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Declaration of Independence
An act which announced separation of 13 American colonies from Great Britain. -
Naturalization Act of 1790
First rules that granted U.S citizenship by naturalization. -
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
Extended citizenship to the inhabitance of the lands apprehended by the United States after the Mexican-American War -
Dred Scott Decision
Supreme Court rules that living in a free state and territory did not allow and enslaved person (Dred Scott) freedom. -
Emancipation Proclamation
President Lincoln freed the slaves held in the Confederate states. -
Thirteenth Amendment
Amendment to abolish slavery but does not grant citizenship to freed slaves . -
Civil Rights Act of 1866
An act that declares that all persons born in the United States to be citizens, this is to be considered without distinction of race or color, or previous condition of slavery or involuntary servitude. -
Fourteenth Amendment
admendment in which all citizens grants citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States. This includes former enslaved people. This also guaranteed all citizens “equal protection of the laws” -
Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882
First law that restricted immigration into the U.S. this lasted for about ten years against the Chinese laborers -
United States Vs. Wong Kim Ark
The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Wong Kim Ark, which was that any child born in the United States, regardless of the parents and race grants them citizenship status as an American Citizen -
Jones- Shaforth
This law gave Puerto Ricans U.S. citizenship, granted by President Woodrow Wilson by signing the Jones Shafroth Act. -
Emergency quota act
Congress passed an act that limited immigration of migrants into the United States. This lowered the overall number of entrances per year and specified new quotas based on the 1890 census -
Indian Citizenship Act of 1924
An act passed by Congress to grant Citizenship to any Native that is born in the United States of America.