Choose one of the laws from this week’s lecture and write a paragraph about how you see it having affected the USA. For your second post, see if you can make connections between laws or add to what someone else has said.

For this week, we will be talking about some of the laws that have been passed in the United States that have supported racial and ethnic disparities. Often, the economy and the legal system influence each other. Over the past couple weeks, we have spent a good amount of time talking about the economy, so now it is time to move onto the legal system. As you may imagine, there is a lot of information to cover–a lot of laws have been passed over the past 200+ years. Please watch the following video as an overview/primer:Over the centuries, the United States has passed a number of laws, acts, and policies that have supported ethnic and racial disparities. I will not be discussing them all, nor will I be listing them all. However, some key legislation will appear below, so please take a look through. These will help us pull together some threads to form a large picture. For the purposes of simplification, I will group the laws according to the following categories:SlaverySegregation Indian removalImmigration, Anti-Asian sentiment, Anti-Muslim sentimentSlaveryBelow are links to some of the key legislation that was passed with regard to slavery.  Overall, the legislation had the effect of classifying slaves as property and and less than a full citizen, which in turn would reinforce the idea that slaves are less deserving of the rights granted to full citizens. Some of the laws also had the effect of offering a legal definition of race.Fugitive slave act (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.)3/5 law 1.1 (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.)3/5 law 1.2 (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.)One drop rule (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.)Missouri compromise 1.1 (Links to an external site.)Missouri compromise 1.2 (Links to an external site.)Segregation After slavery officially ended in 1863 (which was late by world standards), there were a number of laws put into place that would work to ensure segregation. Many of these laws would also have the effect of maintaining economic disparities between ethnic groups. Jim Crow laws (Links to an external site.)Plessy v Ferguson (Links to an external site.)Anti-miscegenation laws (Links to an external site.)Brown vs board of education (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.)Indian RemovalThroughout the course of US history, there were various acts that led to Native Nations being dispossessed of their ancestral territories. Some of the dispossession was the result of the many “Indian Wars” fought over the course of the 19th Century.  Some of the dispossession was the result of Supreme Court judgements, which resulted in such things as the Trail of Tears.  Also, something interesting to note is that, although indigenous populations occupied the land that would become the US for millennia before Europeans arrived, they were not granted citizenship until 1924.  This means, for instance, that in WWI, indigenous people could serve in the armed forces, but they could not vote.Indian removal acts, (Links to an external site.) including Trail of Tears Marshall/Jackson case and other laws linked belowFor a little more context, this judgement had two major effects, in addition to the tragedy of the Trail of Tears. 1) Native Americans were classified as wards of the court, not citizens. 2) Native Nations were ruled to be domestic dependent, which means that they basically hae the rights of states but are still subject to the laws of the federal government. Homestead act (Links to an external site.)Dawes act (Links to an external site.)Again for some context this act decreased the land owned by Indians by more than half and opened even more land to white settlers and railroadsTermination and relocation 1.1 (Links to an external site.)Termination and relocation 1.2 (Links to an external site.)Boarding schools (Links to an external site.)Boarding school education for Native American children never made it to law. However, thousands of indigenous children were sent hundreds of miles from their homes so that they could receive a blue collar education and be put in a situation where only English was spoken.  The goals was to encourage the children to lose their native cultures and adopt American blue collar ways.  The motto of the schools was “Kill the Indian….Save the Man.”Treaties with pueblos 1.1 (Links to an external site.)Treaties with Pueblos 1.2 (Links to an external site.)Every situation is unique, and there are often exceptions to rules.  One such exception occurred with the Pueblo Nations in current day New Mexico.  Prior to the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, Spain and then Mexico occupied the land that would become New Mexico.  Both Spain and Mexico formed treaties with the Puebloan peoples and granted them their lands in writing.  After some legal battles, the US upheld the treaties’ “aboriginal title” as neither Spain nor Mexico could give away lands they did not own.Immigration, Anti-Asian sentiment, and Anti-Muslim sentimentAs you may guess, immigration policies are a huge topic as the US is largely a nation of immigrants. Over the years, policies have changed drastically. Please take a close look through the timeline below for a good overview.  The links after that are descriptions of some famous legislation and some recent legislation.Immigration Policies historical timeline (Links to an external site.)Chinese exclusion act (Links to an external site.)WWII executive order 9066 (Links to an external site.)Transportation Security Act (Links to an external site.) 1.1Transportation Security Act (Links to an external site.) 1.2Transportation Security Act (Links to an external site.) 1.3 (Links to an external site.)Immigration and Nationality Act