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The Naturalization Act of 1790 established a uniform rule of naturalization and a two year residency requirement for aliens who were free white people of good moral character.
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The Alien and Sedition Acts along with the Naturalization Act of 1798 allow Federalist President John Adams to deport foreigners thought to be dangerous and increased the residency requirement to 14 years to prevent immigrants from being citizens during his terms.
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The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the Mexican-American War and extened citizenship to 80,000 Mexicans living in Texas, California, and the American Southwest.
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The Anti-Coolie Act discouraged Chinese immigration to California and instituted special taxes on employees who hired Chinese workers
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The Homestead Act provided free plots of up to 160 acres of western land to settlers who agreed to develop and live on the land for at least five years, creating an unflux of immigrants from overpopulated European countries seeking land of their own.
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The Fifteenth Amendment was ratified and granted voting rights to citizens regardless of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
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The Naturalization Act of 1870 expanded citizenship to both whites and African-Americans, though Asians were still excluded.
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The Chinese Exclusion Act restricted all Chinese immigrants to the United States for a period of ten years.
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The Immigration Act of 1882 levied a tax of 50 cents on all immigrants landing at U.S. ports and made several categories of immigrants ineligible for citizenship, including lunatics and people likely to become public charges.
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The Geary Act extended the Chinese Exclusion Act for ten more years and added requirements that all Chinese residents carry permits and excluded them from serving as witnesses in court and from bail in habeus corpus proceedings.
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After President William McKinle is shot and killed by a Polish anarchist, Congress enacted the Anarchist Exclusion Act, which prohibited the entry into the U.S. of people judged to be anarchists and political extremists.
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The Naturalization Act of 1906 standarized naturalization procedurs, made some knowledge of the English language a requirement for citizenship, and established the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization in the Commerce Department to oversee national immigration policy.
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In an informal Gentleman's Agreement, the United States agreed not to restrict Japanese immigration in exchange for Japan's promise to voluntarily restrict Japanese emigration to the United States by not issuing passports to Japanese laborers. In return, the U.S. promises to crack down on discrimination against the Japanese-Americans in California.
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Congress enacted a literacy requirement for immigrants. The law required immigrants to be able to read 40 words in some language and banned immigration from Asia, except for Japan and the Philippines.
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The Immigration Act of 1917 restricted immigration from Asia by creating an Asiatic Barred Zone.
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The Jones-Shafroth Act granted United States citizenship to Puerto Ricans, provided that they can be recruited by the United States military.
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The Emergency Quota Act restricted immigration from a given country to 3% of the number of people from that country living in the United States in 1910
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In United States v Bhaghat Singh Thind, the Supreme Court ruled that Indians from the Asian subcontinent cannot become United States citizens.
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The Immigration Act of 1924 limited annual European immigration to 2% of the number of people from that country living in the United States.
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The National Origins Formula instituted a quota that capped national immigration at 150,000 and completely barred Asian immigration, though immigration from the Western Hemishpere was still permitted.
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The Alien Registration Act required the registration and fingerprinting of all aliens in the United States over the age of 14.
