A few years after the defeat of England in the American Revolution (1775-1783), the First United States Congress passed a law that defined how immigrants coming into the United States of America could become an American citizen. The law, specifically titled the “1790 Naturalization Act,” established rules for immigrants to follow or accomplish if they wanted to become a naturalized citizen of the United States of America. Then, in 1795, the Third United States
Congress repealed the 1790 Naturalization Act and replaced it with the 1795 Naturalization Act; this new law built upon the first one. In 1798, Congress enacted four more immigration laws collectively known as the Alien and Sedition Acts.
The Naturalization Act of 1790 was the first immigration law in the new
United States of America. This law limited naturalization to “free white persons” (they really meant “free white men”) and specifically required a period of residency within the limits and under the jurisdiction of the United States for two years before the immigrant could become a naturalized citizen- so long as they demonstrated good moral character and swore allegiance to the Constitution. The purpose behind the period of residency was because the First United States Congressional Congress felt that foreigners needed to spend sufficient time in the United States to appreciate American democracy.18
The Naturalization Act of 1795 repealed and replaced the 1790 Act. This act was similar to the 1790 law in that it was limited to “free white persons (mainly men),” it also required allegiance to the Constitution, and the person had to be of good moral character. This act also required a period of residency however; the residency period was extended from two years to five years. The purpose for extending the residency period was partially due to the constant turmoil that was going on abroad. By 1795, France and one of her colonies were in full-blown revolution.
The situation in France in 1792 was as follows: The French Monarchy reacted against the common people of France… the bottom line: the Queen of France- via the Duke of Brunswick, issued a manifesto.19 This manifesto “invited” the good Frenchmen to submit to their King.20 Unfortunately for the Monarchy, this proclamation had the opposite effect on the French people, and thus resulted in turmoil, then internal revolution within the forty-eight neighborhood subdivisions
of Paris.21 In short, the French Revolution was complicated and involved a strong revolt of the commoners against French nobility and aristocrats.22 French society disintegrated into chaos and America became a haven for those wanting to escape. It is estimated that up to twenty-five thousand French fled to America. The problem with this mass exodus from France to America was that many of the French viewed their situation as being temporary, thus they made no provisions for settling or remaining in the United States.
Another surge of French citizens that migrated to America occurred in 1794.
Specifically, the French colony of St-Domingue experienced a violent revolution.
The consequence of this revolution was the demolition of the islands slave society. Nearly all of the white population and about ten thousand former slave owners, businessmen, and artisans made their way to Charleston, Norfolk, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York. In the same year, Congress voted and agreed to provide $15,000 of relief dollars to this wave of immigrants.23
Overall, this surge of French immigrants alarmed Congress. They felt that there could be French Royalists in the surge of immigrants and there was a risk in that they could be a threat to the United States democratic institution. Pressure to protect America from any alien corruption grew, which is why Congress amended the 1790 Naturalization Act in 1795. Not surprisingly, the part of the 1795 amendment related to the extension of the residency period did not wholly satisfy the conservatives in Congress. This is why Congress added to the 1795 Act the requirement that all aliens seeking citizenship in the United States had to “renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to every foreign prince, potentate, state or sovereignty whatever, and particularly, by name, the prince, potentate, state or sovereignty, whereof he was before a citizen or subject.”24 The 1795 Act also required that “in case the alien applying to be admitted to citizenship shall have borne any hereditary title, or been of any of the orders of nobility, in the kingdom or state from which he came, he shall… make an express renunciation of his title or order of nobility…”25 Bottom line, to become a naturalized American citizen immigrants had to show they were going to be loyal to the United States.
In 1798, a French foreign minister attempted to bribe an American trade commission that was in France to negotiate a treaty. After the story of this attempted scandal got back to the United States, it generated very strong anti-French feelings. Concisely, because the American public saw this scandal as a threat from aliens and alien ideas in the country, the second duly elected president of the United States (President John Adams, 1797-1801) proposed to Congress four laws; these laws were collectively referred to as The Alien and Sedition Act. Congress, when presented, approved this compilation of laws.
