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states were empowered with how to become a citizen and determining citizenship
The Articles of Confederation gave power to the states that allowed them to decide citizenship and naturalization -
naturalization act
natural citizenship was granted to all free white people -
treaty of Guadalupe
gave the citizens of New Mexico political, social, and economic rights of Americans -
The 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 white -
Dred Scott V. Sanford
This Supreme Court ruling established that slaves and free African Americans were not citizens of the U.S. and were not entitled to the rights and privileges of citizenship, such as the right to sue in federal courts -
Act to prohibit "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 -
emmacipation proclimation
President Abraham Lincoln's 1863 executive order freeing the slaves held in the Confederate states -
immigration act
This law legalized labor recruitment practices similar to indentured servitude in an attempt to encourage immigration to the United States, but it was quickly repealed. -
adoption of amendment 14
The amendment stated that anyone born in the U.S. would automatically become a U.S. citizen -
naturalization act
Extended naturalization rights to African Americans, but denied them to Asian Americans -
Page Act
Prohibited immigrants considered undesirable from entering the U.S., but was effectively geared toward Chinese laborers and Chinese women who were deemed to be prostitutes -
Angell Treaty
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. -
immigration act of 1882
Legislated a few months after the Chinese Exclusion Law, this immigration legislation expanded the ranks of excludable aliens to include other undesirable persons and attributes such as "convicts," "lunatics," and "those likely to become a public charge." -
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. -
Indian citizenship act
Native Americans born in the U.S. were given citizenship, but the right to vote was dependent on the state where they lived -
Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) and DACA Program expanded
This executive order issued by the Obama White House sought to defer deportation and some other protections for unauthorized immigrants whose children were either American citizens or lawful permanent residents. -
Muslim Travel Ban
The "Muslim Ban" refers to a series of the Trump administration's executive orders that prohibited travel and refugee resettlement from select predominately Muslim countries. After several legal challenges, the Supreme Court upheld most provisions of a third version of the ban. -
Final Rule on “Public Charge Ground of Inadmissibility”
In 2019, the Trump administration's Department of Homeland Security finalized a rule that expanded the list of received benefits and other factors to be considered in determining whether an applicant for admission or adjustment of status is likely to become a public charge