 Abortion: Sherri's Baby was Deformed |
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Sherri Chessen Finkbine caused an international controversy when she wanted to end her pregnancy when she believed she was carrying a deformed baby. Sherri was known for her role on a children's TV show and already had four children at the time of her abortion controversy. She brought questions about the life and health of the mother into the forefront of abortion debates.
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| 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 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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| An Act in Relation to Female Suffrage |
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This act in Washington Territory specifically denied women the right to vote. Women were given the right to vote with the passage of the 19th Amendment, nearly 50 years later.
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| An Act making compensation to Messrs. Lewis and Clarke, and their companions |
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This Congressional act showed government interest in land appropriation. Exploration by white Americans laid foundations for tribal land dispossession.
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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 enable the President of the United States to take possession of the territories ceded by France to the United States |
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This federal law allowed the United States to ratify the Louisiana Purchase Treaty, and reflected United States ambitions toward empire, while ignoring critical issues regarding the incorporation of Native nations.
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| An Act to Grant to the Women of Wyoming Territory the Right of Suffrage and to Hold Office |
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Wyoming was the first state to grant women suffrage rights. This act was the first in the world to grant women the right to vote and access to holding public office. It came 50 years before the 19th Amendment that guaranteed women's suffrage to the entire United States. Wyoming was the first of 15 states to grant women suffrage rights prior to the passage of the 19th Amendment.
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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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| California Proposition 6 |
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A proposed amendment to the California that would have banned involuntary servitude as a punishment for a crime. This measure failed in the 2024 election, meaning the State of California remains one of 16 states that still allows forced labor. A similar ballot measure also failed in 2022.
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| Civil Liberties Act |
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This act granted reparations to Japanese Americans who had been removed from their homes and interred in camps by the government during World War II. It also made restitution to Native Americans in Alaska who were interred by both the Japanese and Americans.
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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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| Colorado Repeal Exception To Constitutional Ban On Slavery |
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Colorado's repeal of the constitutional exception to slavery ended involuntary servitude as a punishment for a crime.
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| Constitution of Oregon |
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Oregon became a state with a Black exclusion law in its constitution. Drafted in 1857 by delegates at a territorial convention, several sections of the constitution reflect Oregon voters' goal of creating a white-only state.
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| Constitution of the Hawaiian Kingdom (1840) |
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In this constitution, King Kamehameha III relinquished his absolute powers as ruler and established the equality of his subjects before the law.
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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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| Criminal Docket, Sweetwater County Rock Springs Precinct, September 1885 |
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A Coroner’s Inquest investigated the murders of Chinese mine workers in Rock Springs, Wyoming Territory, in September 1885. While 16 white miners were arrested for participation in the massacre, no one was ever held legally responsible.
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| Estimate of Property Loss Sustained by the Chinese in their respective camps at Rock Springs |
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In the wake of the 1885 Rock Springs Massacre, a U.S.- Chinese commission made up of politicians, ambassadors, and diplomats arrived in Wyoming Territory to collect testimony and tally the loss of property among Chinese laborers. The property lists accounted for individual property ownership, as well as property held in common by the Chinese miners.
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| Ex Parte Mitsuye Endo |
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In this case, the Supreme Court held that the federal government could not continue to hold citizens of Japanese ancestry who were "concededly loyal" to the United States, though the ruling did not find the actions of the War Relocation Authority unconstitutional as a whole. Mitsuye Endo was released.
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| Executive Order 9066 - Authorizing the Secretary of War to Prescribe Military Areas |
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This executive order by President Franklin D. Roosevelt was a federal law that forcefully removed persons deemed a national security threat to relocation centers in the western United States. While the act did not include racialized language, it was created with the intent to target Japanese Americans.
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| Garcetti v. Ceballos |
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This Supreme Court case considered the amount of free speech a public employee can make in the course of their duties. The Court ruled that the First Amendment does not apply to public employees when they speak as part of their job; the First Amendment only applies when they speak as a private citizen.
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| Grover Cleveland Speech Regarding Chinese Immigrant Workers |
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President Grover Cleveland's 1886 speech discusses the anti-Chinese violence at Rock Springs, Wyoming Territory. In it he argues that the United States is not responsible for this violence.
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| Hawaii v. Mankichi |
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Hawaii v. Mankichi is one of a series of cases decided by the Supreme Court addressing the status of U.S. territories known as the Insular Cases. This case considered the extent to which the Constitution should apply to Hawaii and how the new territory's previous legal codes could be folded into the laws of the Territory of Hawaii.
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| Hirabayashi v. United States |
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In this case, the Supreme Court held that curfews against minority groups were constitutional at a time of war against the country that group's ancestors originated from. After the Executive Order 9066 was issued in the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese Americans were subject to curfews and other restrictions in addition to being removed to internment camps. Gordon Hirabayashi was convicted of violating the curfew. This was a companion case to Yasui v. United States, decided on the same day.
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