Evolution of the national citizenry

By SamanthaW3312

  • Nationality Act of 1790

    This was the first law to define eligibility for citizenship by naturalization and establish standards and procedures by which immigrants became US citizens. In this early version, Congress limited this important right to “free white persons.”

  • Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

    Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo extends citizenship to all inhabitants living in the territory annexed to the United States following the Mexican War.

  • Immigration and Nationality Act

    Immigration and Nationality Act eliminates race as a bar to immigration or citizenship.

  • Dred Scott v Sandford

    Declared that African Americans were not and could not become citizens of the United States or enjoy any of the privileges and immunities of citizenship.

  • The Fourteenth Amendment (The Citizenship Clause)

    All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.

  • Civil Rights Act of 1866

    Declared that all persons born or naturalized in the United States were citizens of the United States and the state in which they lived, thereby affirming a rule of citizenship by birth that did not depend on race.

  • Naturalization Act of 1870

    Naturalization Act of 1870 extends naturalization rights to former African slaves not born in the United States; Asian immigrants remain excluded from citizenship.
  • Period: to

    Chinese Exclusion Act

    Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 is the first U.S. law to ban immigration based on race or nationality; it would be repealed in 1943.

  • United States v. Wong Kim Ark

    U.S. Supreme Court rules in United States v. Wong Kim Ark that any child born in the United States, regardless of race or parents’ citizenship status, is an American citizen

  • Indian Citizenship Act

    Indian Citizenship Act extends U.S. citizenship to all Native Americans.

  • Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986

    Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 grants amnesty to millions of individuals living in the United States who entered the country before January 1, 1982.

  • USA Patriot Act

    USA Patriot Act amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to broaden the scope of aliens ineligible for admission or deportation to include terrorist activities.