The Foreign Miners' Tax Act of 1850 (official name An Act for the better regulation of the Mines and the government of foreign Miners, nickname ''the miserable law of 20 piastres'') was an Act passed by the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

state of

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

in 1850, imposing a tax of $20/month on foreign miners. The Act was repealed in 1851, and subsequently replaced by the Foreign Miners' License Tax Act of 1852, that charged $3/month. Both were in response to public dislike of Chinese miners.

Background

In 1848, the

Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War (Spanish language, Spanish: ''guerra de Estados Unidos-México, guerra mexicano-estadounidense''), also known in the United States as the Mexican War, and in Mexico as the United States intervention in Mexico, ...

concluded and Alta California (that includes the modern US state of California, plus nearby regions) became part of the United States. At around the same time, gold was discovered in California, leading to an influx of miners into California, both from within the United States, and from other regions, primarily China and Latin America (including Mexico, Peru, and Guatemala). This was the beginning of the

California gold rush The California gold rush (1848–1855) began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California from the rest of the U ...

. The competition from foreign miners would lead to resentment among the white miners, leading to calls to limit foreign competition in mining. On December 20, 1849, Peter Hardeman Burnett became the first Governor of the state of California. Burnett was a proponent of the state's exclusionary policies towards foreign miners, and in particular Chinese ones (he would later support the Chinese Exclusion Act, and also pushed for blacks to leave the state of California or face public flogging).

The Act

Passage

The Act was signed into law by Governor Peter Hardeman Burnett on Saturday, April 13, 1850. The text of the Act was advertised in California newspapers over the next two weeks.

Statement

The Act stated that all miners in the state of California who were not citizens of the United States, and who had not become citizens by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo had to pay a monthly fee of $20, equivalent to several hundred dollars in current United States dollars (sources include estimates of $400 and $500). Of this, the tax collector would keep $3 and the rest would be remitted to the state. The goal of the Act was to raise $200,000 in revenue for the state. A special exemption covered California's Native Americans.

Response

Modification to exclude free whites and people eligible for citizenship

The Act met with protests from Irish, English, Canadian, and German miners, and was rewritten to exempt any miner who was a "free white person" or any miner who could become an American citizen (the "free white person" designation was borrowed from the

Naturalization Act of 1790 The Naturalization Act of 1790 (, enacted March 26, 1790) was a law of the United States Congress that set the first uniform rules for the granting of United States citizenship by naturalization. The law limited naturalization to "free whi ...

Sonora protest

On Sunday, May 19, 1850, a group of about 4,000 mostly Mexican and Peruvian miners, led by two exiled French miners, protested against the tax in the plaza in

Sonora Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora (), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is divided into Municipalities of Sonora, 72 ...

, Tuolumne County. They were chased by a volunteer militia comprising about 500 tax collectors and Anglo miners. The protest broke up after some of the Anglos raised their rifles and fired on the rebels.

Revenue shortfall and effect on Mexican and Chinese miners

The Act had a number of effects: * It raised much less revenue than expected, primarily because a number of Mexican and Chinese miners quit mining in response to the Act. * While both Mexican and Chinese miners quit in large numbers, and many mining camps depopulated, the effect on their presence in the country was different: many Mexicans returned home, whereas Chinese mostly moved to the cities in an impoverished state, further increasing resentment felt by whites toward the Chinese. * Landowners and merchants in Tuolumne County were concerned about the drop in rents and prices and the decrease in demand in their region due to the exodus of miners. They lobbied for the repeal of the tax.

Repeal

On January 9, 1851, John McDougall (sometimes spelled John McDougal) succeeded Peter Burnett as California governor. Unlike his predecessor and successor, McDougall had a favorable view of Chinese immigration, and saw it as a way to cope with California's labor shortage, proposing to employ Chinese immigrants in projects to reclaim swamps and flooded lands. Under McDougall's governorship, the Act was repealed in 1851.

Subsequent legislation

A new Foreign Miners' License Tax was introduced in 1852 under Governor John Bigler, who, like Burnett (but unlike McDougal) was not friendly to Chinese immigration. The new tax was $3/month, unlike the original $20/month, and it would rise gradually over the next few years.

References

External links

Foreign Miners Tax documents, 1850-1867.
{{morecat, date=July 2024 California law