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Declaration of Independence
protests England’s limiting naturalization of foreigners in the colonies -
Article 1
U.S. Constitution: Congress is “to establish a uniform Rule of Naturalization,” eventually giving the federal government the sole authority over immigration -
Bill of Rights
outlines basic rights under the new government -
Naturalization Act of 1790
provides the first rules to be followed by the United States in granting national citizenship to “free white people.” -
Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798
Congress enacted deportation laws targeting persons deemed political threats to the United States in response to conflicts in Europe -
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Ban on “importation” of “any negro, mulatto, or other person of colour” (1803) (effective 1808)
The Haitian revolution led Congress to ban immigration by free blacks to contain anti-slavery campaigners -
Indian Removal Act
During the presidency of Andrew Jackson, this law authorized the confiscation of land from Native Americans and provided resources for their forced removal west of the Mississippi River -
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
extends citizenship to all inhabitants living in the territory annexed to the United States following the Mexican War -
Passenger Cases
The Supreme Court designates the authority to legislate and to enforce immigration restrictions a matter of federal authority rather than a state or local power -
People v. Hall
This California Supreme Court case ruled that the testimony of a Chinese man who witnessed a murder by a white man was inadmissible, denying Chinese alongside Native and African Americans the status to testify in courts against whites -
Dred Scott V. Sanford
The court ruled that Dred Scott was not a citizen of the United States because citizenship was limited on grounds of race within the Constitution and was not entitled to the rights and privileges of citizenship, such as the right to sue in federal courts -
Act to prohibit the “coolie trade"
During the Civil War, the Republican-controlled Congress sought to prevent southern plantation owners from replacing their enslaved African American workers with unfree contract or "coolie" laborers from China -
Emancipation Proclamation
President Abraham Lincoln's 1863 executive order freeing the slaves held in the Confederate states -
Immigration Act of 1864
This law legalized labor recruitment practices similar to indentured servitude in an attempt to encourage immigration to the United States but was quickly repealed -
Thirteenth Amendment
abolished slavery but did not grant formerly enslaved persons the full rights of citizenship -
Civil Rights Act of 1866
Stated that all persons born in the United States were citizens of the country and of the state they were born in. This established a rule of citizenship that didn't depend on race. The only exceptions were for Native tribes that were untaxed, and for anyone considered to be subject to foreign powers (diplomats and foreign officials) -
Fourteenth Amendment
grants that all people born or naturalized in the United States are citizens and are guaranteed “equal protection of the laws. -
Burlingame Treaty of 1868
Negotiated during the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad which relied heavily on Chinese labor, this international agreement secured U.S. access to Chinese workers by guaranteeing rights of free migration to both Chinese and Americans -
Naturalization Act of 1870
extends naturalization rights to former African slaves not born in the United States; Asian immigrants remain excluded from citizenship. -
Angell Treaty of 1880
This treaty updated the 1868 Burlingame Treaty with China, allowing the United Stated to restrict the migration of certain categories of Chinese workers. It moved U.S. immigration policy closer to outright Chinese exclusion. -
Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882
the first U.S. law to ban immigration based on race or nationality; it would be repealed in 1943 -
Elk v. Wilkins
The Supreme Court ruled that the Fourteenth Amendment did not apply to Native Americans who did not automatically gain citizenship by birth and could therefore be denied the right to vote -
The Dawes Allotment Act
Complaints about the reservation system for Native Americans led Congress to authorize the President to allot tribal reservation lands. Native Americans receiving allotments could gain U.S. citizenship, but often lost their land -
Immigration Bureau established
Congress quickly came to realize the challenges of enforcing immigration exclusions, leading it to authorize and fund a dedicated immigration bureau responsible both for processing legal immigrants and enforcing immigration restrictions -
Plessy v. Ferguson
This Supreme Court case validated racial segregation by ruling that the equal protection principles mandated by the Fourteenth Amendment could be honored with facilities that were "separate but equal." -
United States v. Wong Kim Ark
U.S. Supreme Court rules that any child born in the United States, regardless of race or parents’ citizenship status, is an American citizen -
Jones-Shafroth Act
grants U.S. citizenship to residents of Puerto Rico -
First quota law
limiting the annual number of immigrants based on country of origin -
Indian Citizenship Act
extends U.S. citizenship to all Native Americans -
Alien Registration Act
requires all non-citizen adults to register with the government and empowers the president to deport foreigners suspected of espionage or being a security risk -
Immigration and Nationality Act
eliminates race as a bar to immigration or citizenship -
Hart-Celler Act abolishes the national origins quota system
replaces it with a preference system that focuses on immigrants' skills and family relationships with citizens or U.S. residents -
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
amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to broaden the scope of aliens ineligible for admission or deportation to include terrorist activities -
Homeland Security Act
The Homeland Security Act created the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) by consolidating 22 diverse agencies and bureaus. The creation of DHS reflected mounting anxieties about immigration in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11th.