From 1848 – 1943, California enacted a policy known as political economic racism: the act of discriminating against a particular ethnic group economically through the political process. The target of their legislation was Asian immigrants, specifically the Chinese and the Japanese. As the Chinese arrived with countless others as part of the Gold Rush, they quickly faced discrimination, and legislative acts against them. During the 1850s, California enacted several laws designed specifically toward the Chinese. One such law, the Foreigner Miners Tax, generated significant revenue for the state. The Chinese were paying their portion of taxes to a government that provided services to a people that did not like Chinese. Labor groups ultimately formed, pushed for, and received in 1882 an Exclusion Act preventing Chinese laborers from entering into the U.S.

The Japanese started to arrive two years after Chinese Exclusion. They faced a similar treatment from Californians as they worked well in agriculture. Labor groups fought for alien land laws preventing the Japanese from owning land in the state. Several other states, including the District of Columbia, had an alien land law similar to that of proposed Californian law. The state believed their law was in line with existing U.S. treaties with Japan. The law passed in 1913, but the state followed with more amendments in 1920, 1923, and in 1927. Each law made it more difficult for the Japanese to own, lease, or work on farms in California.

California was not the only state to development political economic racism. Washington, Montana, and Wyoming, also followed in California‘s footsteps and enacted the policy as well. The incidents that occurred in these states are reflection of the anti- Asian attitudes that California helped perpetuate. The following will show how California developed the policy of political economic racism and its effects on the state and on areas outside of California.