Page images
PDF
EPUB

APPENDIX.

ACTS OF CONGRESS.

LAWS OF NATURALIZATION,

PASSED BY THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES, AS DIGESTED BY THOMAS F. GORDON. ARTICLE 1. Any alien being a free white person, may be admitted to become a citizen of the United States, or any of them, on the following conditions, and not otherwise: That he shall have declared on oath or affirmation, before the supreme, superior, district, or circuit court of some one of the United States, or of the territorial districts of the United States, or a circuit or district court of the United States, or before the clerk of either of such courts, (1) two (2) years at least before his admission, that it was bona fide his intention to become a citizen of the United States, and to renounce forever all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty whatever, and particularly by name, the prince, potentate, or sovereignty whereof such alien may at the time be a citizen or subject.(3)

ART. 2. Any alien who was residing within the limits, and under the jurisdiction of the United States, before the twenty-ninth day of January, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-five, may be admitted to become a citizen, on due proof made to some one of the courts aforesaid, that he has resided two years at least within and under the jurisdiction of the United States, and one year at least immediately preceding his application, within the state or territory where such court is at the time held; and on his declaring, on oath or affirmation, that he will support the constitution of the United States, and that he doth absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty whatever, and particularly, by name, the prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty whereof he was before a citizen or subject; and, moreover, on its appearing to the satisfaction of the courts that during the said term of two years, he has behaved as a man of good moral character, attached to the constitution of the United States, and well disposed to the good order and happiness 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.(4)

ART. 3. From this condition (Art. 1) is exempted any alien being a free white person, who was residing within the limits and under the jurisdiction of the United States at any time between the eighteenth day of June, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-eight, and the fourteenth day of April, one thousand eight hundred and two, and who has continued to reside within the same.(5)

ART. 4. Nothing in the first section, act twenty-second March, one thousand eight hundred and sixteen, (6) shall be construed to exclude from admission to citizenship any free white person who was residing within the limits and under the jurisdiction of the United States at any time between the eighteenth day of June, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-eight, and the fourteenth day of April, one thousand eight hundred and two, and who, having continued to reside therein without having made any declaration of intention before a court of record as aforesaid, may be entitled to become a citizen of the United States, according to act of twentysixth of March, one thousand eight hundred and four. Whenever any person without a certificate of such declaration of intention as aforesaid, shall make application to be admitted a citizen of the United States, it shall be proved to the satisfaction of the court that the applicant was residing within the limits and under the jurisdiction of the United States, before the fourteenth day of April, one thousand eight hundred and two, and has continued to reside (1) Act May 26, 1824, sec. 3. (2) Id. sec. 4. (3) Act April 14, 1802. (4) Id. sec. 1. (5) Act March 26, 1804, Bec. 1. (6) The first section of act of 22d March, 1816, was repealed by act of 24th May, 1828.

within the same, or he shall not be so admitted. And the residence of the applicant, within the limits and under the jurisdiction of the United States for at least five years immediately preceding the time of such application, shall be proved by the oath or affirmation of citizens of the United States, which citizens shall be named in the record as witnesses. And such continued residence within the limits and under the jurisdiction of the United States, when satisfactorily proved, and the place or places where the applicant has resided for at least five years as aforesaid, shall be stated and set forth, together with the names of such citizens in the record of the court admitting the applicant; otherwise the same shall not entitle him to be considered and deemed a citizen of the United States.(1)

ART. 5. That any alien, being a free white person, who was residing within the limits and under the jurisdiction of the United States, between the fourteenth day of April, one thousand eight hundred and two, and the eighteenth day of June, one thousand eight hundred and twelve, and who has continued to reside within the same, may be admitted to become a citizen of the United States, without having made any previous declaration of his intention to become a citizen; provided, that whenever any person without a certificate of such declar ation of intention, shall make application to be admitted a citizen of the United States, it shall be proved to the satisfaction of the court, that the applicant was residing within the limits and under the jurisdiction of the United States, before the eighteenth day of June, one thousand eight hundred and twelve, and has continued to reside within the same, or he shall not be so admitted; and the residence of the applicant, within the limits and under the juris diction of the United States, for at least five years immediately preceding the time of such application, shall be proved by the oath or affirmation of citizens of the United States, which citizens shall be named in the record as witnesses; and such continued residence within the limits and under the jurisdiction of the United States, when satisfactorily proved, and the place or places where the applicant has resided for at least five years as aforesaid, shall bə stated and set forth, together with the names of such citizens, in the record of the court ad mitting the applicant; otherwise the same shall not entitle him to be considered and deemed a citizen of the United States.(2)

ART. 6. Any alien, being a free white person and a minor, under the age of twenty-one years, who shall have resided in the United States three years next preceding his arrival at the age of twenty-one years, and who shall have continued to reside therein to the time he may make application to be admitted a citizen thereof, may, after he arrives at the age of twenty-one years, and after he shall have resided five years within the United States, including the three years of his minority, be admitted a citizen of the United States, without having made the declaration required in the first condition of the first section of the act to which this is in addition (Art. 1), three years previous to his admission; provided, such alien shall make the declaration required therein at the time of his or her admission; and shall further declare, on oath, and prove to the satisfaction of the court, that, for three years next preceding, it has been the bona fide intention of such alien to become a citizen of the United States; and shall, in all other respects, comply with the laws in regard to naturalization.(3)

