a result of this African Americans and poor white men were thus unable to vote. This just adds to the inequalities of that period which continues, sadly enough.

Primary Source for African Americans

http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5741/
1. This article is arguing for a pro-white labor force, saying that the white people have worked hard for years in factories however now that the African Americans will work for cheap methods they fear that they will take all of their job opportunities away.
2. Factory owners who should recognize all the white labor force has done for the factories as well as labor unions.
3. The author has a pro-white labor point of view because their jobs are being taken by cheap black labor forces.
4. Many workers from the Customs Department have admitted that they rely on racial characteristics when deciding whether to inspect someone's bags when they enter the country or detain them when they cross the border. African Americans lack opportunity and safety, black intellectualism, and blacks unemployment rates remained twice that of whites.
5. This brings to mind the issues women went through until society accepted them into factories and other work opportunities.