 Alice McKay v. John Kevan and Della Kevan |
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The habeas corpus petition of Alice McKay shows legal challenges related to child custody in the nineteenth century.
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| Alien Registration Act |
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This act, also known as the Smith Act, required all non-citizens entering and living within the U.S. to register their alien status with the government. It also set criminal penalties for advocating the overthrow of the U.S. government. This law was written to address concerns about subversive activities on the eve of American involvement in World War II.
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 Alien Registration Form for Kit Chun |
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The Alien Registration Act of 1940 required all non-citizens entering and living within the U.S. to register their alien status with the government by completing an Alien Registration Form. The AR-2 form included a questionnaire and a requirement that fingerprints be taken at the time of registration. This act, also known as the Smith Act, was written to address concerns about subversive activities on the eve of American involvement in World War II.
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| Amending Indian Appropriation Act of 1892 |
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This excerpted report from the Committee of Public Lands asserted that dispossessed treaty lands and former military reservations should be closer in price per acre to lands distributed under the Homestead Act.
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| An Act For the removal of restrictions from part of the lands of allottees of the Five Civilized Tribes, and for other purposes |
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This congressional act established Oklahoma county probate courts as the main arbiters of land held by allottees of the Five Tribes. In particular, minors, incompetents, and deceased members of the Five Tribes were targeted for guardian interventions in the probate courts.
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| An Act Relating to Woman Suffrage |
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This act proposed to amend the Constitution of Washington State to grant women suffrage rights. Washington was one of 12 states to grant women the right to vote prior to the adoption of the 19th Amendment in 1920.
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| An Act to provide for designation by cities and towns of segregation districts for residence of white and colored persons |
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Acts passed by the Virginia General Assembly reflected race-neutral language of the legal code after the Civil War. Application of these statutes resulted in entrenched Jim Crow segregation.
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| An Act To provide for the appointment of additional judges of the United States court in the Indian Territory, and for other purposes |
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This excerpted congressional act reorganized the federal court system in Indian Territory. The establishment of United States courts worked to undermine tribal judicial systems by asserting broad federal authority over regional criminal and civil disputes.
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| An Act To provide for the care and support of insane persons in the Indian Territory |
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This act weaponized Western medical diagnoses against tribal citizens in Indian Territory for the purpose of incarceration and confinement. Nearly four hundred Native people, from fifty different nations, were confined to the Canton Asylum during its operation from 1902-1934.
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| Applegate v. Luke |
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After the Phillips County Chancery Court struck down Arkansas' Alien Land Act of 1925 as unconstitutional, Attorney General H. W. Applegate appealed the case to the Arkansas Supreme Court. Justice T. H. Humphreys upheld the lower court's ruling, arguing that the alien land law violated Section 20 of the the Declaration of Rights in the State Constitution.
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| Arkansas Alien Land Act |
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This act was passed by the Arkansas General Assembly in 1925 to restrict the ability of aliens ineligible for citizenship to acquire, possess, enjoy, use, cultivate, occupy, and transfer real property, or any interest therein," unless specified in treaties.
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| Asian Immigrants' Fight Against Discriminatory Alien Land Laws |
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This module examines the history of anti-Asian/Japanese alien land laws in the 1920s United States, focusing on one lawsuit by Chinese immigrant Lum Jung Luke that brought down Arkansas' Alien Land Act.
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| Balzac v. Porto Rico |
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Balzac v. Porto Rico is one of a series of cases decided by the Supreme Court addressing the status of U.S. territories known as the Insular Cases. The court in Balzac ruled that residents of Puerto Rico were not guaranteed a trial by jury. In Dorr v. United States, the Supreme Court ruled the same way for residents of the Philippines.
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| Burke Act |
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The Burke Act amended Section 6 of the Dawes Act to explicitly add competency as a legal marker for allottees, tying settler-colonial judgements of social and cultural behavior to land holding.
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| Cable Act |
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The Cable Act was a federal law that repealed the Expatriation Act, restoring United States citizenship to American women married to foreigners. The act reflected early goals from newly won women's suffrage.
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| Cherokee Allotment Act |
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Excerpts from this congressional act brought the Cherokee Nation into the federal process of allotment and gave the Dawes Commission exclusive jurisdiction over legal conflicts related to allotment.
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| Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 |
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The Chinese Exclusion Act barred Chinese laborers from entering the United States, with exceptions granted for merchants, students, or diplomats.
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| Civil Rights Cases |
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These cases saw the Supreme Court push back on constitutional equal protection and the 1875 Civil Rights Act. The ruling held that the 13th Amendment "merely" abolished slavery and that the 14th Amendment did not apply to the racist acts of private individuals. The decision in these cases led to the increased segregation of Black people in all facets of public and private life.
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| Civilian Exclusion Order No. 34 |
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This broadside detailed U. S. Army orders to force all persons of Japanese ancestry, whether citizens or non-citizens, to depart Alameda County, California, and report to an assembly center where they would be sent to concentration camps. Fred Korematsu defied this exclusion order by remaining at his residence and was eventually convicted in federal court.
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| Constitution And By-Laws of the Sac and Fox Tribe of Missouri |
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As part of the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, Native American tribes were encouraged to create tribal governments that mirrored the United States government. Many of the tribes' constitutions were essentially the same.
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| Constitution of the Hawaiian Kingdom (1887) |
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Known as the Bayonet Constitution, King Kalākaua was made to sign the document under the threat of violence by an armed militia backed by a secret society which aimed to overthrow the Kingdom of Hawaii. The Constitution placed significant limitations on the power of the monarchy and stripped Native Hawaiians of rights in favor of white non-citizens.
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| Creek Allotment Act |
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This excerpted congressional act brought the Muscogee (Creek) Nation into the federal process of allotment.
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| Creek Supplemental Agreement |
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Excerpts from this supplement to the Creek Agreement of 1901 renegotiated many legal issues related to allotment, including citizenship, leases, and inheritance. In particular, section six voided Creek law over land, descent, and distribution, and replaced it with Mansfield's Digest of the Statutes of Arkansas.
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| Curtis Act |
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These excerpts from the Curtis Act show federal land dispossession in Indian Territory through settler colonial judicial and administrative practices. The act dissolved regional tribal courts, voided tribal laws, and reorganized jurisdiction in Indian Territory.
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| Dawes Act |
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This classic document in Native American legal history formalized the process of federal land dispossession. Section 6 made claims to the adoption of civilized life as a necessary precursor to Indigenous participation in allotment.
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