On this day in 1877 Dennis Kearny, rabble rousing leader of California’s Workingman’s Party, was arrested and tossed in the can for two weeks for his "incendiary speeches." Not that they weren’t. The town fathers set aside the First Amendment in favor of peace in the streets. The avowed purpose of the Workingman’s Party was to kick the Chinese out of California and make sure no more showed up. Their slogan was "The Chinese Must Go!"
By 1877 angry mobs were attacking Chinese people in the streets and even in their homes. Apparently Kearny’s arrest did have some calming effect on the mobs he was inciting to violence.
Not long after Congress made its first efforts at regulating the racial makeup of the country with the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.
I have to admire the candor of 19th century law namers.
