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This was the first law to define eligibility for citizenship by naturalization and establish standards and procedures by which immigrants became US citizens. In this early version, Congress limited this important right to free white people. -
Congress enacted deportation laws targeting people that were political threats to the United States in response to conflicts in Europe. -
The Haitian Revolution had fears among southern slave owners that anti-slavery campaigns would spread to the United States. Congress passed a bill in 1803 which band bringing to the country "Negro and mulatto" immigrants. This immigration ban was not actively enforced. -
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. The act allowed the Jackson administration to exchange lands west of the Mississippi River with Indian nations, which then were required to leave the eastern United States. -
This treaty formalized the United States annexation of a large portion of northern Mexico, El Norte, and granted citizenship on Mexicans choosing to remain in the territory. -
Dred Scott was an African-American man that tried to sue in court for his freedom from slavery. The case was dismissed because a majority of the supreme court believe that if you were sold as a slave you pretty much had no right to do anything in court. It was later decided that the Dred Scott decision would be nullified by the 13th and 14th amendment. -
President Abraham Lincoln's 1863 executive order freeing the slaves held in the Confederate states. -
This law legalized labor recruitment practices in an attempt to encourage immigration to the United States, but it was quickly revoked. -
This 1891 immigration law saw that immigration enforcement authority of the federal government, extended immigration inspection to land borders, and expanded the list of excludable and deportable immigrants. -
This law stated that all Native Americans born in the United States were automatically citizens by birth. -
He's amendment extended to the western hemisphere and modified preference system for arrivals. In 1978 the law was further amended to establish a single sealing of 290,000. The amendments also built procedures that were designed to keep legal immigration from certain major sending countries mainly Mexico.