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The Articles of Confederation
Gave states the power to determine citizenship and naturalization themselves. (Timeline: Citizenship in the United States, 1781–Present, 2024) -
The Naturalization Act
This act excluded non-white people from naturalization processes. Only "free white persons who had resided in the United States for at least 2 years, demonstrated good moral character, and swore allegiance to the Constitution" could be a citizen. There were other means by which children could become citizens as well. (Timeline: Citizenship in the United States, 1781–Present, 2024) -
The Naturalization Act of 1795
This new version of the Naturalization Act increased the residency requirement for citizenship from 2 years to 5 years, required immigrants reject their allegiance to foreign governments, and prevented British citizens who fought against the U.S. in the Revolutionary War from becoming American citizens. (Timeline: Citizenship in the United States, 1781–Present, 2024) -
Irish Immigrants Speak Out
After the Alien and Sedition Acts were passed, a group of Irish immigrants went to Congress to express their concerns and there they reminded lawmakers of a message sent by the Continental Congress to the Irish people in 1775 claiming that America was a "safe asylum" (Timeline: Citizenship in the United States, 1781–Present, 2024) -
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The Alien and Sedition Acts- The Naturalization Act of 1798
The Alien and Sedition Acts were a set of laws passed by the Federalist-controlled Governemnt. "These laws raised the residency requirements for citizenship from 5 to 14 years, authorized the president to deport "aliens," and permitted their arrest, imprisonment, and deportation during wartime. The Sedition Act made it a crime for American citizens to "print, utter, or publish...any false, scandalous, and malicious writing" about the government." (Alien and Sedition Acts (1798), 2023) -
States begin to pass "Black Laws"
Ohio, Illinois, Delaware, Maryland, and other midwestern states passed "Black Laws". These laws sought to restrict the migration of black people to a state, required white supervision of black gatherings, restricted trades black men could pursue, and required court approval for a black man to own a gun or a dog. Many states also prevented immigration of free blacks from out of the country. Policies sought to make blacks "denizens". (Timeline: Citizenship in the United States, 1781–Present, 2024) -
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The War of 1812 and the Irish Sailors
The U. S. Government declares war on Britain and insists that "naturalized Irish sailors on American ships were beyond the British government's reach and themselves American". This occurred after the British Navy "seized the sailors and pressed them into British military service." (Timeline: Citizenship in the United States, 1781–Present, 2024) -
Paul Cuffee Emigrates to Sierra Leon
Founder of the Friendly Society of Sierra Leon, "Cuffee sought to create a black-led emigration movement, believing that Black people could never receive equal treatment with white people in the United States and would be better off elsewhere." He was a free man who traveled with nearly 40 others to West Africa. (Timeline: Citizenship in the United States, 1781–Present, 2024) -
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American Colonization Society
Inspired by Paul Cuffee, this white-led group, initially received federal funding and aimed to send free blacks to West Africa to resettle there, helping pass "Black Laws" in hopes of pressuring black Americans to emigrate. Its last group of settlers was sent in 1904. -
The Indian Removal Act- The Trail of Tears
Nearly 100,000 Native Americans across 5 tribal nations were displaced from over 25 million acres of land throughout modern-day Georgia, Mississippi, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama, and made to walk over 1,200 miles to Indian Territory (Oklahoma) where they had to settle alongside 21 other Indigenous nations. Traveling with them were the 8,000-10,000 black slaves they owned. The Indian Removal Act also would not allow the displaced nations U.S. citizenship. -
First Women's Rights Convention- The Seneca Falls Convention
Organized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, and other women abolitionists organized the convention in Seneca Falls, NY. "The convention produced 11 resolutions on women's social, civil, and religious rights; the 9th resolution demanded the right to vote, a right of citizenship that would take another seven decades to realize." (Timeline: Citizenship in the United States, 1781–Present, 2024) -
Dred Scott vs. Sanford
An unprecedented trial of a slave who sued the executor of his late master's estate saying that he was a free man because his owner had willingly taken him to free territory. Cheif Justice Taney decided that Dred Scott was not a citizen because he was of African descent. (Interpretation: The Citizenship Clause | Constitution Center, n.d.) -
Oregon- A Free State?
