And almost immediately (1790), President Washington having urged it in his message in January of that year, Congress enacted a general Naturalization Act.[45]
The considerable debate in Congress concerning this measure not only throws an interesting light upon the policies prevailing at that time, but shows that while the new government realized the importance of desirable immigration, there was full realization of the difficulty of so adjusting the process of naturalization as to facilitate this while at the same time protecting the essentials of the American spirit and institutions from the insidious influences feared from certain types of newcomers. The conflicting attitudes of the highly liberal Quakers in Pennsylvania and the austere Puritans of New England—visible in many ways in all the legislation of the early years in the contrasting jurisdictions of the northern Atlantic colonies, appears clearly in the debates, from which emerged the Act of 1790, whose essentials were as follows:
I. Naturalization to be conferred by any court of record.
II. A requirement of two years’ residence in the United States, and one year within the State.
III. Proof required of good moral character, and oath to support the Constitution of the United States.
This Act was repealed in 1795 by another[46] introducing the declaration of intention to become a citizen, and extending the period of required residence from two years to five. This Act has been the basis of our naturalization system ever since. Its main provisions were these:
I. A preliminary declaration of intention to become a citizen of the United States, to be made at least three years [the present law specifies two years] before final application for citizenship.
II. Naturalization jurisdiction was vested in any “supreme, superior, district or circuit court” of the states or of the territories northwest or south of the River Ohio, or a circuit or district court of the United States.
III. Five years’ residence in the United States, and one year’s residence in the state in which the application was made.
IV. An oath of allegiance.