Acts, Laws, & Proclamations

• Act of Toleration (1649)


  Passed in Maryland, it guaranteed toleration to all Christians (intended to protect Catholics & excluded any non-christians)
• Navigation Acts (1651-1673)


  Laws passed by England that forced the colonists to:

  1. Buy goods ONLY from England

  2. Sell goods that colonists made ONLY to England

  3. Import Non-English goods using English ports and pay a duty (tax) on these goods to England

  4. Prohibit the colonies from making certain goods that England already made.
• Proclamation of 1763


  British government which forbade colonists from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains, and required any settlers already living west of the mountains to move back east.
• Sugar Act (1764)


  Placed duties on foreign luxuries like sugar, regulated trade, & raised revenue on sugar
• Quartering Act (1765)


  Forced colonists to provide food & living quarters to British soldiers
• Stamp Act (1765)


  Revenue placed on all paper products in the colonies & was a direct tax to colonists
• Declaratory Act (1766)


  Repealed stamp act but allowed Parliament to impose taxes & make laws in colonies under any circumstance
• Townsend Acts (1767)


  brought harsh taxes on goods like glass, paper, tea; writs of assistance were issued that allowed a search of colonial homes without a warrant
• Tea Act (1773)


  Made British tea cheaper even with taxes than smuggled tea (despite this colonists continued to boycott)
• Port Act (1774)


  Closed port of Boston & prohibited trade until tea dumped during Boston Tea Party was paid for
• Quebec Act (1774)


  Extended Quebec's boundary to the Ohio River, recognized Catholicism as its official religion, and established a non-representative government for its citizens. (angered colonists due to that land already being claimed)
• Prohibitory Act (1775)


  Declared the colonists in rebellion & cut off trade to the colonies after the Olive Branch Petition
• Land Ordinance (1785)


  Made policy for surveying & selling land in the west & set land aside for education
• Northwest Ordinance (1787)


  Set rules for creating new states
• Proclamation of Neutrality (1793)


  Issued by George Washington, this document stated that the United States would remain neutral in the French Revolution
• Public Land Act (1796)


  Established procedure of selling federal land, led to rapid settlement and creation of Vermont, Tennessee, & Kentucky
• Alien and Sedition Acts (1798)


  Signed by President Adams;

  1. increased waiting period for an immigrant to become a citizen from 5 to 14 years

  2. Allowed president to deport or arrest any "aliens" deemed dangerous

  3. made it illegal to publish defamatory statements about the federal government or its officials.
• Indian Intercourse Act (1834)


  Federal government became in control of native land & only the federal government could purchase & sell the land (act was ignored)
• Embargo Act (1807)


  Prohibited US merchant ships from sailing into foreign ports (backfired & hurt US economy & Britain didn't back down on control of the seas)
• Non-intercourse Act (1809)


  Made it legal for US merchants to trade with any foreign country besides France & Britain
• Indian Removal Act (1830)


  Forced resettlement of thousands of Native Americans west of the Mississippi
• Wilmot Proviso (1846)


  Forbid slavery in any territory acquired from Mexico (failed to pass in Senate due to southern influence)
• Fugitive Slave Acts (1850)


  Enforced by federal government to return runaway enslaved people, local & state law enforcement forced to follow the laws
• Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)


  Split Nebraska into 2 states, allowed settlers of territories to vote on whether to allow slavery (angered Northeners due to it being above Missouri compromise line & saw it as an attempt to increase southern power)
• Confiscation Acts (1861)


  Gave union army the power to seize confederate property; included enslaved people, gave president power to use freed people for Union army, caused south to lose labor & union army to grow
• Emancipation Proclamation (1863)


  Declared that all enslaved people in the confederacy were free & that the government would uphold their status as a freed person. (only applied to confederate states outside the Union so border states continued slavery)
• Homestead Act (1862)\

  Offered parcels of land for free to families who farmed for at least 5 years, led to more settlers moving west
• Morrill Land Grant Act (1862)


  Encouraged states to use the sale of federal land grants o maintain agriculture & technical colleges
• Pacific Railway Act (1862)


  Authorized a transcontinental railroad over northern route to link California & western states to economies on the East
• Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction (1863)


  Issued by Lincoln:

  1. Offered full presidential pardons for confederates who took oath of allegiance to the Union

  2. Accepted the emancipation of enslaved people

  3. State government could be reestablished if 10% of the voters took the loyalty oath
• Wades-Davis Bill (1864)


  Republicans objected the 10% plan, created bill where 50% of voters had to take oath of allegiance & only non confederates could cote on state constitutions (vetoed by Lincoln)
• Civil Rights Act (1866)


  Pronounced all freed African Americans as citizens, nullified Dred Scott case, attempted to provide a legal shield against the operation of southern black codes
• Reconstruction Acts (1867)


  Divided the south into 5 military districts, increased requirements to enter the Union by requiring ratification of 14th amendment & had to add universal male suffrage
• Tenure of Office Acts (1867)


  Prohibited the president from removing a federal official with Senate approval (Johnson challenged the constitutionality of te law so House impeached him but was unable to remove him from the office)
• Civil Rights Act (1875)


  Equal accommodations in public places & prohibited courts from excluding African Americans from juries (poorly enforced)
• Force Acts (1870)


  Created to protect civil rights of freedmen from the KKK
• Black Codes (1865)


  1. African Americans could not rent land or borrow money to buy land

  2. Could not testify against whites in court

  3. Had to sign work agreements or be arrested for vagrancy

  4. Contract labor systems made them work on cotton fields under white supervisor w/ deferred wages
• Indian Appropriation Act (1871)


  Ended recognition of tribes as independent nations by the federal government and ended negotiations of treaties
• Dawes Severalty Act (1887)


  Designed to break up tribal organizations, divided tribal lands, offered citizenship to natives who stayed on land for 25 years & became "civilized"
• Forest Reserve Act/Forest Management Act (1890s)


  Withdrew federal timer lands from development & regulated use