The government class book / Designed for the instruction of youth in the principles of constitutional government and the rights and duties of citizens.

by Andrew W. Young

§5. The master of a vessel departing from the United States, bound to a foreign port, must deliver to the collector of the district, a manifest, which is an invoice, or account of the particulars of a cargo of goods, and of their prices or value. This statement is subscribed by the master, and sworn by him to be true. The collector then grants a clearance, for the vessel, which is a certificate stating that the commander has cleared his vessel according to law.

§6. Vessels of the United States going to foreign countries, are, at the request of the masters, furnished with passports. A passport is a writing from the proper authority of a state or kingdom, granting permission to pass from place to place, or to navigate some sea without hinderance or molestation. It contains the name of the vessel and that of her master, her tunnage, and the number of her crew, certifying that she belongs to the subjects of a particular state, and requiring all persons at peace with that state, to suffer her to proceed on her voyage without interruption. In this country the form of a passport is prepared by the secretary of state, and approved by the president.

§7. The navigation laws also provide for the safety of passengers and the crews of vessels, limiting the number of passengers on passenger vessels, and prescribing the quantity of water and certain kinds of provisions which merchant vessels are required to have for each person on board. They also declare what persons may be employed on board, and how funds shall be provided for sick and disabled seamen.

§8. Under the power to regulate commerce, congress has also passed laws relating to quarantines. The word quarantine, from the Latin quarantina, signifies the space of forty days. Originally vessels suspected of having contagious sickness on board, or of being infected with malignant, contagious disease, were forbidden, for forty days, to have intercourse with the place or port at which they arrived. The period for which ships are now detained is not defined, but is fixed by the proper officers at their discretion, according to circumstances. Quarantines are required by the health laws of the states; and by the laws of congress, vessels are to be subject to the health laws of the state at whose ports they arrive.

§9. In connection with the power to regulate foreign commerce, power is given to regulate "commerce among the several states," or internal commerce. We have noticed the difficulties which attended the different commercial regulations of the states, and the necessity of a uniform system, which could be had only by giving congress alone the power to regulate commerce. (Chap. XXXI., §7.) Without the power to regulate internal commerce, congress could not give effect to the power to regulate foreign commerce. One state might impose unjust and oppressive duties upon goods imported or exported through it by another state. But in the hands of congress, the power to regulate internal as well as foreign commerce, secures to all the states the benefits of a free and uninterrupted trade.

§10. In granting to congress the power to regulate commerce "with the Indian tribes," it was intended to lessen the dangers of war. Murders and war had been provoked by the improper conduct of some of the states. It was believed, that, by a uniform policy, difficulties would be more likely to be prevented; and that if they should occur, they would be more likely to be amicably settled by the general government than by a state, which, being an interested party, would be more liable to misjudge the matter in dispute, and more rigid in demanding satisfaction for injuries, as well as more severe in redressing them.

Chapter XXXIV.

Powers of Congress in relation to Naturalization; Bankruptcy; Coining Money; Weights and Measures; Punishment of Counterfeiting.

§1. The next clause grants to congress the power "to establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States." We have already noticed some of the disqualifications of aliens. (Chap. VI, §5.) By the common law of England and this country, aliens were not only politically disqualified, but they could not in their own name lawfully hold and sell real estate. To admit aliens to all the rights and privileges of citizens immediately on their arrival in this country, and before they shall have acquired a knowledge of our government and laws, and of the duties of citizens, would be expedient. Educated under monarchical governments, many of them, it is to be presumed, have little respect for our republican institutions, or at most but an imperfect knowledge of them.

§2. But to deny foreigners the rights of citizens after they shall have acquired a fixed residence here, and a knowledge of their civil and political duties, would be illiberal and unjust. Provision has therefore been made for removing their disqualifications, or for naturalizing them; that is, for investing them with the rights and privileges of natural born citizens. But if different rules were established by the different states, a person, having become naturalized in one state, would, on removing into another state, be deprived of the rights of citizenship, until he should have been naturalized by the laws of such state. Besides, by the constitution, a person, on becoming a citizen of any state, is a citizen of the United States, and entitled to the privileges of a citizen in any other state. (Art. IV., §2.) As, therefore, there should be one uniform rule, the power of naturalization is properly given to congress.