The Global Irish and Chinese: Migration, Exclusion, and Foreign Relations Among Empires, 1784-1904
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THE GLOBAL IRISH AND CHINESE: MIGRATION, EXCLUSION, AND FOREIGN RELATIONS AMONG EMPIRES, 1784-1904 A Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of Georgetown University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History By Barry Patrick McCarron, M.A. Washington, DC April 6, 2016 Copyright 2016 by Barry Patrick McCarron All Rights Reserved ii THE GLOBAL IRISH AND CHINESE: MIGRATION, EXCLUSION, AND FOREIGN RELATIONS AMONG EMPIRES, 1784-1904 Barry Patrick McCarron, M.A. Thesis Advisor: Carol A. Benedict, Ph.D. ABSTRACT This dissertation is the first study to examine the Irish and Chinese interethnic and interracial dynamic in the United States and the British Empire in Australia and Canada during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Utilizing comparative and transnational perspectives and drawing on multinational and multilingual archival research including Chinese language sources, “The Global Irish and Chinese” argues that Irish immigrants were at the forefront of anti-Chinese movements in Australia, Canada, and the United States during the second half of the nineteenth century. Their rhetoric and actions gave rise to Chinese immigration restriction legislation and caused major friction in the Qing Empire’s foreign relations with the United States and the British Empire. Moreover, Irish immigrants east and west of the Rocky Mountains and on both sides of the Canada-United States border were central to the formation of a transnational white working-class alliance aimed at restricting the flow of Chinese labor into North America. Looking at the intersections of race, class, ethnicity, and gender, this project reveals a complicated history of relations between the Irish and Chinese in Australia, Canada, and the United States, which began in earnest with the mid-nineteenth century gold rushes in California, New South Wales, Victoria, and British Columbia. While the Irish were often the foremost enemies of the Chinese and the dominant pattern in relations between both groups was one of racial conflict and economic competition, they were also the ethnic group most likely to intermarry with the Chinese and a few were among the most outspoken champions of Chinese racial equality. Chinese sources indicate that the Chinese did not view their “excluders” as a monolithic white nativist constituency but rather often singled iii out the Irish as culpable in leading and exacerbating anti-Chinese movements. Furthermore, the Chinese were not passive victims but rather challenged their Irish opponents in myriad ways. This study makes sense of the complex relations between the Irish and Chinese in North America and Australia, which provides insights into the study of migration and empire, race and ethnicity, gender and class, and the connections between immigration and foreign relations. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation could not have been completed without the support of many people and institutions in Australia, Britain, Canada, China, Ireland, Taiwan, and the United States. Georgetown University provided a stimulating intellectual home over the past several years and I am grateful to the faculty and students who helped me hone my craft as an historian and a teacher. I am indebted to my dissertation adviser, Carol Benedict, whose continuous patience, guidance, and encouragement were key to the successful completion of this dissertation. My other committee members, Katherine Benton-Cohen and David Painter, provided advice and suggestions critical to refining my arguments. I began this dissertation under the direction of Nancy Bernkopf Tucker and although she passed away during its early stages, her influence can be found throughout the final draft. I wish to express my sincere gratitude to Kevin Kenny who read the entire dissertation on short notice and offered invaluable feedback. Appreciation is owed to my undergraduate and graduate mentor at University College Dublin, Declan Downey, who inspired me to become an historian in the first place and kindled my interest in China. My work also benefited from discussions with faculty and students at the City University of New York- Hunter College and McDaniel College, where I was an adjunct lecturer in history. Conversations with colleagues at the American Studies Association, the Cold War International History Project at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, where I worked in a variety of capacities, also helped improve the ideas in this dissertation. Indispensable to a dissertation of this scope was the funding I received from several sources including a George E. Pozzetta Dissertation Award from the Immigration and Ethnic History Society, Michael J. Connell Foundation Fellowship at the Huntington Library, Cosmos Scholars Grant from the Cosmos Club Foundation, Piepho Dissertation Research Grant from the Department of History at Georgetown University, and Grant-in-Aid Award from the Immigration History Research at the v University of Minnesota. It would not have been possible for me to enroll and remain in the Ph.D. program without a tuition scholarship and teaching assistantship from the Department of History and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Georgetown University in addition to an American Studies Association Assistantship. A Huayu (Mandarin Chinese) Enrichment Scholarship from Taiwan’s Ministry of Education allowed me to acquire the language skills necessary to conduct research using Chinese language materials. I am indebted to the numerous archivists and librarians who facilitated my research at the following archives and libraries: the Bancroft Library and Ethnic Studies Library at UC Berkeley, California Historical Society, San Francisco Public Library, Huntington Library, University of the Pacific Library, Boston Public Library, Houghton Library at Harvard University, National Archives and Records Administration (College Park, Maryland), American Catholic History Research Center and University Archives at the Catholic University of America, Library of Congress, Immigration History Research Center Archives at the University of Minnesota, Amon Carter Museum of American Art, New-York Historical Society, New York Public Library, Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives at New York University, National Library of Australia, National Library of Ireland, and Library and Archives Canada. I owe special thanks to the interlibrary loan staff at Georgetown University who helped me acquire primary and secondary sources from around the world. I had the opportunity to present parts of this dissertation at conferences, seminars, and invited talks and I am grateful to the numerous panelists, commentators, participants, and members of the audience who brought new primary sources to my attention and offered feedback that strengthened the arguments in this dissertation. A Diversity-International Outreach Fellowship enabled me to present my work at the annual meeting of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations in Lexington, Kentucky (2014), and a conference travel grant from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Georgetown University allowed me to share my research at the annual meeting of the Association for vi Asian American Studies in San Francisco (2014). Thanks to a generous stipend from the National Endowment for the Humanities, I was able to attend a Summer Seminar for College and University Teachers at Calvin College, Michigan (2015), where participants offered suggestions and advice on portions of this dissertation. Finally, I owe thanks to my family. My wife, Kelly, is a constant source of encouragement and our daughter, Mae, is my inspiration. Without their love this dissertation would never have come to fruition. This work is dedicated to my parents, Michael and Paula, who have always nurtured my interests and provided selfless and unconditional support. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction................................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1..................................................................................................................................... 12 A Bird’s-eye View of Global Irish and Chinese Interactions Chapter 2..................................................................................................................................... 33 “The Chinese Must Go!”: The California Irish, Chinese Immigration Restriction, and US-China Relations Chapter 3..................................................................................................................................... 90 Interracial Cooperation and Racial Division in the American Labor Movement during the Gilded Age: The Irish and Chinese as a Case Study Chapter 4................................................................................................................................... 152 Conflict and Solidarity: The Irish and Chinese in New York Chapter 5................................................................................................................................... 201 Fur, Gold, Railroads, and Exclusion: The Irish and Chinese in Canada Chapter 6................................................................................................................................... 265 Allies and Enemies: Sino-Irish Relations and the Origins of the White Australia Policy Conclusion