America 1869: A Doppelganger Every Day

At the beginning of 1870.

During a session of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Just as the break ended and preparations were underway for a new round of meetings, a dozen or so Republican lawmakers gathered together.

Each of them had a smile on their face.

"Next up is the proposal for naturalization law. To be honest, I really don't want those black people to have the same rights as us, but this can't be changed now, so it's inevitable that black people will become legal citizens."

"We can't do anything about Black people, but we can't let Asian people get away with it."

"I've heard that some people want to include Asians in the naturalization process, allowing all races in the world to join the American Empire. This is absolutely unacceptable."

"That's right, no matter who proposes it, we must oppose it!"

"Absolutely cannot pass!"

There are many people like them!

Because many of them knew about the next topic: someone wanted to relax immigration policies.

For them, the existence of people of Asian descent is key to diverting conflict and is also the basis for them to gain more public support.

If people of Asian descent are used properly, it will benefit them. They will absolutely not allow people of Asian descent to obtain American citizenship.

"To be honest, if it weren't already established that all children born in the United States would automatically become American citizens, I would have added in advance that even children of Asian descent born in the United States cannot become American citizens."

A group of people nodded in agreement!

After all, their current status is largely due to their suppression of people of Asian descent.

We should make good use of these kinds of "tools"!

But just as the meeting was about to begin, several people rushed in from outside.

These lawmakers were somewhat puzzled.

As it turned out, these people actually brought a bunch of newspapers and gave one to each member of parliament.

Just as they were wondering, they saw the two articles on the front page.

After reading the two articles, they were all dumbfounded.

Are we still here preparing to exclude you Asians?

And yet you openly support our Republican Party.

If we were to oppose the proposal to allow Chinese and Asian people to obtain citizenship in Parliament at this time, wouldn't that be telling everyone something?

If you support us, we will make you lose your citizenship.

They all fell silent.

Other parties laughed at this situation.

Because they all know that these are Republicans who want to restrict all immigration to white and black people, and not allow Asians to become American citizens.

Now that Asians are publicly supporting your Republican Party in the newspapers, let's see what you're going to do?

In the subsequent parliamentary session, when Republican delegates proposed allowing Asian immigrants, not a single Republican stood up.

If anyone steps forward at this point, their status as a member of parliament may be in jeopardy.

While members of other parties were watching the spectacle with amusement, they also did not want Asians to join the United States.

However, given the size of the Republican Party, they opted for a compromise.

"I believe we cannot generalize and condemn all people of Asian descent or Chinese people."

"Leaving aside people from other countries, our main topic of discussion today is the issue of Chinese people obtaining citizenship."

"Although Chinese people have different skin colors and different lifestyles than us, they should not be deprived of their most basic rights on American soil because of this."

"I support allowing Chinese immigrants to join the United States, but there must be restrictions."

"You can't just join whenever you want."

Once someone started speaking, others followed suit.

"As far as I know, these Chinese people all have long braids, which are incompatible with the people of America. I suggest that if Chinese people want to join America, they must cut off their braids."

"Yes, I agree with that. I just read a newspaper article written by a Chinese inventor and writer named Changsheng Li. It is said that he cut his hair, speaks our language and has similar living habits to us, invented the fountain pen, and wrote a novel that has been sold in many countries. I think that people with such inventive talent, outstanding contributions in a certain field, or strong abilities can also join the United States."

"Agreed. In other words, Chinese people with a certain reputation or strong professional skills in a certain area can also join the United States."

"If his business is very large and can even bring more tax revenue to the United States, I think he can join the United States."

"I don't think what you're saying is a good method. All of what you're saying can be summed up in one sentence: as long as they can create value for America, they can become citizens of America. Why make things so complicated? As long as they pay a certain amount of money, they can be allowed to join America. Of course, they have to cut off their queues."

"Agreed. Too much would cause international controversy, and too little would not be in the interest of the United States. So I propose that they can become American citizens as long as they pay $100."

"No, no, no, I don't think this is a good method. You can't even imagine how terrifying it is for more than ten Chinese people to live in a room with bunk beds. Instead of just making them pay, we should try a different approach. Didn't Changsheng Li say that Chinese people are born to farm? Then we can allow each family to join the United States as long as they buy a house or apply for 160 acres of land."

"Applying for land only requires ten dollars, are you sure this is a good method?"

"I think it's a good approach. We also need to stipulate that they must be able to develop and utilize the land they are applying for, and guarantee to cultivate it for five years like other citizens. Only then will they have permanent citizenship and permanent land."

"agree."

"agree."

"agree."

"agree."

......

Li Changsheng was unaware of the existence of the Naturalization Law, nor did he know that a newspaper he published would truly rewrite history.

According to the history of the parallel world in the previous life, before 1870, although there were many places where there was anti-Chinese sentiment, it was not very serious.

After 1870, when the American economy was in recession, a large number of white people would vent their frustrations on the Chinese.

Ultimately, it's because Chinese people have too low a social status in the United States!

Even in another world, a few years later, the Page Act might be passed, prohibiting Chinese women from coming to America.

More than a decade later, they even enacted the Restriction Act, directly rejecting Chinese immigrants.

But now, everything is different!