Evolution of the National Citizenry

By hailey0119

  • Nationality Act

    The Nationality Act was the first law that gave eligibility for citizenship by naturalization in the United States. The only eligible people for citizenship were "free white persons."

  • Indian Removal Act

    The Indian Removal Act was during Andrew Jackson's presidency and he was the one to sign the bill. This gave the president the ability to essentially kick Native Americans out of their homes and move them elsewhere. The Cherokees fought against their removal and Andrew Jackson's act led to the death of 4,000 Cherokees.

  • Dred Scott v Sanford

    The decision of Dred v. Sanford by the Supreme Court was a raciest view of American identity. Roger Brooke Taney enforced that a black man was not a United States citizen and stated black men had; "no rights which the white man was bound to respect." (constitutioncenter.org) And was the lead start of what defined citizenship in the United States.

  • Civil Rights Act

    The Republican Party accepted the principle of birthright citizenship in the United States, leading to the Civil Rights Act. Then, months later congress included birthright citizenship in the 14th Amendment. This meant that those born in America, deserved citizenship.
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    Chinese Educational Mission

    120 Young Chinese boys came to the United States on government sponsorship to try to modernize Chinese education.

  • Chinese Exclusion Act

    One year after the Chinese Educational Mission, the United States put into effect the first law that restricted immigration from outside countries. The Act enforced a 10-year ban on Chinese workers immigrating to the United States.

  • Immigration Restriction League

    The 1894 Immigration Restriction League was focused on southern and Eastern European countries, wanting to lower the amount of immigrants coming from Europe.

  • Expatriation Act

    This Act was made to attempt to cut ties from immigrants with their home country. A citizen was deemed to be expatriated if they stayed for two or more years in their home country, then that citizen ceased to be an American Citizen. It also effected women specifically as any American women who married a immigrant in the United States, must now claim her husbands nationality as her own.

  • Immigration Act of 1917

    The United States government put into place a literacy test that required immigrants over 16 to show basic reading comprehension in any language.