Pathos...sortaLaws aren't themselves arguments, and so don't really need to use rhetoric. The argument, like a party, happened before the law even arrived. The law is just cleaning up the discarded...

Legal DocumentThe Chinese Exclusion Act is a specific Federal law. Later on, other Federal laws would modify it, usually adding provisions or extending its life. It would eventually take World War...

Late 19th-Century LegaleseThe history of legal writing has been a long struggle toward comprehensibility. Or at least, that's what it seems like. The ironic part is that legal writing is specifical...

The official title is actually, "An Act to execute certain treaty stipulations relating to Chinese." That sounds a lot better than the Chinese Exclusion Act, doesn't it? We're sort of lucky someone...

Whereas in the opinion of the Government of the United States the coming of Chinese laborers to this country endangers the good order of certain localities within the territory thereof: Therefore,B...

That the words "Chinese laborers", wherever used in this act shall be construed to mean both skilled and unskilled laborers and Chinese employed in mining. (Sec.15)The closing lines are Section 15...

(7) Snow LineThe good news is we're not dealing with 18th-century legalese here. The bad news is that it's 19th-century legalese. Every other sentence runs on like a lemming at a cliff. Your best b...

In-Text ReferencesLiterary and Philosophical ReferencesEconomicsThe justification for the Chinese Exclusion Act is the basic economic principle of supply and demand. When labor was in short supply,...

Chester A. Arthur's first lady was his sister, but not in a gross way. (Source)Chester A. Arthur had no vice president. He was just hanging out there all alone. (Source)James Garfield's assassinati...