Existing comment:
Separate and unequal:
Laws favoring whites over others helped create the social and economic inequalities we see in the US today. Even small differences in privilege added up, over time, to create great disparities.
1600s Legalization of slavery:
Over the course of a few decades, England's American colonies enact a variety of laws that legalize the enslavement of Africans. By the early 1700s, slavery is an established institution.
1776 Declaration of Independence:
The Declaration of Independence -- the American Revolution's central proclamation of values -- champions liberty and equality yet does not call for an end to slavery.
Late 1700s - mid-1800s: Underground Railroad:
A loose network of blacks and whites helps fugitive slaves to reach Canada and safe areas in the free states. The most famous Underground Railroad "conductor" was Harriet Tubman, herself an escaped slave.
1790 Naturalization Act:
Congress passes a law stating that only "free white persons" may become US citizens.
"[W]hite male immigrants could vote almost from the moment they disembarked in America, while blacks, whose ancestors had lived in the country for centuries (and Indians, who had been here even longer), could not."
-- Eric Foner, historian, Columbia University
1803 Louisiana Purchase:
The US doubles ni size, its westward boundary now extending to the Rocky Mountains. Eventually, the westward tide of white settlement proves to be devastating for Indian tribes, as they lose lands they had inhabited for generations.
1830 Indian Removal Act:
Congress forces the Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Seminole to leave their homelands east of the Mississippi River and move to the Great Plains. Once the Indians are pushed out, white settlers occupy these lands. |