 Medicine Lodge Treaty |
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Signed between the United States government and several of the Great Plains Native American tribes, the Medicine Lodge Treaties were a series of treaties relocating these Native American groups to Indian Territory. The October 21, 1867 treaty relocated the Kiowa and Comanche people.
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| Memorial of Chinese laborers resident at Rock Springs, Wyoming Territory |
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Over five hundred Chinese survivors of the 1885 racial violence in Rock Springs petitioned Huang Sih Chuen, the Chinese consul at New York, providing testimony of the white-led massacre and detailing the circumstances through which they lost property. Survivors demanded bodily protection and property compensation, while invoking recent treaty stipulations between the U.S. and China
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| Mendez v. Westminster |
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Menedez v. Westminster found educational segregation toward Latino students unconstitutional.
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| Meriam Report: General Summary of Findings and Recommendations |
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The Meriam Report highlighted the failures of allotment while advocating for reform.
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| Mescalero Apache Tribe v. Jones |
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In Mescalero Apache Tribe v. Jones, the Supreme Court ruled that the state could tax tribal business that is off-reservation, but not business that took place on the reservation.
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| Message from the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy |
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This message from the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy addresses members of the Continental Army after they were sent to New York City from Albany by General Philip John Schuyler. After New York, they traveled to Philadelphia where they addressed the Continental Congress. This document reflects the involvement of Native Americans in the American War for Independence.
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| Milly v. Mathias Rose |
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In this freedom suit, Milly sued for her freedom on behalf of herself and her two children Eliza and Bob. Milly argued that she should be free on account of being held in slavery in the free Illinois Territory.
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| Mima Queen & Louisa Queen v. John Hepburn |
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This unsuccessful freedom suit reflects the legal challenges to slavery and hinged on the Supreme Court's decision that hearsay about family genealogy could not be used as evidence, setting later precedent. Mina (spelled Mima in the court record) Queen petitioned for her freedom and that of her daughter on the grounds that her great grandmother Mary Queen was a free woman of color. When the lower court disallowed critical testimony about Mary Queen's origins and status, Queen appealed the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court on a writ of error, arguing that hearsay testimony should be allowed in a petition for freedom case. The Supreme Court denied the appeal, upholding the lower court's ruling.
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| Miranda v. Arizona |
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In this case, the Supreme Court ruled that criminal suspects must be advised of their constitutional rights before being interrogated. Now known as Miranda Rights, a Miranda Warning is given to suspects in police custody advising them informing them of their Fifth Amendment right against compelled self-incrimination and their Sixth Amendment right to counsel.
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| Miscarriage (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1867) |
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The Illinois state statute regarding miscarriage reflects the diverse landscape of abortion law in the nineteenth century. This law punished individuals for helping pregnant women obtain a miscarriage.
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| Missouri Compromise |
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The Missouri Compromise admitted Missouri into the Union as a slave state and Maine as a free state. The compromise also suggested that slavery be prohibited north of the 36°30' latitude, which was followed until the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854.
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| Missouri v. Celia - Newspaper Coverage |
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In 1855, the Callaway County Circuit Court in Missouri convicted eighteen-year-old Celia of murdering her enslaver. Her case considered whether she was guilty of murder or if she could be acquitted due to self-defense from sexual assault. The court ruled that Celia's enslaved status prevented her from being eligible to protect herself, and she was sentenced to death. Newspapers in Missouri reported on the murder and resulting trial.
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| Monroe Doctrine |
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In an address before Congress, President James Monroe warned European powers not to interfere in the affairs of the Western Hemisphere. The United States continued to invoke the Monroe Doctrine in its foreign policy through to today.
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| NAACP v. Allen |
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In this case, the court ruled that the Department of Public Safety of Alabama needed to follow affirmative action principles to reduce discrimination.
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| Nan Oy v. Territory of Washington |
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The habeas corpus petition of Nan Oy shows legal challenges related to carceral confinement and immigration in the nineteenth century. In this case, Nan Oy was arrested crossing the U.S. border to be with her husband, a U.S. citizen. She was ultimately deported.
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| Naturalization Act of 1790 |
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The Naturalization Act of 1790 had important legal and political implications in the Early Republic. An emerging racial hierarchy was reflected in the determinations of who was allowed to become a citizen. The act specified that any free white person who had resided in the U.S. for two years could be admitted to become a citizen, provided they were a "person of good character" according to a court of law.
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| Naturalization Act of 1798 |
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This is one of four acts known collectively as the Alien and Sedition Acts. These acts were passed by a Federalist-controlled Congress applied restrictions to immigration and speech in the U.S. They were highly controversial and contributed to the Federalist defeat in the election of 1800. The Naturalization Act increased the residency requirement for citizenship from 5 to 15 years and the notice time from 3 to 5 years. While passed with the aim of protecting national security, it also decreased the number of new citizens and voters who disagreed with the Federalists.
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| Naturalization Act of 1870 |
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The 1870 Naturalization Act extended paths to United States citizenship for people of African descent while excluding Chinese immigrants.
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| Nebraska Abortion Statute (1873) |
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The Nebraska state statute regarding abortion reflects the diverse landscape of abortion law in the nineteenth century. This lengthy law punished individuals for helping pregnant women obtain a miscarriage.
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| Nebraska Abortion Statute (1929) |
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This Nebraska state statute regarding abortion reflects the diverse landscape of abortion law before Roe v. Wade. This law punished individuals for helping pregnant women obtain a miscarriage.
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| Nebraska Civil Rights Initiative |
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This amendment to the Nebraska Constitution banned the use of affirmative action in the "operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting." It was initiated as a ballot measure that was approved in 2008.
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| Nebraska Vagrancy Law (1881) |
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Vagrancy acts passed by the Nebraska state legislature reflected race-neutral legal language that was used to target the poor, people of color, and women.
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| Nebraska Vagrancy Law (1929) |
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Vagrancy acts passed by the Nebraska state legislature reflected race-neutral legal language that was used to target the poor, people of color, and women.
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| Negroes and Mulattoes |
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Part of the Black Codes passed by Northwest Ordinance states prior to Reconstruction, this article in the Indiana Constitution is an example of the way "free" states ensured white supremacy.
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| New Jersey Constitutional Franchise Provision |
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This provision of the first New Jersey Constitution did not limit franchise by race or gender, allowing unmarried women and free people of color who could meet the property requirement to vote. When New Jersey rewrote its constitution in 1844, it explicitly denied women and African Americans the right to vote.
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