Election Laws of the United States CITIZENSHIP. SECTION 1992. All persons born in the United States Who are citizens. and not subject to any foreign power, excluding Indians not taxed, are declared to be citizens of the United States. citizens born SEC. 1993. All children heretofore born or hereafter Children of born out of the limits and jurisdiction of the United States, abroad. whose fathers were or may be at the time of their birth, citizens thereof, are declared to be citizens of the United States; but the rights of citizenship shall not descend to children whose fathers never resided in the United States. SEC. 1994. Any woman who is now or may hereafter Married women. be married to a citizen of the United States, and who might herself be lawfully naturalized, shall be deemed a citizen. In Oregon. SEC. 1995. All persons born in the district or country Persons born formerly known as the territory of Oregon, and subject to the jurisdiction of the United States on the 18th [of] May, 1872, are citizens in the same manner as if born elsewhere in the United States. citizenship. SEC. 1996. All persons who deserted the military or Forfeiture of naval service of the United States, and did not return thereto or report themselves to a provost marshal within sixty days after the issuance of the proclamation by the President, dated the 11th day of March, 1865, are deemed to have voluntarily relinquished and forfeited their rights of citizenship, as well as their right to become citizens; and such deserters shall be forever incapable of holding any office of trust or profit under the United States, or of exercising any rights of citizens thereof. Certain soldiers empted from forfeiture. and sailors ex SEC. 1997. No soldier or sailor, however, who faithfully served according to his enlistment until the 19th day of April, 1865, and who, without proper authority or leave first obtained quit his command or refused to serve after that date, shall be held to be a deserter from the army or navy; but this section shall be construed solely as removal of any disability such soldier or sailor may have incurred, under the preceding section, by the loss of citizenship and of the right to hold office in consequence of his desertion. SEC. 1998. Every person who hereafter deserts the Avoiding the military or naval service of the United States, or who, being duly enrolled departs the jurisdiction of the district in which he is enrolled, or goes beyond the limits of the United States with intent to avoid any draft into the military or naval service, lawfully ordered, shall be liable to (5) draft. Right of expatriation declared. Protection of naturalized all the penalities and forfeitures of section nineteen hundred and ninety-six. SEC. 1999. Whereas, the right of expatriation is a natural and inherent right of all people, indispensable to the enjoyment of the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; and, whereas, in the recognition of this principle this government has freely received emigrants from all nations; and invested them with the rights of citizenship; and whereas it is claimed that such American citizens, with their descendants, are subjects of foreign states, owing allegiance to the governments thereof; and whereas, it is necessary to the maintenance of public peace that this claim of foreign allegiance should be promptly and finally disavowed; therefore, any declaration, instruction, opinion, order, or decision of any officer of the United States which denies, restricts, impairs, or questions the right of expatriation, is declared inconsistent with the fundamental principles of the republic. SEC. 2000. All naturalized citizens of the United oltisens in for- States, while in foreign countries, are entitled to and shall receive from this government the same protection of persons and property which is accorded to native born citizens. eign states. Interference by army or naval officers. Race, color or Honorably discharged soldiers exempt from certain for malities. THE ELECTIVE FRANCHISE. SEC. 2003. No officer of the army or navy of the United States shall prescribe or fix, or attempt to prescribe or fix, by proclamation, order, or otherwise, the qualifications of voters in any state, or in any manner interfere with the freedom of any election in any state, or with the exercise of the free right of suffrage in any state. SEC. 2004. All citizens of the United States who are otherwise qualified by law to vote at any election by the people in any state, territory, district, county, city, parish, township, school district, municipality, or other territorial subdivision, shall be entitled and allowed to vote at all such elections, without distinction of race, color, or previous condition of servitude; any constitution, law, custom, usage, or regulation of any state or territory, or by or under its authority, to the contrary notwithstanding. NATURALIZATION. SEC. 2166. Any alien, of the age of twenty-one years and upward, who has enlisted, or may enlist, in the armies of the United States, either the regular or the volunteer forces, and has been, or may be hereafter, honorably discharged, shall be admitted to become a citizen of the United States, upon his petition, without any previous declaration of his intention to become such; and he shall not be required to prove more than one year's residence within the United NATURALIZATION. States previous to his application to become such citizen; and the court admitting such alien shall, in addition to such proof of residence and good moral character, as now provided by law, be satisfied by competent proof of such person's having been honorably discharged from the service of the United States. African nativity SEC. 2169. (As amended, 1875.)