Naturalization Act of 1790

The Naturalization Law of 1790 (1 Stat. 103, enacted March 26, 1790 ) was a law of the United States Congress that set the first rules for the granting of United States citizenship by naturalization. The law limited naturalization to "free white person[s] ... of good character", thus excluding Native Americans, indentured servants, slaves, free blacks and later Asians, although free blacks were allowed citizenship at the state level in a number of states.

Naturalization Act of 1790
Other short titlesNaturalization Act
Long titleAn Act to establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization
Enacted bythe 1st United States Congress
EffectiveMarch 26, 1790
Legislative history

The Act was modelled on the British Plantation Act 1740 with respect to time, oath of allegiance, process of swearing before a judge, etc.[1][2]

Provisions

There was a two year residency requirement in the United States and one year in the state of residence before an alien would apply for citizenship, by filing a Petition for Naturalization with "any common law court of record" having jurisdiction over his residence. Once convinced of the applicant's “good character”, the court would administer an oath of allegiance to support the Constitution of the United States. The applicant’s children to age of 21 would also be naturalized. The clerk of the court was to make a record of these proceedings, and "thereupon such person shall be considered as a citizen of the United States."

The Act also provided that children born abroad when both parents are U.S. citizens "shall be considered as natural born citizens," but specified that the right of citizenship did "not descend to persons whose fathers have never been resident in the United States."[3][4][5] This act was the only US statute to ever to use the term "natural born citizen", found in the US Constitution in relation to the prerequisites for a person to serve as President or Vice-President, and the term was removed by the Naturalization Act of 1795.

Afterwards

The Naturalization Act of 1795 repealed and superseded the 1790 Act. The 1795 Act extended the residence requirement to five years, and added a requirement that a prospective applicant needed to give notice of application of three years. The Naturalization Act of 1798 extended the residency requirement to 14 years and notice period to five years. The 1798 Act was repealed by the Naturalization Law of 1802, restoring the residency and notice requirements of the 1795 Act.

Major changes in citizenship rules were made in the 19th century following the American Civil War. The Fourteenth Amendment in 1868 granted citizenship to people born within the United States and subject to its jurisdiction, irrespective of race, but it excluded untaxed “Indians” (Native Americans living on reservations). The Naturalization Act of 1870 extended "the naturalization laws" to "aliens of African nativity and to persons of African descent" while also revoking the citizenship of naturalized Chinese Americans.[6]

By virtue of the Fourteenth Amendment and despite the 1870 Act, the Supreme Court in United States v. Wong Kim Ark (1898) recognised U.S. birthright citizenship of an American-born child of Chinese parents who had a permanent domicile and residence in the United States, and who were there carrying on business, and were not employed in any diplomatic or official capacity under the Emperor of China.[7] U.S. citizenship of persons born in the United States since Wong Kim Ark have been recognised, although the Supreme Court has never directly made a ruling in relation to children born to parents who are not legal residents in the United States.

Native Americans were granted citizenship by the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924, whether or not they belonged to a federally recognized tribe, though by that date two-thirds of Native Americans were already U.S. citizens.

Further changes to racial eligibility for citizenship by naturalization were made after 1940, when eligibility was extended to "descendants of races indigenous to the Western Hemisphere," "Filipino persons or persons of Filipino descent," "Chinese persons or persons of Chinese descent," and "persons of races indigenous to India."[8] The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 prohibits racial and gender discrimination in naturalization.[9]

References
  1. Michael Lemay, Elliott Robert Barkan, U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Laws and Issues: A Documentary History, pp 6-9. (1999) Retrieved 2014-03-29  – via Questia (subscription required)
  2. Historical Timeline, History of Legal and Illegal Immigration to the United States, 1607-1799
  3. Hymowitz; Weissman (1975). A History of Women in America. Bantam.
  4. Schultz, Jeffrey D. (2002). Encyclopedia of Minorities in American Politics: African Americans and Asian Americans. p. 284. ISBN 9781573561488. Retrieved 2010-03-25.
  5. Bad news for Ted Cruz: his eligibility for president is going to court. Dara Lind and Jeff Stein. Vox Media. 18 February 2016. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
  6. Forbidden Citizens: Chinese Exclusion and the U.S. Congress: A Legislative History. ISBN 9781587332524.
  7. United States v. Wong Kim Ark, 169 U.S. 649 (1898).
  8. Coulson, Doug (2015). "British Imperialism, the Indian Independence Movement, and the Racial Eligibility Provisions of the Naturalization Act: United States v. Thind Revisited". Georgetown Journal of Law & Modern Critical Race Perspectives (7): 2. SSRN 2610266.
  9. Daniels, Roger. Coming to America, A History of Immigration and Ethnicity in American Life.
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