This Day In History for July 14

1870 - Congress passes Naturalization Act of 1870....more

In 1870, Republican dominated congress passed the Naturalization Act, which limited citizenship to white persons and persons of African descent. The act was specifically intended to prevent Chinese from becoming citizens - a ban not lifted until 1943 - but it affected other Asian groups also. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 made the Chinese the only ethnic groups in the world that could not emigrate freely to the United States. Anti-Asian violence raced through mining comm unites in the West for the next two years..