The first law that comprised The Alien and Sedition Act was a new Naturalization Act. Congress passed this law on June 18, 1798. In hopes of preventing new arrivals from influencing American law with their vote, this law extended the residency period that was required before applying for citizenship- from five years to fourteen years. Passed on June 25, 1798, the second law that made up The Alien and Sedition Act was the Alien Act. This law gave the president power over alien residents. Simply put, at his discretion, the president of the United States could, “order all such aliens as he shall judge dangerous to the peace and safety of the United States, or shall have reasonable grounds to suspect are concerned in any treasonable or secret machinations against the government thereof, to depart out the territory of the United States… And in case any alien, so ordered to depart, shall be found at large within the United States after the time limited in such order for his departure… every such alien shall… be imprisoned for a term mot exceeding three years, and shall never be admitted to become a citizen of the United States.”26 Although it was never enforced, this law inflicted terror in the immigrants (especially the French immigrants); so much so that it caused some of them to either go into hiding or leave the country.
The third law that The Alien and Sedition Act consisted of was the Alien Enemies Act. This act, passed on July 6, 1798, stated that if war breaks out “all natives, citizens, denizens, or subjects of the hostile nation or government, being males of the age of fourteen years and upwards, who shall be within the United States, and not actually naturalized, shall be liable to be apprehended, restrained, secured and removed, as alien enemies. And the President of the United States shall be, and he is hereby authorized… to provide for the removal of those, who, not being permitted to reside within the United States, shall refuse or neglect to depart therefrom…”27 This act was passed because everyone expected a war with France. John Adams never enforced this act during his tenure as president because the United States-France never occurred.
The fourth and final law that made up The Alien and Sedition Act was the
Sedition Act. Passed on July 14, 1798, this law was extremely controversial because its main aim was at journalists and pamphleteers in the United States, most of which were foreign born. Specifically, the law made it a crime to “write, print, utter, or publish, or… cause or procure to be written, printed, uttered, or published,… any false, scandalous and malicious writing or writings against the government of the United States,…or the President of the United States, with intent to defame the said government, or the said President, or to bring them… into contempt or disrepute; or to excite against them… the hatred of the good people of the United States.”29 The purpose of this law was to silence the anti-government press. The enforcement of this law resulted in the arrest and imprisonment of ten newspaper writer/editors. Overall, the Alien and Sedition Act and the previous Acts did not strengthen American feelings toward immigrants; however, they did entice animosity toward the government.30
29 "Alien and Sedition Acts: 1798." Great American Trials. . Encyclopedia.com. (August 7,
302019 ). https://www.encyclopedia.com/law/law-magazines/alien-and-sedition-acts-1798
Dennis Wepman, An Eyewitness History, Immigration: From the Founding of Virginia to the Closing of Ellis Island (New York: Facts on File, Inc., 2002), 75.
From the start, immigrants- people who left their birthplace because they were unsatisfied and unwilling to settle for the condition from which they were born occupied the western hemisphere. Filled with hope, they were tugged by the prospect of a new beginning, the lure of freedom, and an opportunity to pursue their ambitions in ways they could not have achieved in their old world. For many, America was the land of second chances for those who were willing to take a chance.28
In the early years of America, the continuous cycles of immigration are how the country sustained itself. However, over time American citizens became concerned that certain populations of immigrants would swamp the country’s unique culture and society of which the earliest American settlers had worked hard to establish. Some Americans even felt that certain immigrants would not be able to adapt to the American way of life. Nevertheless, many of them did. Despite the hardships immigrants faced in the New World and later the young United States of America, they held fast to their decision to make a go of it in America. In deed, early immigrants rose to become significant contributors to the American way of life. Over time, they created cultural legacies such as Mardi Gras, Saint Patrick’s Day, and Cinco de Mayo.
The bottom line is, from the sixteenth century onwards, immigrants who entered the New World that eventually become the United States of America developed this nation; and in doing so, generations of those early immigrants who built the country from the ground up are now rooted in the American way of life.