—The provisions of this Allens of title shall apply to aliens being free white persons, and .and descent. to aliens of African nativity and to persons of African descent. to alien enemies SEC. 2171. No alien who is a native citizen or subject, Naturalization or a denizen of any country, state, or sovereignty with prohibited. which the United States are at war, at the time of his application, shall be then admitted to become a citizen of the United States; but persons resident within the United States, or the Territories thereof, on the eighteenth day of June, in the year one thousand eight hundred and twelve, who had before that day made a declaration, according to law, of their intention to become citizens of the United States, or who were on that day entitled to become citizens without making such declaration, may be admitted to become citizens thereof, notwithstanding they were alien enemies at the time and in the manner prescribed by the laws heretofore passed on that subject; nor shall anything herein contained be taken or construed to interfere with or prevent the apprehension and removal, agreeably to law, of any alien enemy at any time previous to the actual naturalization of such alien. vessels. SEC. 2174. Every seaman, being a foreigner, who de- Alien seamen clares his intention of becoming a citizen of the United of merchant States in any competent court, and shall have served three years on board of a merchant-vessel of the United States subsequent to the date of such declaration, may, on his application to any competent court, and the production of his certificate of discharge and good conduct during that time, together with the certificate of his declaration of intention to become a citizen, be admitted a citizen of the United States; and every seaman, being a foreigner, shall, after his declaration of intention to become a citizen of the United States, and after he shall have served such three years, be deemed a citizen of the United States for the purpose of manning and serving on board any merchant-vessel of the United States, anything to the contrary in any act of Congress notwithstanding; but such seaman shall, for all purposes of protection as an American citizen, be deemed such, after the filing of his declaration of intention to become such citizen. TWENTY-SECOND STATUTES AT LARGE, PAGE 58. of Chinese SEC. 14. That hereafter no State court or court of the Naturalization United States, shall admit Chinese to citizenship; and all prombited. laws in conflict with this act are hereby repealed. Aliens honorably discharged from service in Navy or Marine Corps. NATURALIZATION. TWENTY-EIGHTH STATUTES AT LARGE, PAGE 124. Any alien of the age of twenty-one years and upward who has enlisted or may enlist in the United States Navy or Marine Corps, and has served or may hereafter serve five consecutive years in the United States Navy or one enlistment in the United States Marine Corps, and has been or may hereafter be honorably discharged, shall be admitted to become a citizen of the United States upon his petition, without any previous declaration of his intention to become such; and the court admitting such alien shall, in addition to proof of good moral character, be satisfied by competent proof of such person's service in and honorable discharge from the United States Navy or Marine Corps. AN ACT TO VALIDATE CERTAIN CERTIFICATES OF NATURAL IZATION. [Stat. 1905-6, Part I, p. 630.] Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That naturalization certificates issued after the Act approved March third, nineteen hundred and three, entitled, "An Act to regulate the immigration of aliens into the United States," went into effect, which fail to show that the courts issuing said certificates complied with the requirements of section thirty-nine of said Act, but which were otherwise lawfully issued, are hereby declared to be valid as though said certificates complied with said section: Provided, That in all such cases applications shall be made for new naturalization certificates, and when the same are granted, upon compliance with the provisions of said Act of nineteen hundred and three, they shall relate back to the defective certificates, and citizenship shall be deemed to have been perfected at the date of the defective certificate. SEC. 2. That all the records relating to naturalization, all declarations of intention to become citizens of the United States, and all certificates of naturalization filed, recorded, or issued prior to the time when this Act takes effect in or from the criminal court of Cook County, Illinois, shall for all purposes be deemed to be and to have been made, filed, recorded, or issued by a court with jurisdiction to naturalize aliens, but shall not be by this Act further validated or legalized. Approved June 29, 1906. NATURALIZATION ACT OF JUNE 29, 1906. [Stat. 1905-6, Part I, p. 596.] Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assem bled, That the designation of the Bureau of Immigration |