APPENDIX A. I. THE UNITED STATES LAWS OF NATURALIZATION & EXPATRIATION. I. NATURALIZATION. By the act of April 14, 1802, and which is the law now applicable, in ordinary cases, a free white person may become a citizen by having declared on oath before a court of the United States, in any State or Territory, three years before his admission, that it was his bona fide intention to become a citizen, and renounce forever all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state or sovereignty, and by name the prince, &c., whereof such alien may at the time be a citizen or subject; and he shall declare at the time of his admission, on oath, before the court, that he absolutely renounces and abjures all allegiance, &c., to every foreign prince, &c., as aforesaid, which proceedings shall be recorded; the court must be satisfied that he has resided five years in the United States and one year within the State where the court is held; that he has behaved as a man of good moral character, and is attached to the principles of the Constitution of the United States. By this same act, minor children, whose parents had been naturalized citizens, and children of citizens that had been born out of the United States, were not to be deemed aliens. (United States Statutes at Large, vol. II, p. 153.) By the Act of May 26, 1824, minors who shall have resided in the United States three years next before they are twenty-one years of age, after a residence of five years, including the three years of minority, may, without having made the previous declaration, be admitted by taking the oath of alienation, &c., as in other cases. (Ib. vol. IV, p. 69.) And to meet a supposed defect in the Act of 1802, by the Act of February 10, 1855, persons heretofore born or hereafter to be born out of the United States, whose fathers were or shall be at the time of their birth, citizens of the United States, shall be deemed citizens, but the rights of citizenship shall not be deemed to descend to persons, whose fathers never resided in the United States, and a woman who might be naturalized under existing laws, who is married, or who shall be married to a citizen, shall be deemed a citizen. (Ib. vol. X, p. 604.) By an Act of July 17, 1862, any alien of the age of 21, who has enlisted or shall enlist in the regular or volunteer forces of the United States, and has been or shall be honorably discharged, may be admitted a citizen upon his petition, and shall not be required to prove more than one year's residence in the United States previous to his application. (United States Statutes at Large, vol. XII, p. 597.) By an Act of July 14, 1879, the naturalization laws were extended to aliens of African nativity and to persons of African descent. (United States Statutes at Large, 1869-71, p. 256.) 11. EXPATRIATION. Act concerning the Rights of American Citizens in Foreign States, approved July 27, 1868. WHEREAS the right of expatriation is a natural and inherent right of all people, indispensable to the enjoyment of the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; and whereas in the recognition of this principle this government has freely received emigrants from all nations, and invested them with the rights of citizenship; and whereas it is claimed that such American citizens, with their descendants, are subjects of foreign states, owing allegiance to the governments thereof; and whereas it is necessary to the maintenance of public peace that this claim of foreign allegiance should be promptly and finally disavowed: Therefore, Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That any declara tion, instruction, opinion, order, or decision of any officers of this government which denies, restricts, impairs, or questions the right of expatriation, is hereby declared inconsistent with the fundamental principles of this government. Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That all naturalized citizens of the United States, while in foreign states, shall be entitled to, and shall receive from this government, the same protection of persons and property that is accorded to native born citizens in like situations and circumstances. Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That whenever it shall be made known to the President that any citizen of the United States has been unjustly deprived of his liberty by or under the authority of any foreign government, it shall be the duty of the President forthwith to demand of that government the reasons for such imprisonment, and if it appears to be wrongful, and in violation of the rights of American citizenship, the President shall forthwith demand the release of such citizen, and if the release so demanded is unreasonably delayed or refused, it shall be the duty of the President to use such means, not amounting to acts of war, as he may think necessary and proper to obtain or effectuate such release, and all the facts and proceedings relative thereto shall as soon as practicable be communicated by the President to Congress. (United States Statutes at Large, 1867-8, p. 223.) See for British Law of Naturalization and Expatriation, the Naturalization Act, 1870, § vi, p. 82, infra. For the naturalization laws of the different States of Europe and America, see Lawrence's Wheaton, edit. 1863, Appendix, p. 861, et seq.; Lawrence's Commentaire sur le Droit Internationale, &c., tome III, p. 110. II. NATURALIZATION TREATIES. I. TREATIES WITH THE GERMAN STATES. (1.) CONVENTION WITH THE NORTH GERMAN CONFEDERATION, CONCLUDED FEBRUARY 22D, 1868. The President of the United States of America and his Majesty the King of Prussia, in the name of the North German Confederation, led by the wish to regulate the citizenship of those persons who emigrate from the North German Confederation to the United States of America, and from the United States of America to the territory of the North German Confederation, have resolved to treat on this subject, and have for that purpose appointed plenipotentiaries to conclude a convention; that is to say, et cetera: ARTICLE I. Citizens of the North German Confederation, who become naturalized citizens of the United States of America, and shall have resided uninterruptedly within the United States five years, shall be held by the North German Confederation to be American citizens, and shall be treated as such. Reciprocally: Citizens of the United States of America who become naturalized citizens of the North German Confederation, and shall have resided uninterruptedly within North Germany five years, shall be held by the United States to be North German citizens, and shall be treated as such. The declaration of an intention to become a citizen of the one or the other countries, has not for either party the effect of naturalization. This article shall apply as well to those already naturalized in either country as those hereafter naturalized.* *This last paragraph is not to be found in the treaty as promulgated by the government of the North German Confederation (Gesetze des Norddeutschen Bundes, 1869, p. 35), nor is it in the treaty as it is published in the United States |