Week 4 Skills Activity: Evolution of the national citizenry

  • Period: to

    The Constitution of the United States is written and adopted. At this time, only white men who owned property were considered citizens with rights.

  • The 15th Amendment is ratified, granting the right to vote to all male citizens, regardless of race.

  • The Chinese Exclusion Act is passed, restricting immigration from China and denying citizenship to Chinese immigrants.

  • The 14th Amendment is ratified, granting citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States, including former slaves.

  • The Indian Citizenship Act is passed, granting citizenship to all Native Americans born in the United States.

  • The Magnuson Act repeals the Chinese Exclusion Act and allows a limited number of Chinese immigrants to become citizens.

  • The McCarran-Walter Act revises immigration laws and eliminates racial restrictions, but still limits immigration from certain countries.

  • Period: to

    The Civil Rights Movement gains momentum, leading to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which prohibit discrimination based on race and guarantee the right to vote for all citizens.

  • The Immigration Reform and Control Act is passed, granting amnesty to millions of undocumented immigrants and creating a path to citizenship.

  • The Trump administration announces plans to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which protects young undocumented immigrants from deportation.

  • The Biden administration announces plans to provide a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, expand immigration opportunities, and address systemic discrimination.