19th Century Naturalization
Who is a rightful citizen of the United States, and what rights and liberties may citizens enjoy? In 1790, there was Naturalization Act in the United States that questioned who was able to receive the term “citizenship”. The Naturalization Act states that only free white people are eligible for citizenship. "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." The mere fact of birth or naturalization in the United States did not transform into rights. However, even the liberties of Americans who had slowly gained the right to vote in the early nineteenth-century remained unclear. It is considered an essential right of a citizen
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The path of citizenship for Native Americans, Latinos and Asian immigrants, the ability to rightfully reside in the United States, much less become citizens, would it ever stop being a obstacle for minorities.
The very first thing that showed minorities is different from white Europeans is when Asian immigrants joined the ranks of the American labor force in great numbers in the nineteenth century. There were many political movements to restrict immigration, which emerged in the 1840s with the mass migration to prevent the importation of Chinese laborers on the West Coast. Groups in California led campaigns that would go against immigrants. By gaining general support, they succeeded in pressing for legislation that banned the entry of Chinese immigrants. Racial prejudice, fear of job …show more content…
For the original inhabitants of the land, entry to the United States also remained an unsettled issue. Native Americans generally were treated as members of foreign nations. According to Zinn white europeans thought "the progress of civilization and improvement, the triumph of industry and art, by which these regions have been reclaimed, and over which freedom, religion, and science are extending their sway." and that those thoughts of theres were “all the necessary grounds for burning villages and uprooting natives”(Zinn) Meaning these people who lived on america first were ran out of their homes and thrown away as non citizens. But later, Congress did grant citizenship to particular groups and individuals. The question of sovereignty of the land further confused matters. Decimated by warfare, disease, and malnutrition and consigned to diminished reservations, Native Americans became second-class citizens at best. In the face of such attacks and denial of citizenship, a debate began within the African American community over the appropriate response. Some counseled that blacks should patiently curry the good favor of whites by working hard and appearing
The path of citizenship for Native Americans, Latinos and Asian immigrants, the ability to rightfully reside in the United States, much less become citizens, would it ever stop being a obstacle for minorities.
The very first thing that showed minorities is different from white Europeans is when Asian immigrants joined the ranks of the American labor force in great numbers in the nineteenth century. There were many political movements to restrict immigration, which emerged in the 1840s with the mass migration to prevent the importation of Chinese laborers on the West Coast. Groups in California led campaigns that would go against immigrants. By gaining general support, they succeeded in pressing for legislation that banned the entry of Chinese immigrants. Racial prejudice, fear of job …show more content…
For the original inhabitants of the land, entry to the United States also remained an unsettled issue. Native Americans generally were treated as members of foreign nations. According to Zinn white europeans thought "the progress of civilization and improvement, the triumph of industry and art, by which these regions have been reclaimed, and over which freedom, religion, and science are extending their sway." and that those thoughts of theres were “all the necessary grounds for burning villages and uprooting natives”(Zinn) Meaning these people who lived on america first were ran out of their homes and thrown away as non citizens. But later, Congress did grant citizenship to particular groups and individuals. The question of sovereignty of the land further confused matters. Decimated by warfare, disease, and malnutrition and consigned to diminished reservations, Native Americans became second-class citizens at best. In the face of such attacks and denial of citizenship, a debate began within the African American community over the appropriate response. Some counseled that blacks should patiently curry the good favor of whites by working hard and appearing