Laws, Events, Court Rulings

“Manilamen” settle in Louisiana

filipino sailor known as “manilamen” settled in Louisiana—> establishing the first asian american settlement in the US

naturalization act: 1790

“free white men”—> the first law in the US to establish uniform rules for granting citizenship to foreign born people

14th amendment

“white” and “african” —> granted citizenship and equal protection under the law to all people born or naturalized in the US—> including formely enslaved people

naturalization act: 1890

granted citizenship to native americans through—> application process

british fight first and second opium wars w/ china

1st: british gov fought china after the chinese gov destroyed british opium stocks—> british won and forced china to sign unequal treaties that gave western powers favorable tariffs, trade

2nd: british and french joined forces against china—> british and french won, forced china to legalze opium

opium war weakened the chinese governments authority and forced china to open treaty ports to western merchants

british suppress the sepoy rebellion in indian

sepoy rebellion—> rebellion against he british east india company india

supress india—> factors included their british superior military strength

anti coolie trade act

law passed by the congress—> restricted the transportation of chinese migrant workers to foreign destinations by american ships

• to prevent plantation owners in the south from replacing enslaved african americans with “coolie” laborers from china

chinese exclusion act

restricted chinese immigration to US:

1. prohibited chinese laborers

2. prevented citizenship

3. required certificates

exemption: teachers, students, merchants, travelers, diplomats

US v. wong kim ark

• wong traveled to china to visit his parents and was denied re-entry to the united states when he returned

• upholds birthright citizenship

  • (asian americans born in the US and having the birthright citizenship)

philippine american war

after the spanish american war—> the US annexed the philippines, but filipino revolutionaries wanted full idnependence—> sparking conflict

russo japanese war

a conflict over the control of Korea

gentlemens agreement

“families permitted”

• theodore roosevelt sought to avoid offending the rising world power of Japan through this negotiated agreement—> by which the Japanese gov limited the immigration of its own citizen

california alien land law

affected asian immigrants —> “alien ineligible for citizenship”—> from owning agricultural land or possessing long term lease over it

takao ozawa v. US

“naturalization”

• ozawa was a japanese man who had lived in the US for 20 years and was otherwise qualified for citizenship.

  • ruled: asians are not white and therefore ineligible for naturalization as citizens of the US

cable act

“married women citizenship act”

• women could lose their citizenship if they married an “alien” who was not eligible for citizenship

• women could not become citizens by naturalization if their husband was not eligible for citizenship

us v. bhgat singh thind

• thind was not considered “white” in the eyes of the common man

  • court interpreted “free white persons” as synonymous with “caucasian”

  • “free white persons” are words of common speech to be interpreted in accordance with the understanding of the common man

• RULE: thind was ineligible for citizenship in the US

immigration act

completely BANNED immigration from asia including Japan

tyding mcduffie act—> “philippine independence act”

• changed status of filipinos from national to aliens

• US law that established a process for the Philippines to become an independent country