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Angell Treaty

Treaty between the United States and China, concerning immigration. Concluded November 17, 1880; ratification advised by the Senate May 5, 1881; ratified by the President May 9, 1881; ratifications exchanged July 19, 1881; proclaimed October 5, 1881.

By the President of the United States of America.

A Proclamation.

Whereas a Treaty between the United States of America and China, for the modification of the existing treaties between the two countries, by providing for the future regulation of Chinese immigration into the United States, was concluded and signed at Peking in the English and Chinese languages, on the seventeenth day of November in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eighty, the original of the English text of which Treaty is word for word as follows . . .

Article III.

If Chinese laborers, or Chinese of any other class, now either permanently or temporarily residing in the territory of the United States meet with ill-treatment at the hands of any other persons, the Government of the United States will exert all its power to devise measures for their protection, and to secure to them the same rights, privileges, immunities, and exemptions as may be enjoyed by the citizens or subjects of the most favored nation, and to which they are entitled by treaty. . . .

 

 

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Racial Violence at Rock Springs, Property Compensation, and "Indemnity" during Chinese Exclusion This teaching module investigates the legal concept of "indemnity" and property compensation in the wake of the Rock Springs Massacre, which targeted Chinese laborers in Wyoming Territory in 1885. When white miners attacked a Chinese labor community, Chinese survivors petitioned the New York consul and worked through diplomatic channels to demand redress. This module explores how the concept of "indemnity" relied on treaty obligations and was tied to property compensation during a moment when national legislation worked to further restrict Chinese immigration.