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America Idea
Feng Ai Ling is my name and an America life is my dream. I plan on immigrating to America from China. I plan to do this for more than one reason. I want to move to America to mostly support my family in China, my mother, and brothers. We are almost less than poor and barely surviving off of the little money my brothers earn. They are only 10, and 13 years old. A chinese merchant offered to buy my passage into America, so when I get there, I will need to find work, in order to pay him back. -
Arrival in America
I have Arrived in my new home for a while. As soon as I stepped off of the boat alone, I got many stares and looks. I had not realized that everyone would treat me like this, this, alien. I tried to shrug off the act of being treated horribly, and found a small home to live in and tried to start supporting myself. I found a job working in a mine, but got discriminated greatly for being chinese. I thought it would be horrible until I heard things about the West. It seemed so much better. -
Homestead Act
There was an announcement. Some officials stopped by and spoke to us working about a so-called "Homestead Act." They exclaimed that anyone who hadnt borne arms against the United States could have 160 acres of free land.These officials explained that we would get free surveyed land, if we signed that we would take care of it for five years, and help it prosper. I would have to improve it by having many fields or growing crops. Then after five years, we could possibly claim the land to be ours. -
Decision about Moving West
All the things I have heard about the West have pushed me to a decision. I have heard that people get treated re equally in the West. I thought that anything was better than getting discriminated against here in America. Also I heard people talking about how there was a potential for free land and work on a Transcontinental Railroad, which would literally connect the East and West. From hearing all these things, I was almoat one hundred percent sure I wanted to move West. -
Life in the West
After a hard migration West, encountering many dangers, I finally made it here. One problem I had was that I did not immediatly recieve a job, as I, for some reason, expected. I found a very small home , and after negotiating with many people, found a job building a railroad. I was told by a fellow railroad worker that there was much land available near by. I continued working, and in a couple months time sent back the money to pay the merchant who paid for my passage into America. -
Chinese Exclusion Act
On this day, the Chinese Exclusion Act was created. This banned any Chinese to enter America for ten whole years. Since they could not enter America originally, they would not be allowed to become United States citizens.There was no way my family was going to be able to come to America and the West now! They originally would have had issues since my mother was not accompanied by a spouse, but now they werent even allowed to try. This diminished my hope of a bright future for myself, with land.
