that privilege and be qualified agreeable to the constitution; and provided also that no person whatsoever, having or holding any place or pension from any foreign state or potentate, shall be eligible to any office-legislative, executive, or judiciary-within this State. (Laws of South Carolina, No. 1214, 1784. Statutes of South Carolina, Vol. IV, 1752 to 1786, p. 600.)

VIRGINIA.

Be it enacted by the general assembly, That all white persons born within the territory of this Commonwealth, and all who have resided therein two years next before the passing of this act, and all who shall hereafter migrate into the same, other than alien enemies, and shall, before any court of record, give satisfactory proof by their own oath or affirmation that they intend to reside therein, and moreover shall give assurance of fidelity to the Commonwealth, and all infants, wheresoever born, whose father if living, or otherwise whose mother was a citizen at the time of their birth, or who migrate hither, their father if living, or otherwise their mother, becoming a citizen, or who migrate hither without father or mother, shall be deemed citizens of this Commonwealth until they relinquish that character in manner as hereinafter expressed; and all others not being citizens of any of the United States of America shall be deemed aliens. The clerk of the court shall enter such oath of record and give the person taking the same a certificate thereof, for which he shall receive the fee of one dollar. And in order to preserve to the citizens of this Commonwealth that natural right which all men have of relinquishing the country in which birth or other accident may have thrown them and seeking subsistence and happiness wheresoever they may be able or may hope to find them: And to declare unequivocally what circumstances shall be deemed evidence of an intention in any citizen to exercise that right, It is enacted and declared, That whensoever any citizen of this Commonwealth shall, by word of mouth, in the presence of the court of the county wherein he resides, or of the general court, or by deed in writing under his hand and seal, executed in the presence of three witnesses and by them proved in either of the said courts, openly declare to the same court that he relinquishes the character of a citizen and shall depart the Commonwealth, such person shall be considered as having exercised his natural right of expatriating himself, and shall be deemed no citizen of this Commonwealth from the time of his departure. The free white inhabitants of every of the States parties to the American confederation, paupers, vagabonds, and fugitives from justice excepted, shall be entitled to all rights, privileges, and immunities of free citizens in this Commonwealth, and shall have free egress and regress to and from the same, and shall enpoy therein all the privileges of trade and commerce, subject to the same duties, impositions, and restrictions as the citizens of this Commonwealth; and if any person guilty of or charged with treason, felony, or other high misdemeanor in any of the said States shall flee from justice and be found in this Commonwealth he shall upon demand of the governour or executive power of the State from which he fled, be delivered up to be removed to the State having juris

diction of his offence. Where any person holding property within this Commonwealth shall be attainted within any of the said States, parties to the said confederation, of any of those crimes which by the laws of this Commonwealth shall be punishable by forfeiture of such property, the said property shall be disposed of in the same manner as it would have been if the owner thereof had been attainted of the like crime in this Commonwealth.

(Act of 1779, Chap. LV, vol. 10, p. 129, Hening's Statutes at Large.)

ACT OF 1783

AN ACT for the admission of emigrants and declaring their rights to citizenship. 1. Whereas it is the policy of all infant states to encourage population, among other means by an easy mode of admission of foreigners to the rights of citizenship; yet wisdom and safety suggest the propriety of guarding against the introduction of secret enemies. and of keeping the offices of government in the hands of citizens intimately acquainted with the spirit of the constitution and the genius of the people as well as permanently attached to the common interest: Be it therefore enacted by the general assembly, That all free persons born within the territory of this Commonwealth; all persons, not being natives, who have obtained a right to citizenship under the act entitled "An act declaring who shall be deemed citizens of this Commonwealth," and also all children, wheresoever born, whose fathers or mothers are or were citizens at the time of the birth of such children, shall be deemed citizens of this Commonwealth until they relinquish that character in manner hereinafter mentioned; and that all persons, other than alien enemies, who shall migrate into this State, and shall before some court of record give satisfactory proof by oath (or being Quakers or Menonites, by affirmation) that they intend to reside therein, and also take the legal oath or affirmation for giving assurance of fidelity to the Commonwealth (which oaths or affirmations the clerk of the court shall enter on record and give a certificate thereof to the person taking the same, for which he shall receive the fee of one dollar), shall be entitled to all the rights, privileges, and advantages of citizens, except that they shall not be capable of election or appointment to any office, legislative, executive, or judicial, until an actual residence in the State of two years from the time of taking such oaths or affirmations as aforesaid, nor until they shall have evinced a permanent attachment to the State by having intermarried with a citizen of this Commonwealth or a citizen of any other of the United States, or purchased lands to the value of one hundred pounds therein.

