Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XII.djvu/173

 NATURALIZATION 165 the act of 1802 was prospective, so as to em- brace the children of aliens naturalized after the passage of the act. as well as the children of those who were naturalized before. Deci- sions to the same effect were rendered by Chief Justice Daly in the New York court of com- mon pleas in 1847 ; by the supreme court of Arkansas in a case of great public interest in which the question was elaborately examined, in 1850; and by the supreme court of Florida in 1865.' Another important question under this provision is whether both parents should be naturalized to confer the right upon chil- dren. The importance of this question is greatly lessened in cases of naturalization after Feb. 10, 1855, as congress on that day passed an act declaring " that any woman who might be lawfully naturalized under the existing laws, married or who shall be married to a citizen of the United States, shall be deemed and taken to be a citizen ;" but before that time the Amer- ican courts had repeatedly held that a wife who was an alien did not become a citizen by the naturalization of her husband. These two ques- tions are of great practical importance, as vast numbers of persons since the enactment of this provision have inherited, purchased, and transmitted real property upon the assumption that they were citizens by the naturalization of their fathers, whose rights, and the rights which others have derived from them, would be disturbed if a different construction were now given to this provision ; and although these two questions have not been decided by the highest authority in this country, the su- preme court of the United States, it may never- theless be assumed that they are now settled, and the construction above stated universally acquiesced in. A doubt arose whether the act of 1855 applied to a woman who was mar- ried to her husband before he was naturalized, the language of the act being, " married or who shall be married to a citizen." The supreme court of the United States decided that these words refer to a state of marriage, and not to the time when the ceremony was performed ; that whether married before or after the natu- ralization of her husband, the wife becomes by his naturalization also a citizen, it being the manifest intent of the act that the citizenship of the wife should follow as a consequence of the naturalization of the husband ; and it was decided in North Carolina in 1869 that a white woman, a native of Ireland, who married an American citizen, was a citizen of the United States, although she had always resided in Ire- land. If an alien who has declared his inten- tion dies before he is naturalized, his widow and children may become citizens by simply taking the oath required of all naturalized citi- zens to support the constitution of the United States, and to renounce all previous allegiance. In this case the period of residence of the widow and children is immaterial, nor is any distinction made between minor children and adults. In certain cases aliens are disqualified from becoming citizens. No alien can be ad- mitted while his country is at war with the United States, nor could one be admitted who was legally convicted of having joined the British army during the American revolution, .or who was proscribed by any state before 1802, unless with the consent of the state. The statutes formerly provided only for the natural- ization of "free white" persons, which is sup- posed to exclude all that can be denominated colored races the copper-colored natives or Indians of America, the African races, and the yellow races of Asia. It has been held by the courts of California that a Chinese is not a white person within the meaning of the act, and cannot therefore be naturalized. In the celebrated Dred Scott case the supreme court of the United States in 1856 held that the Africans imported into the country and their descendants were a subjugated race, and not the people by whom the government was es- tablished ; that they were not and never were intended to be embraced under the denomina- tion of citizens; and that when the right to naturalize was surrendered by the states to the federal government, it was meant to be con- fined to persons of foreign birth, and not a power to raise inferior races here to the rank of citizens, such as Indians, negroes, and mulat- toes, though upon this latter point the judges differed. Indians, and persons of mixed Indian and African blood, have however been admitted to the rights of citizenship by special treaties and acts of annexation. This was done by ar- ticle 14 of the treaty with the Choctaws of Sept. 27, 1830 ; by article 12 of that with the Chero- kees of May 23, 1836 ; and in the treaties by which Louisiana, Florida, and California were acquired. A delicate question arose as to the degree of mixture or color which would pre- clude one from being denominated a white per- son. There was no agreement on the subject even in the slave states. In some the propor- tion was one eighth, in others one fourth ; and in South Carolina any distinct and visible* ad- mixture of negro blood, to be determined by the evidence of features, complexion, and parent- age, was sufficient. On the other hand, in the free state of Ohio any one being nearer white than black, that is, having more than one half white blood, was declared to be white. The question has ceased to be of its former impor- tance since the adoption in 1868 of the four- teenth amendment of the constitution of the United States, which declares that all persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside, and that no state shall make or en- force any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States. It was held by the supreme court of the United States in 1872, in the slaughter house cases, that this enactment was primarily intended to confer citizenship on the negro race ; secondly, to give definitions of citizenship of the United