"Oregon became the first and only state to enter the United States with a prohibition against black people living in the state in its Constitution. Oregon removed the Black exclusion clause in 1926, gave Black citizens the right to vote in 1959, and ratified the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution in 1973." (Timeline: Citizenship in the United States, 1781–Present, 2024) -
Lincoln's Administration
Abraham Lincoln, the first Republican President, was elected in 1860 and his administration took the legal stance that free blacks were American citizens. (Interpretation: The Citizenship Clause | Constitution Center, n.d.) -
NERL Formed
The National Equal Rights League promoted full citizenship for all Black people to compensate them for their participation in the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. They called for a 15th point to be added to Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points- the "elimination of civil, political and judicial distinctions based on race or color in all nations." Most of its leaders joined the NAACP in 1921. -
Congress Passes Civil Rights Act of 1866
This Act declared that "all persons born or naturalized in the United States were citizens of the United States and the state in which they lived, thereby affirming a rule of citizenship by birth that did not depend on race. The only two textual exceptions to this rule of birthright citizenship were for American-born persons “subject to any foreign power” and for “Indians not taxed.” " (Interpretation: The Citizenship Clause | Constitution Center, n.d.) -
14th Amendment & the Citizenship Clause- Ratified 1868
The Joint Committee on Reconstruction drafted the 14th Amendment in spring of 1866. The Senate added the first sentence "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside." An important word here is "All", not whites, not whites and africans, but all people. (Interpretation: The Citizenship Clause | Constitution Center, n.d.) -
The Burlingame Treaty
This treaty was negotiated while the Transcontinental Railroad was being built. The railroad relied heavily on Chinese labor and this treaty secured Chinese workers for the U.S. "by guaranteeing rights of free migration to both Chinese and Americans." (The University of Texas at Austin Department of History, 2020) -
1870 Naturalization Act
This Act limited naturalization to whites and people of African descent. (Timeline: Citizenship in the United States, 1781–Present, 2024) -
The Page Law
This law prohibited the recruitment of unfree laborers to the U.S. and was used mainly against Chinese workers. (The University of Texas at Austin Department of History, 2020) -
A Ruling Against People of Chinese Descent
"The Nineth Circuit ruled in In re Ah Yup that persons of Chinese descent were ineligible to naturalize, stating that a 'Mongolian' is not a 'white person'" (Timeline: Citizenship in the United States, 1781–Present, 2024) -
Angell Treaty
An update to the Burlingame Treaty, This treat allowed the U.S. "to restrict the migration of certain categories of Chinese workers." This was a way to exclude the Chinese. (The University of Texas at Austin Department of History, 2020) -
Chinese Exclusion Act
"The law targeted Chinese immigrants for restriction... and ineligibility for citizenship." (The University of Texas at Austin Department of History, 2020) -
Elk vs Wilkins
"The Supreme Court ruled in Elk vs. Wilkins that the 14th Amendment did not apply to Indigenous Americans with respect to birthright citizenship." (Timeline: Citizenship in the United States, 1781–Present, 2024) -
Immigration Bureau Established
Congress needed a dedicated division to deal with enforcing restrictions and processing legal immigrants. (The University of Texas at Austin Department of History, 2020) -
The Geary Act
This act required that Chinese people be able to prove that they were in the U.S. legally by carrying a Certificate of Residence (before the green card system) or face detention or deportation. (The University of Texas at Austin Department of History, 2020) -
Plessy Vs. Ferguson
The ruling by the Supreme Court in this case validated racial segregation with the explanation of "separate but equal". (The University of Texas at Austin Department of History, 2020) -
United States Vs. Wong Kim Ark
The Supreme court ruled that children born to immigrants in the United States qualified for birthright citizenship, even if their parents were not eligible for citizenship. (Timeline: Citizenship in the United States, 1781–Present, 2024) -
The Annexation of Hawai'i
After overthrowing the Kingdom of Hawai'i in 1893, the U.S. annexed the island nation in 1898 and granted all its natural-born inhabitants citizenship and the island territory status with the Organic Act of 1900. (Timeline: Citizenship in the United States, 1781–Present, 2024) -
Expatriation Act
"Under the principle that women assumed the citizenship of their husbands, this act stripped citizenship from U.S.-born women when they married noncitizen immigrant men." (The University of Texas at Austin Department of History, 2020) -
Jones-Shafroth Act
"This act enacted U.S. citizenship for Puerto Ricans after the United States acquired the island as an incorporated territory in 1898." (The University of Texas at Austin Department of History, 2020) -