(A collection of all such public acts of the general assembly and ordinances of the convention of Virginia passed since the year 1788, V, chapter 16, p. 213. Richmond, 1785. Printed by Thomas Nicholson and William Prentis.)

HD-59-1-Vol 44- -38

APPENDIX B.

STATUTORY HISTORY OF NATURALIZATION IN THE UNITED

STATES.

[From the report of the Secretary of State, January 19, 1904.]

In the Declaration of Independence one of the grievances enumerated against George III was:

"He has endeavored to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the laws of naturalization of foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands."

The Constitution provided that the Congress should have power 66 to establish an uniform rule of naturalization."

Accordingly, an act was approved March 26, 1790, providing that a free white alien could be admitted to citizenship after residing within the limits and under the jurisdiction of the United States for two years, by any common-law court of record, after a residence of one year in a particular State, provided he was of good moral charactere and took an oath to support the Constitution. His naturalization also made his minor children citizens (1 Stat. L., 103). This act was repealed by that of January 29, 1795, which required a declaration of intention to become a citizen three years, at least, before admission before the "supreme, superior, district, or circuit court of some of the States, or of the Territories northwest or south of the river Ohio, or a circuit or district court of the United States," and upon applying for admission to citizenship the applicant must swear to five years' residence in the United States and one year's residence in the State where he applied, besides taking the oath of allegiance.

But people then residing in the United States were permitted, as under the act of March 26, 1790, to secure naturalization after a residence of two years. No person proscribed by the legislature of any State and legally convicted of having joined the army of Great Britain during the late war could be admitted without the consent of the legislature. The act of 1790 had simply debarred those who had been proscribed by the legislature of a State until the legislature lifted the proscription. (1 Stat. L., 414.) The next general naturalization law was the severest ever passed in this country, and was the outcome of the agitation against aliens, which led also to the passage of the alien and sedition laws. It was approved June 18, 1798. It required that an alien must make his declaration of intention five years at least before his admission and prove residence in the United States for fourteen years and in the State where he applied for five years. Any alien in the United States before the act of January 29, 1795, might secure naturalization one year after

the passage of the act. If he had made his declaration of intention in accordance with the provisions of the act of 1795, he might within four years thereafter secure naturalization, if he had lived five years in the United States, and no citizen of a country with which the United States might be at war at the time of his application could be admitted to citizenship. Clerks of courts before which declarations of intention might be made were to transmit abstracts of such declarations to the Secretary of State and naturalizations were to be similarly reported. (1 Stat. L., 566.)

This act remained in force four years. It was the only one which required a report of naturalization to be made to the Executive. It was repealed by the act of April 14, 1802, the main source from which springs our existing system of naturalization. It provides that a person may be admitted to citizenship

First. After making an oath before the supreme, superior, district, or circuit court of a State or Territory, or a Federal circuit or district court, three years at least before application of his declaration of intention.

Second. After taking the oath of allegiance to the United States and of renunciation of his former allegiance.

Third. After having resided in the United States at least five years and in the State where he applied at least one year before application. He must also establish a good moral character and attachment to the Government.

Fourth. Upon renouncing any title of nobility he may have had. But a citizen of a country with which we might be at war could not be admitted, and an alien resident in the United States before January 29, 1795, might be admitted after a two years' residence.

