Kearneyites
KEARNEYITES
KEARNEYITES were followers of Denis Kearney, who formed the Workingmen's party of California in 1877 to protest a variety of issues that troubled the state's workers, including rampant unemployment, dishonest banking, inequitable taxation, land monopoly, the growing power of railroads, and the immigration of Chinese laborers. In 1879, the Kearneyites became a significant political force in California and sent fifty-one delegates to the state's constitutional convention. Although California's new constitution met many of their demands, the Kearneyites apparently had little direct influence on the proceedings. By the presidential campaign of 1880, Kearney's party had lost most of its momentum and had practically disappeared from the stage of California politics.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Gyory, Andrew. Closing the Gate: Race, Politics, and the Chinese Exclusion Act. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1998.
Saxton, Alexander. The Indispensable Enemy; Labor and the Anti-Chinese Movement in California. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1971.
P. OrmanRay/e. m.