Immigration Act of 1917 (Barred Zone Act)
In this act, a zone was created from the Middle East to Southeast Asia and no one from this region was allowed to enter the U.S. There was even a literacy test to reduce European immigration. (The University of Texas at Austin Department of History, 2020) -
Cable Act of 1922
"After women gained suffrage with the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920, Congress swiftly enacted this law to restore citizenship to U.S.-born women who had married noncitizen husbands and thereby lost their citizenship under the Expatriation Act of 1907." (The University of Texas at Austin Department of History, 2020) -
Immigration Act of 1924 (Johnson-Reed Act)
"To further limit immigration, this law established extended "national origins" quotas, a highly restrictive and quantitatively discriminatory system. The quota system would remain the primary means of determining immigrants' admissibility to the United States until 1965." (The University of Texas at Austin Department of History, 2020) -
Indian Citizenship Act of 1924
"This law stipulated that all Native Americans born in the United States were automatically citizens by birth. Native Americans were the last main group to gain this right set forth in the Fourteenth Amendment." (The University of Texas at Austin Department of History, 2020) -
Undesirable Aliens Act (Blease's Law)
"Blease's Law criminalized crossing the border outside an official port of entry. Primarily designed to restrict Mexican immigration, the law made “unlawfully entering the country” a misdemeanor and returning after a deportation a felony." (The University of Texas at Austin Department of History, 2020) -
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Mexican Repatriation
"During the economic and political crises of the 1920s and 1930s, the Border Patrol launched several campaigns to detain Mexicans, including some U.S.-born citizens, and expel them across the border." (The University of Texas at Austin Department of History, 2020) -
Tydings-McDuffie Act of 1934
"Completing the racial exclusion of Asians, Congress imposed immigration restrictions on Filipinos by granting the Philippines eventual independence. Previously, Filipinos could immigrate freely as U.S. nationals from a colony of the United States." (The University of Texas at Austin Department of History, 2020) -
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Executive Order 9066
"President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed this war-time executive order authorizing the rounding up and incarceration of Japanese Americans living within 100 miles of the west coast." (The University of Texas at Austin Department of History, 2020) -
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Bracero Agreement
The U.S. worked with Mexico to recruit male Mexican workers to work in the U. S., short-term, in agriculture and war industries during WWII. The agriculture portion remained in effect until 1964. (The University of Texas at Austin Department of History, 2020) -
Korematsu vs. United States
"This Supreme Court decision upheld the federal government's right to set aside civil rights protections in the name of "military necessity" in ruling on Fred Korematsu's challenge to Executive Order 9066, which authorized removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans." (The University of Texas at Austin Department of History, 2020) -
Ex Parte Endo
"In December 1944, the Supreme Court authorized the end of Japanese American incarceration by ruling that 'concededly loyal' U.S. citizens could not be held, regardless of the principle of 'military necessity.'" (The University of Texas at Austin Department of History, 2020) -
Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (The McCarran-Walter Act)
"The McCarran-Walter Act reformed some of the obvious discriminatory provisions in immigration law. While the law provided quotas for all nations and ended racial restrictions on citizenship, it expanded immigration enforcement and retained offensive national origins quotas." (The University of Texas at Austin Department of History, 2020) -
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Operation Wetback
The Bracero program was still in effect but that didn't stop the Immigration Bureau from rounding up Mexican nationals and reportedly deporting 1 million Mexicans. (The University of Texas at Austin Department of History, 2020) -
Act of September 26, 1961
"This law added more exceptions to immigration restriction by national quotas by categorizing international adoption as a form of family reunification. " (The University of Texas at Austin Department of History, 2020) -
Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 (Hart-Celler Act)
"his law set the main principles for immigration regulation still enforced today. It applied a system of preferences for family reunification (75 percent), employment (20 percent), and refugees (5 percent) and for the first time capped immigration from the within Americas. " (The University of Texas at Austin Department of History, 2020) -
Chinese Student Protection Act
