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Following the American Revolution, the country adopted the United States Constitution in 1787. Article 1 of the Constitution empowers state legislatures to oversee federal elections. The right to vote, was granted exclusively to white, land-owning men. -
The first naturalization act, passed by Congress on March 26, 1790, that proclaimed that any free, white, adult alien, male or female, who had resided within the limits and jurisdiction of the United States for a period of 2 years was eligible for citizenship. -
The act of January 29, 1795, increased the period of residence required for citizenship from 2 to 5 years. It also required applicants to declare publicly their intention to become citizens of the United States and to renounce any allegiance to a foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty 3 years before admission as citizens.
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On April 14, 1802, Congress passed an act that directed the clerk of the court to record the entry of all aliens into the United States. The clerk collected information including the applicant’s name, birthplace, age, nation of allegiance, country of emigration, and place of intended settlement, and granted each applicant a certificate that could be exhibited to the court as evidence of time of arrival in the United States.
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The 13th Amendment gave a large number of African Americans living in the South were freedom from slavery, in addition to the many living in the North. Thus, voting rights were extended to African American men. -
The 14th Amendment also granted "the equal protection of the laws" to all citizens. -
The ratification of the 15th Amendment, which affirmed the right of African American men to vote.
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Passed by Congress June 4, 1919, and ratified on August 18, 1920, the 19th amendment granted women the right to vote. Achieving this milestone required a lengthy and difficult struggle—victory took decades of agitation and protest and by all accounts excluded women of color.
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The Indian Citizen Act of 1924 allowed for Native Americans to vote but did not enforce the right; it would take 40 more years until all U.S. states granted full suffrage to Native Americans.
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1935
Progress: National Labor Relations Act guarantees right to organize and form unions. -
1942
Progress: Bracero Program invites Mexican citizens to work temporarily in U.S. -
1954
Progress: In Brown v. Board of Education, Supreme Court unanimously rules segregation in public schools unconstitutional. -
1964
President Johnson signs Civil Rights Act of 1964, outlawing discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin. -
The 19th Amendment of 1920 states no one can be denied the right to vote based on sex. However, other state laws in place deliberately restricted the black vote. So, it wasn’t until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that black women were fully free to vote.
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Barack Hussein Obama II served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party and the first African American president. Obama previously served as a U.S. senator representing Illinois from 2005 to 2008 and as an Illinois state senator from 1997 to 2004.