Anti-Coolie Act

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The factual accuracy of part of this article is disputed. The dispute is about the federal law of the same name, signed into law by Abraham Lincoln in 1862, which may be conflated by this article and pages linking to it. Please help to ensure that disputed statements are reliably sourced. See the relevant discussion on the talk page. (August 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

On February 19, 1862, the 37th United States Congress passed An Act to Prohibit the "Coolie Trade" by American Citizens in American Vessels.^[1] The act, which would be called the Anti-Coolie Act of 1862 in short, was passed by the California State Legislature in an attempt to appease rising anger among white laborers about salary competition created by the influx of Chinese immigrants at the height of the California Gold Rush. The act sought to protect white laborers by imposing a monthly tax on Chinese immigrants seeking to do business in the state of California.