Chinese immigrants began coming to the United States around 1849, through California. Some came to escape the conflicts arising from the British Opium Wars and peasant rebellions in China. Others sought greater economic opportunities, and the rumors of the "gold hills" in the United States beckoned to many. By 1870, there were 63,000 Chinese in the United States. Although about 77% were in California, Chinese Americans lived all over the country. They comprised 29% of the population of Idaho, 10% of Montana and 9% of California.

As Chinese Americans became a more substantial and visible presence in the United States, other Americans became increasingly protective of "their" country. The fact that Chinese Americans were often willing to work for low wages created a rivalry between the existing labor force and the relative newcomers from China. Because of discrimination and harassment, many Chinese Americans started their own businesses. The stereotype of a Chinese laundry was based at least partially on reality: by 1890, 69% of laundry workers were Chinese American, and in 1900, 25% of Chinese American men worked in a laundry. Laundries were relatively inexpensive to open, and were in high demand. Demand was particularly high in the West; where women, who traditionally did the laundry, were relatively scarce.

A prevailing view of Chinese Americans was that they, like African Americans and Native Americans, were "inferior." In 1854, in the California Supreme Court, a man convicted of killing a Chinese American was released on appeal, because three of the witnesses testifying had been Chinese American. Since, according to California law, Blacks and Indians were not allowed to testify against Whites, Chinese were similarly categorized.

During the Civil War years, many Chinese Americans were working in mines, building railroads or laboring on farms. It is not clear, however, what role they played in the war itself. Many Chinese Americans were made to feel disconnected from the United States, by the racism they encountered and by the fact that many had come without their families. Whether the preservation of the Union was a cause worthy enough in the eyes of Chinese Americans to warrant military service is difficult to determine. Like Mexican Americans, most Chinese Americans lived in the West, in areas that saw little of the war. Recruitment in the West was probably rather poor in the far West, beyond the Old Northwest and Old Southwest. One might speculate that, because of prejudice and xenophobia from other Americans, Chinese Americans might have faced difficulties even if they had tried to enlist.