ART. 7. An alien shall, at the time of his application to be admitted, declare, on oath or affirmation, before some one of the courts aforesaid, that he will support the constitution of the United States, and that he doth absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to every foreign prince, potentate, state or sovereignty whatever, and particularly, by name, the prince, potentate, state or sovereignty, whereof he was before a citizen or subject; which proceedings shall be recorded by the clerk of the court.(4)

ART. 8. The court admitting such alien shall be satisfied that he has resided within the United States five years at least, and within the state or territory where such court is at the time held, one year at least; and it shall further appear to their satisfaction, that during that time he has behaved as a man of good moral character, attached to the principles of the constitution of the United States, and well disposed to the good order and happiness of the same. The oath of the applicant shall in no case be allowed to prove his residence.(5)

ART. 9. In case the alien, applying to be admitted to citizenship, shall have borne any he reditary title, or been of any of the orders of nobility, in the kingdom or state from which he came, he shall, in addition to the above requisites, make an express renunciation of his title or order of nobility, in the court to which his application shall be made, which renunciation shall be recorded in the said court; provided, that no alien, who shall be a native citizen, deni zen or subject of any country, state or sovereign with whom the United States shall be at war at the time of his application, shall be then admitted to be a citizen of the United States (6) ART. 10. When any alien, who shall have complied with the conditions specified in article one, and who shall have pursued the directions prescribed in section two, act of fourteenth of April, one thousand eight hundred and two, (7) 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 oath prescribed by law.(8) (1) Act March 22, 1816, sec. 2. (2) Act May 24, 18:28, sec. 2. (3) Act May 26, 1824, sec. 1. (4) Act April 1 (7) This second section was repealed by act of 24th May, 1828.

1802, sec. 1. (5) Id. sec. 1. (6) Id. sec. 1.

It provided for the registry of the alien. (8) Act March 26, 1804, sec. 2

ART. 11. The children of persons duly naturalized under any of the laws of the United 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 the time of their parents being so naturalized or admitted to the rights of citizenship, shall, if dwelling in the United States, be considered 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. The right of citizenship shall not descend to persons whose fathers have never resided within the United States. And no person heretofore proscribed by any state, or who has been legally convicted of having joined the army of Great Britain during the war of the revolution, shall be admitted a citizen, without the consent of the legislature of the state in which such person was proscribed. Children of persons naturalized before the fourteenth day of April, one thousand eight hundred and two, under age at the time of their parents' naturalization, were, if dwelling in the United States on the fourteenth day of April, one thousand eight hundred and two, to be considered as citizens of the United States.(1)

ART. 12. 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 the naturalization act; and every alien who may have been naturalized in any such court, shall enjoy the same rights and privileges as if he had been naturalized in a district or circuit court of the United States.(2)

ART. 13. No person who shall arrive in the United States after the seventeenth day of February, one thousand eight hundred and fifteen, shall be admitted to become a citizen of the United States, who shall not, for the continued term of five years next preceding his admission, have resided within the United States.(3)

NOTE. The oath of naturalization, when taken, confers the rights of a citizen. It is not necessary that there should be an order of court admitting the alien to become a citizen. Campbell v. Gordan, et al. 6 Cr. 176. Nor that it should appear by the record of naturalization that all the requisites presented by law for the admission of aliens have been complied with. Stark v. Chesapeake Ins. Com. 7 Čr. 520. The courts in naturalization cases. receive testimony, compare it with the law, and judge on both law and fact. Hence their judgment, entered on record in legal form, is complete evidence of its own validity, and conclusive in all courts. Spratt v. Spratt, 4

Pet. 393.

The citizens of each state shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of the citizens of the several States. Con. U. S. art. 4, sec. 2.

Citizens of the United States have a right to expatriate themselves in time of war as well as of peace, until restrained by congress. Such right is subject to the control of the legislature, and to render the exercise of it valid, there must be an entire departure from the United States for a purpose which is not illegal, nor in fraud of the duties at home of the emigrant. Talbot v. Jansen, 3 Dall. 133; Santissima Trinidad, 7 Wheat. 548; see U. S. v. Williams, 4 Hall's Law Journal, 461; U. S. v. Gilles, 1 Pet. 161.

A citizen of the United States, by becoming a citizen of another country, does not cease to be a citizen of the United States, nor is he absolved from his original allegiance. Id. He may acquire in a foreign country the commercial privileges attached to his domicil, and be exempted from the operation of commercial acts embrac ing only persons resident in the United States or under its protection. Murray v. Charming Betsy, 2 Cranch, 120.

ACTS FOR AUTHENTICATION OF RECORDS BETWEEN THE STATES.

Act of May 26, 1790.

