CHAPTER IV.

EVIDENCE REQUIRED BEFORE ISSUING PASSPORTS, AND PASS

PORT REGULATIONS.

notice of 1845.

IN July, 1845, a notice was printed and distributed Department by the Department "for the information of citizens of the United States about to visit foreign countries" containing this statement:

Letters.

To prevent delay in obtaining a passport, the appli- 38 Passport cation should be accompanied by such evidence as may show the applicant to be a citizen of the United States (when that fact is not already known to the Department of State).

Subsequent circulars of instruction were all to the same effect, but our agents abroad might occasionally issue passports to persons who were not American citizens. The Personal Instructions to the Diplomatic Agents of the United States, issued in 1853, said:

They sometimes receive applications for such passports. from citizens of other countries; but these are not regularly valid, and should be granted only under special circumstances, as may sometimes occur in the case of foreigners coming to the United States.

It was not until the passage of the act approved 11 Stat., 60. August 18, 1856, that it was specifically prohibited

to grant passports to persons other than American

citizens to have pass

ports.

12 Stat., 754. citizens; and this law was amended by the act approved March 3, 1863, so that it should not apply to 12 Stat., 731. persons liable to military duty under the act of the same date "for enrolling and calling out the national Persons not forces." The persons specified in the latter law were "all able-bodied male citizens of the United States, and persons of foreign birth who shall have declared on oath their intention to become citizens under and in pursuance of the laws thereof, between the ages of twenty and forty-five years," with the exception of certain officials, and physically and mentally unfit persons, etc. This extension of the law lasted only until May 30, was repealed.

Repealed. 14 Stat., 54.

Ante, p. 12.

Evidence of citizenship.

1866, when the act providing for it How many availed themselves of its provisions can not be ascertained, but it is probable that the number was small. The "declaration of intention" was not construed to entitle a person to a passport before 1863 nor after 1866. A special passport to a person who had made this first step toward acquiring American citizenship was, however, issued by Henry Clay March 15, 1825.

The nature of the evidence required in proof of the citizenship of applicants for passports has varied; but some sort of evidence was always exacted, except in those cases where the Department or the diplomatic or consular officer had knowledge that the persons applying were entitled to reNaturaliza- ceive passports. In the case of naturalized citizens the certificate of naturalization was submitted as

tion certifi

cate.

evidence of citizenship; but, while this has always

been the rule, its strict observance in the earlier
days was not always insisted upon. The evidence
upon which the passports were issued up to 1830
consisted chiefly of letters from the applicants them-
selves, or from third persons known to the Depart-
ment, or certificates from notaries public that the
applicant was a citizen of the United States.
1830 a printed form of application came into
as follows:

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

State of Maryland, to wit:

In Form of application, 1830.

use,

I, John Gill, Notary public by Letters Patent [SEAL.] under the Great Seal of the State of Maryland, Commissioned and duly qualified, residing in the City of Baltimore, in the State aforesaid, do hereby Certify, Attest and Make Known, That, on the day of the date hereof, before me personally appeared, John P. Strobel, An American citizen

[Here follows the description.]

Who being by me duly and solemnly sworn, did depose and say that he is a naturalized citizen of the United States of America, being the same person mentioned in the Certificate of Naturalization herewith enclosed, granted at Baltimore the 21st October 1806, and signed Wm Gibson Clk Balto. Coty. Ct.

In Testimony Whereof, the said Deponent hath hereunto subscribed his name; and I the said Notary have hereunto set my Hand, and affixed my Notarial Seal the 17th day of May in the Year of our Lord, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Thirty.

[Name cut off.]

But this form does not appear to have been obligatory, and there was no uniformity in the applications.

2 Passport Letters.

Circular of The circular of July, 1845, gave instructions as to the

July, 1845.

proper method of proceeding in order to procure a passport:

38 Passport Letters.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,

Washington, July, 1845.

For the information of citizens of the United States about to visit foreign countries, where they may be subjected to inconvenience for the want of sufficient evidence of their national character, it is deemed proper to state that passports will be granted gratis, by the Secretary of State, to such citizens, on his being satisfied that they are entitled to receive them.

To prevent delay in obtaining a passport, the application should be accompanied by such evidence as may show the applicant to be a citizen of the United States (where that fact is not already known to the Department of State), and with a description of his person, embracing the following particulars: Age, years; stature,

inches; forehead, - -; eyes,

feet,

-; nose,

-; mouth,..

; face,

;

; chin, ; hair,; complexion,

—;

When the applicant is to be accompanied by his wife, children, or servants, or females under his protection, it will be sufficient to state the names and ages of such persons, and their relationship to the applicant, as one passport may cover the whole.

Certificates of citizenship or passports granted by the different States and municipal authorities in the United States are not recognized by the officers of foreign governments; and for the want of necessary official information as to those authorities, the ministers and consuls of the United States in foreign countries can not authenticate such documents.

It is proper to add that persons who leave the United States without certificates or other evidence of their citi

zenship, expecting to be furnished with passports by the diplomatic agents or consuls of the United States residing in the country to be visited, are always liable to be disappointed in obtaining them, as these documents are only properly granted on the faith of some evidence that the individuals for whom they are asked are entitled to receive them. Such testimony it is sometimes difficult, if not impracticable, to procure among strangers, and it is therefore recommended to every citizen of the United States who purposes going abroad to furnish himself, before leaving home, with the necessary passport.

The postage on all applications of this character must be prepaid, and it is desirable, in all cases when practicable, that the individual wanting a passport should address his request immediately to the Department of State, instead of applying to a collector of customs or seeking to obtain it through any other indirect channel.

There is noticeable from this time an improve-Affidavits. ment in the character of the applications, more of them coming from the applicants direct, and some of them being in the form of affidavits of the appli

cants.

May, 1846.

In May, 1846, the Department issued another Circular of circular of instructions. It contained the same information as the one last quoted, with additions. giving more explicit directions to applicants. It was repeated in April, 1850:

107.

This proof need be transmitted but once. On all subse- Circulars 1, quent occasions, a simple reference to it and to the period when it was presented will be sufficient.