"Legislated in response to the brutal Chinese government crackdowns on student protests in Tiananmen in 1989, this law permitted Chinese students living in the United States to gain legal permanent status." (The University of Texas at Austin Department of History, 2020) -
NACARA
"The Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act (NACARA) allowed certain Salvadorans, Guatemalans, and Nicaraguans who had fled violence and poverty in their homelands in the 1980s to file for asylum and remain in the United States." (The University of Texas at Austin Department of History, 2020) -
Hatian Refugee Immigrant Fairness Act
HRIFA was enacted by Congress allowing certain Haitian nationals who were living in the U.S. to become legal permanent residents. (The University of Texas at Austin Department of History, 2020) -
Zadvydas vs. Davis
"This Supreme Court case ruled that immigration authorities cannot indefinitely detain aliens ordered deported, but for whom no destination can be arranged." (The University of Texas at Austin Department of History, 2020) -
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
As part of this Act, Surviving Filipino American Veterans received a 1-time payment of $15,000 for U.S. citizens and $9,000 for non-citizens for "benefits promised them after Japan attacked the Philippines the day before the attack on Pearl Harbor." 18,000 claims were approved and nearly 24,000 were denied. (Timeline: Citizenship in the United States, 1781–Present, 2024) -
DACA- Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals
"Trying to cope with the long-term residence of millions of unauthorized immigrants, this executive order provided protection from deportation and work authorization to persons who arrived as minor children and had lived in the United States since June 15, 2007." (The University of Texas at Austin Department of History, 2020) -
DAPA/ Expanded DACA
"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." (The University of Texas at Austin Department of History, 2020) "The Supreme Court blocked the implementation of DAPA in 2016" (Timeline: Citizenship in the United States, 1781–Present, 2024) -
Filipino WWII Veteran's Parole Program
During WWII the U.S. promised to provide benefits to those Filipinos who joined the Armed Services. For years advocates have been pressing the U.S. to keep its word. "Filipino WWII Veteran's Parole Program allowed WWII veterans who were granted citizenship in recognition of their service... to reunite with their adult children, their spouses, grandchildren under age 21, and siblings able to parole into the United States while they waited for an available immigrant Visa." Termntd 2017 Reinst 2021 -
Muslim Travel Ban
The Trump Administration made a series of executive orders prohibiting travel and refugee resettlement from a few, mostly Muslim, countries. (The University of Texas at Austin Department of History, 2020) -
The Denaturalization Task Force is Born
The task force was established to identify immigrants who obtained their citizenship under false pretenses. "The task force focused on 315,000 people who naturalized without proper fingerprint checks, due to a government mistake" The group targeted Muslim and other minority communities. (Timeline: Citizenship in the United States, 1781–Present, 2024) -
You Can't Ask That- A Citizenship Question on the Census?
The Presidential Administration wanted to add a question regarding citizenship to the 2020 U.S. Census but after many lawsuits, the Supreme Court against adding the question in 2019. -
Operation Lone Star
Operation Lone Star, a Texas state-based border patrol, targeted black and brown men regardless of citizenship. They used state criminal trespass laws to prosecute Asylum Seekers. "Between March and October 2021, Texas law enforcement officers have arrested over 70,000 Asylum Seekers, including 7,700 migrants in the National Guard helped detain" (Timeline: Citizenship in the United States, 1781–Present, 2024) -
BAMEMSA Fights Back Against Unjust Citizenship Revocation
"Several advocacy organizations submitted a statement to the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties addressing government policies and practices that have subjected Black, African, Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim, and South Asian communities to unjust policing, surveillance, and criminalization under the guise of National Security, and counterterrorism." (Timeline: Citizenship in the United States, 1781–Present, 2024) -
Territories Fight for Equality
"The territorial leaders of American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands called on Congress to take action to address the many inequities that the territories have faced under Decades of U.S. colonial rule." (Timeline: Citizenship in the United States, 1781–Present, 2024) -
Asian Americans Oppose Texas Land Law Bill
Texas Senate Bill 147, which was found very similar to the Alien Land Laws from the 1880s and 1920s, sought to restrict the ownership of land in the state of Texas. Making no exceptions for dual citizenship or visa holders, people who were citizens of China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia would have been effectively banned from land ownership.