Decrees in naturalization to be recorded by Clerk of Court.

Aliens resident in 1798.

What Courts have jurisdiction to naturalize aliens.

Children of

citizens by

ness of the same; and where the alien applying for admission to citizenship shall have borne any hereditary title, or been of any of the orders of nobility in the kingdom or State from which he came; on his moreover making in the Court an express renunciation of his title or order of nobility before he shall be entitled to such admission; all of which proceedings, required in this proviso to be performed in the Court, shall be recorded. by the Clerk thereof; and provided, also, that any alien who was residing within the limits and under the jurisdiction of the United States at any time between the said twenty-ninth day of January, seventeen hundred and ninety-five, and the eighteenth day of June, seventeen hundred and ninety-eight, may within two years after the passage of this Act be admitted to become a citizen without a compliance with the first condition above specified.

[Section 2 of this Act was repealed by Act of May 24th, 1828.]

SEC. 3. And whereas, doubts have arisen whether certain Courts of record in some of the States are included within the description of District or Circuit Courts: Be it further enacted, That every Court of record in any individual State having common law jurisdiction, and a seal and clerk or prothonotary, shall be considered as a District Court within the meaning of this Act; and every alien who may have been naturalized in any such Court shall enjoy, from and after the passage of the Act, the same rights and privileges as if he had been naturalized. in a District or Circuit Court of the United States.

NOTE.-See cases Ex Parte Knowles, 5 Cal., p. 300, cited in note to Sec. 4, Act of July 14th, 1870, post; also Federal and State Constitutions, post, in this Appendix.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That the children of per

naturaliza- sons duly naturalized under any of the laws of the United

tion are

citizens.

States, or who, previous to the passing of any law on that subject by the government of the United States, may have become citizens of any one of the said States under the laws thereof, being under the age of twenty-one years at

non-resi

the time of their parents being so naturalized or admitted to the rights of citizenship, shall, if dwelling in the United States, be considered as citizens of the United States; and the children of persons who now are or have been citizens of the United States, shall, though born out of the limits and jurisdiction of the United States, be considered as citizens of the United States; provided, that the Children of right of citizenship shall not descend to persons whose dents. fathers have never resided within the United States; provided, also, that no person heretofore proscribed by any Proscribed State, or who has been legally convicted of having joined the army of Great Britian during the late war, shall be admitted a citizen as aforesaid without the consent of the Legislature of the State in which such person was proscribed.

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That all Acts heretofore passed respecting naturalization be and the same are hereby repealed.

NOTE.-Story on the Constitution, Vol. 1, Secs. 11021104; Subd. 4, Sec. 8, Art. I, Fed. Const. The power to naturalize seems to have been conceded to the Federal Government by the States without objection. See Journals of Convention, pp. 220 and 257. This power is exclusive, and consequently there is no reservation of concurrent power to the States over the subject. The right of suffrage has by some State Constitutions and otherwise been permitted to persons foreign born who are not citizens by naturalization. Sec. 1, Art. VI of the Illinois Constitution, for instance, provides that "every white male inhabitant of the age aforesaid (21 years) who may be a resident of the State at the time of the adoption of this Constitution shall have the right of voting as aforesaid," etc. This gives persons not citizens of the United States the right to vote in Illinois, but does not give them the right to vote in this State. This has given rise to some confusion and embarrassments to immigrants to this State from Illinois. The right to vote is one thing, and citizenship another; the latter includes the first, but the first does not include the latter. See Art. IV, Sec. 2, Fed. Const., "Rights of citizens of the several States exercised by the citizens of each State."

36-VOL. II.-POL.

persons.