Every free white person arriving in the United States after the approval of the act, in order to become a citizen, must report himself, if 21 years old, or be reported, if a minor, to some court of record, and his name, nationality, etc., being recorded, receive a certificate of his registration. The children of persons duly naturalized were, if dwelling in this country, to be considered citizens, and the children of citizens born out of the United States enjoyed the same status, provided that the citizenship should not descend to persons whose fathers had never resided in the United States. No person proscribed by the legislature of any State for having joined the British army was to be admitted without the consent of the legislature of the State in which such person was proscribed. (2 Stat. L., 153.)

The act of March 26, 1804, modified this act so as to permit the naturalization of persons residing in the United States between June 18, 1798, and April 14, 1802, without the previous declaration of intention; and if any one should die after declaring his intention to become a citizen and before he had secured naturalization his widow. and minor children were to be considered citizens upon taking the oaths prescribed by law. (2 Stat. L., 282.)

The five years' residence before naturalization was restricted by section 12 of the act of March 3, 1813, so that no person should be admitted to citizenship who should not have resided for the continued term of five years within the United States without being at any time out of its territory. Section 13 of the same act provided severe penalties for forging, counterfeiting, or selling certificates of citizenship. (2 Stat. L., 811.)

Both of these enactments were made during a period of war. They were followed by a third, approved June 30, 1813, which permitted the naturalization of persons resident in the United States June 18, 1812, who had made their declaration of intention or who were entitled to naturalization without such declaration, notwithstanding the fact that they might be alien enemies according to existing law. Nothing in the act was to be construed as preventing the apprehension and removal, agreeably to law, of an alien enemy at any time previous to his naturalization. (3 Stat. L., 53.) Another act (Mar. 22, 1816) required that the certificate of registry prescribed by the act of April 14, 1802, and from the clerk of a court of a declaration of intention should be exhibited by every alien on his application to become a citizen, provided he arrived in this country after June 18, 1812, and must be recited in the certificate of naturalization, otherwise he was not to be considered a citizen. This act was not to apply, however, to persons in the United States betwen June 18, 1798, and April 14, 1802. (3 Stat. L., 259.)

On May 26, 1824, the act was approved which nearly assimilated to the one now in force on the subject of naturalization of aliens coming to this country during their minority. It provided that a free white person residing in the United States three years next preceding his arrival at the age of 21 years, and who continued his residence therein to the time of his application, might, after arriving at the age of 21, and after five years' residence, including the three years of his minority, be admitted to citizenship without having made the previous declaration of intention required by law. He must make the declaration of intention at the time of his application for citizenship, and state and prove that for three years last past it had been his intention to become a citizen of the United States. The second section of this act also provided that a certificate of naturalization previously_obtained from any court was not to be deemed invalid because of an omission to comply with the requirements of the act of March 22, 1816, that a certificate of report and registry and of declaration of intention should be exhibited upon application for naturalization. The fourth section provided that the declaration of intention two years before admission to citizenship should be sufficient. (4 Stat. L., 69.) The act of May 24, 1828, repealed so much of the acts of April 14, 1802, and of March 22, 1816, as required the registry of all foreigners who desired naturalization upon their arrival in this country, and provided that any person residing in the United States between the dates of April 14, 1802, and June 18, 1812, and who had continued his residence, might be admitted to citizenship without having made a previous declaration of intention. (4 Stat. L., 310.)

The requirements of the act of March 3, 1813, that the five years' residence should not permit of any absence from the United States was repealed by the act of June 26, 1848. (9 Stat. L., 240.)

The act of February 10, 1855, modified so much of the act of April 14, 1802, as required that the children of citizens born outside of the United States should be considered citizens if dwelling within the United States, and simply declared them to be citizens, the rights of citizenship not to descend to the children of fathers who had never resided in the United States. The same act provided that any woman. who might herself lawfully be naturalized was to be considered a citizen upon her marriage to an American citizen. (10 Stat. L., 604.),