Question

. Begin by applying questions of "nationality"/citizenship to each group after the Naturalization Law of 1790 is federally established. How will this law uniquely establish differences across groups? In particular, how do historical contexts of indigenous identity (for Native Americans), annexation (for Latinos) and immigration (for Asian Americans) make these groups different from both white and African Americans, but also different from each other?

Answer 1

The first United States legislation to codify the rule on naturalization. Also known as the nationality statute, the 1790 Naturalization Statute granted citizenship to' any immigrant who has been in the USA for two years as a free white individual.' It literally omitted indentured servants, slaves, and most women. It meant that black and consequently Asian slaves could not be naturalized, but did not mention the condition of citizenship of non-whites who were raised on American soil. The subsequent nineteenth-century laws introduced a white residency requirement. The Ozawa v. United States case was created in 1922 by one of the early immigration laws.

When the new Republic's founders proclaimed themselves independent of Great Britain, they wanted to create a separate American identity to minimize the risk of another empire. As they wrote the 1787 Constitution, they didn't define what they defined as an' ordinary citizen born or resident of the United States.' As the scholar, Rudolph Vecoli states, "one became an American through default, not by birth," through a mutual devotion to natural rights theory. As a consequence, the only distinction made between naturalized and "natural born" citizens was that the latter should not be elected to the presidency. It permitted Congress "to create a standardized law of naturalization" and provided for "migration or importation of those individuals which every State now in existence considers admissible."

The naturalization act of 1790 sets down two years of residency, the testimony of good moral conduct and a pledge to uphold the Constitution as conditions for naturalization. It further required that 'any loyalty and faithfulness to all international prince, power, State or Sovereignty be completely and totally renounced.' Given its favorable provisions providing nationality to all descendants of nationals, it refused the freedom to naturalize 'people whose fathers never resided in the United States.' Without the ability to naturalize, refugees can not vote and have no political voice or influence.

The Congress developed a second race group in 1870. In accordance with restoration laws, the new legislation established "European births foreigners and African descendants" with rights to citizenship. Racial barriers to naturalization exist for Asians, but gaps in nationality and processes enable active applications by local courts for naturalization. The 1906 Naturalization Act structured the approval procedure with particular consequences for the situation of Ozawa. The statute also governed non-racial criteria such as a declaration of intent and deposition before a magistrate, but the previous racial restrictions remained untouched.