April 19, 2024
From the beginning, the United States has considered some categories of people ineligible to become citizens. If your ancestors fall into any of these categories, they could never become citizens, no matter how long they spent in the United States. That means that you won’t find any kind of naturalization documents for them.
The Naturalization Act of 1790 was the earliest law which spelled out exactly who could and could not be naturalized. It stated that free, white persons of good character who had resided in the United States for at least two years and who took an oath of allegiance could become citizens. Indentured servants, non-whites and slaves were specifically excluded from American citizenship.
Although the law did not specifically mention women, women were not considered “persons” under the law at that time. No women could vote. Married women could not own property in their own name. By the early 1800s, men who naturalized conferred derivative citizenship on their wives and minor children.
After the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery, the Naturalization Act of 1870 granted naturalization rights to free white persons and persons of African nativity or descent.
In 1882, the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed. This act barred Chinese and other Asians from emigrating to the United States. It also specifically banned them from naturalizing, although any children born in the United States did receive birthright citizenship. This ban continued until 943.
After a long debate and years of struggle, Native Americans were finally admitted to full American citizenship in 1924. Despite this, it was not until 1957 that all states allowed them to vote in federal and state elections.
If an ancestor belonged to any of the above categories, few naturalization records will exist for them. That doesn’t mean that no records will ever be found. Occasionally a single woman or a widow was naturalized so she could make a homestead claim. Since there were no specific laws regulating this, some courts would naturalize women and even members of other prohibited classes. It’s always worth looking for the records because you never know what might turn up.
Carol Stetser
Researcher
Larimer County Genealogical Society