SECTION 1. The acts of the legislatures of the several states shall be authenticated by having the seal of their respective states affixed thereto. The records and judicial proceedings of the courts of any state shall be proved or admitted in any other court within the United States, by the attestation of the clerk and the seal of the court annexed, if there be a seal, together with a certificate of the judge, chief justice or presiding magistrate, as the case may be, that the said attestation is in due form. And the said records and judicial proceedings, authenticated as aforesaid, shall have such faith and credit given to them, in every court within the United States, as they have, by law or usage, in the courts of the state from whence the said records are or shall be taken.

Act of March 27, 1804, Supplemental to the foregoing.

SECTION 1. All records and exemplifications of office-books, which are or may be kept in any public office of any state not appertaining to a court, shall be proved or admitted in any other court or office in any other state, by the attestation of the keeper of the said records or books, and the seal of his office thereto annexed, if there be a seal, together with a certificate of the presiding justice of the court of the county or district as the case may be, in which such office ís or may be kept, or of the governor, the secretary of state, the chancellor, or the keeper of the great seal of the state, that the said attestation is in due form and by the proper officer; and the said certificate, if given by the presiding justice of a court, shall be further authenti(1) Act April 14, 1802, sec. 4; Campbell v. Gordan et al. 6 Cr. 177. (2) Act April 14, 1802, sec. 3. (3) Act March 3, 1813, sec. 12; 26th June, 1848, c. 72.

cated by the clerk or prothonotary of the said court, who shall certify, under his hand and the seal of his office, that the said presiding justice is duly commissioned and qualified; or if the said certificate be given by the governor, the secretary of state, the chancellor or keeper of the great seal, it shall be under the great seal of the state, in which the said certificate is made. And the said records and exemplifications, authenticated as aforesaid, shall have such faith and credit given to them in every court and office within the United States, as they have by law or usage in the courts or offices of the state from whence the same are or shall be taken. SEC. 2. All the provisions of this act, and the act to which this is a supplement, shall apply as well to the public acts, records, office-books, judicial proceedings, courts and officers of the respective territories of the United States, and countries subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, as to the public acts, records, office-books, judicial proceedings, courts and offices of the several states.

ACTS RELATIVE TO PUBLIC LANDS, PRE-EMPTIONS, ETC.

DONATIONS.

Act of Congress, Sept. 4, 1841, to appropriate the Proceeds of the Sales of the Public Lands, and to grant Pre-emption Rights.

SEC. 8. There shall be granted to each state specified in the first section of this act, five hundred thousand acres of land, for purposes of internal improvements; provided, that to each of the said states which has already received grants for said purposes, there is hereby granted no more than a quantity of land which shall, together with the amount such state has already received as aforesaid, make five hundred thousand acres; the selections in all of the said states to be made within their limits, respectively, in such manner as the legislature thereof shall direct, and located in parcels conformably to sectional divisions and subdivisions, of not less than three hundred and twenty acres in any one location, on any public land except such as is or may be reserved from sale by any law of congress or proclamation of the president of the United States; which said locations may be made at any time after the lands of the United States in said states respectively, shall have [been?] surveyed according to existing laws. And there shall be and hereby is, granted to each new state that shall be hereafter admitted into the Union, upon such admission, so much land as, including such quantity as may have been granted to such state before its admission, and while under a territorial government, for purposes of internal improvement, as aforesaid, as shall make five hundred thousand acres of land, to be selected and located as aforesaid.

SEC. 9. The lands herein-before granted to the states above-named, shall not be disposed of at a price less than one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, until otherwise authorized by a law of the United States; and the net proceeds of the sales of said lands shall be faithfully applied to objects of internal improvement within the states aforesaid, respectively, namely: roads, railways, bridges, canals and improvement of water-courses, and draining of swamps; and such roads, railways, canals, bridges and water-courses, when made or improved, shall be free for the transportation of the United States mail and munitions of war, and for the passage of their troops, without the payment of any toll whatever.

Circular of the General Land Office, August 6, 1857, relating to State Selections of the Five Hundred Thousand Acres of Land granted for Internal Improvements.

1. The whole area to which the state of California is entitled under this law, is five hundred thousand acres.

2. The act requires the selections to be "in parcels conformably to sectional divisions and subdivisions of not less than three hundred and twenty acres in any one location," etc.

Under this requirement, a selection may include a whole section or a fractional section, or an island, containing three hundred and twenty acres, more or less; provided the state, where the quantity is less than the prescribed number of acres, will agree to accept the same for and in lieu of a tract containing the full quantity of three hundred and twenty acres, but not other wise. Or it may embrace the east, west, north, or south half of a section, or two adjoining quarters of different sections, or any number even of the smallest legal subdivisions of different sections; provided, the tracts selected adjoin each other, and form compact parcels, containing together not less than three hundred and twenty acres.

3. The selections must be based upon the official township plats of the public surveys, which are required to be approved by the surveyor-general, and on file in the local land office for thirty days prior to the time of filing the selection.

4. The law allows selection to be made upon public lands, whether offered or unoffered; but no state selection is admissible upon any land to which a pre-emption or other valid claim shall be legally established, nor on any land which "is or may be reserved from sale by any law of congress or proclamation of the president of the United States," nor upon any tract which is reserved or withdrawn from market for any purpose whatever.

« PreviousContinue »