Repeal of
Acts.

all former

By the second clause of Article VIII of the TREATY OF GUADALUPE HIDALGO, it is provided with regard to citizens of Mexico then established in California and other Territories acquired by the United States that: "Those who shall prefer to remain in the said Territories may either retain the title and rights of Mexican citizens, or acquire those of citizens of the United States; but they shall be under the obligation to make their election within one year from the date of the exchange of ratifications of this treaty, and those who shall remain in the said Territories after the expiration of that year without having declared their intention to retain the character of Mexicans, shall be considered to have elected to have become citizens of the United States." In People vs. Naglee, 1 Cal., p. 232, the question of citizenship under this Article was considered to a certain extent by Justice Bennett. Subsequently, however, in the recent case of The People vs. De la Guerra, 40 Cal., p. 311, the question was very ably and elaborately argued by counsel and carefully considered by the Court in an able opinion by Justice Temple, arriving at the conclusion that the respondent by residing in the Territory of California and not electing to retain his citizenship of Mexico became and is a citizen of the United States, citing in support Scott vs. Sandford, 19 How., p. 446; Am. Ins. Co. vs. Canter, 1 Peters, p. 511. This decision, concurred in by Justices Wallace and Crocket, Justice Rhodes concurring in the judgment and Justice Sprague expressing no opinion, must be taken as a settlement of any question which may arise under this Article of the Treaty so far as the State is concerned. As yet, however, there has been no determination of it by or even a question in regard to it presented to the Supreme Court of the United States.

Act in addition to the above Act.

[Approved March 26, 1804.]

SECTION 1.

Free white alien resident in 1802, and after 1798.

SECTION 2.

Widow and children of aliens who die before perfecting naturaliza

tion are citizens.

SECTION 1. That any alien, being a free white person, who was residing within the limits and under the juris

diction of the United States at any time between the eighteenth day of June, seventeen hundred and ninetyeight, and the fourteenth day of April, eighteen hundred and two, and who has continued to reside within the same, may be admitted to become a citizen of the United States without a compliance with the first condition specified in the first section of the Act entitled "An Act to establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and to repeal the Acts heretofore passed on that subject."

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That when any alien who shall have complied with the first condition specified in the first section of said original Act, and who shall have pursued the directions prescribed in the second section of the said Act, may die before he is actually naturalized, the widow and the children of such alien. shall be considered as citizens of the United States, and shall be entitled to all rights and privileges as such upon taking the oaths prescribed by law.

An Act for the regulation of seamen on board the public and private vessels of the United States.

What continued residence in the United States necessary for citizenship.

SECTION 13.

Forging certificate of citizenship a felony.

continued

SECTION 12. And be it further enacted, That no per- What son who shall arrive in the United States, from and residence after the time this Act shall take effect, shall be mitted to become a citizen of the United States, who

ad

shall not, for the continued term of five years next preceding his admission as aforesaid, have resided within the United States.

NOTE. The words "without being at any time during the said five years out of the territory of the

in United

necessary

States

for

citizenship.

Forging certificate of citizenship a felony.

United States" were contained in this section as it was originally enacted, but were stricken out by the Act of June 26th, 1848, post.

SEC. 13. And be it further enacted, That if any person shall falsely make, forge, or counterfeit, or cause or procure to be falsely made, forged, or counterfeited, any certificate or evidence of citizenship referred to in this Act; or shall pass, utter, or use as true, any false, forged, or counterfeited certificate of citizenship; or shall make sale or dispose of any certificate of citizenship to any person other than the person for whom it was originally issued, and to whom it may of right belong, every such person shall be deemed and adjudged guilty of felony; and on being thereof convicted by due course of law, shall be sentenced to be imprisoned and kept to hard labor for a period not less than three or more than five years, or be fined in a sum not less than five hundred dollars, nor more than one thousand dollars, at the discretion of the Court taking cognizance thereof.

Though enemies, aliens

resident in 1812 may become citizens.

Removal of alien enemies not

affected.

Act supplementary to former Acts.

[Approved July 30, 1813.]

SECTION 1.

Though enemies, aliens resident in 1812 may become citizens. Removal not affected.

SECTION 1. That persons resident within the United States, or the Territories thereof, on the eighteenth day of June, eighteen 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 by the existing laws of the United States were on that day entitled to become citizens without making such declaration, may be admitted to become citizens thereof, notwithstanding they shall be alien enemies at the time, and in the manner prescribed by the laws heretofore passed on that subject; provided, that nothing herein contained shall be taken or construed to interfere with, or prevent the apprehension and removal, agreeably to