Washington sentinel., 1854-05-31
Wasllingtun gentinel.
NEBRASKA AND KANSAS,
SPEECH OF HON. r. BRoDHEAD.
IN Senate, Nau "a, 1854.


and Kansas
Mr.. BRODHEAD said
Mr.. PRESIDENT, it has been correctly stated
by the senator from Illinois, that this is the
same bill which we passed in the Senate some
time since, with the exception of one very i'm
portant provision, respecting the rights of I'M
naturalized citizens.
Mr.. DOUGLAS. 1t may be we'll to state
that it contains some verbal alterations in its
grammatical construction, but there is no varl-
alton in sense with the exception mentioned by
the senator.
Mr.. BRODHEAD. The senator is correct,
and as do not wish to open the debate on the
merits of the bill again, will only consider
thesection respecting the qualification or voters,
which the honorable senator from Maryland
tMr. PEARcE has moved to amend by striking
out the clause authorizing unnaturalized citi-
zens to vote. The section authorizes all free
white persons above the age of twenty-one to
vote at the first election, including foreigners
who have not become citizens but have declared
their intention to become such, and excluding
the officers and soldiers Of the army. So that
a foreigner unacquainted with our language or
laws, not twenty.four hours in the Territory,
and who has not been in our country ten DAYS,
can vote without paying a tax, and General
Scott, he happened to be there commanding
our troops, could not. The honorable senator
from Maryland has moved what is called the
Clayton amendment, which restricts the right
to vote to those who are citizens, either native
born or those who have become such under our
naturalization laws, and as voted for it when
the bill was before the Senate upon another
occasion, and have seen no reason for changing
my vote, will do so again. The right to vote
and take part in the government is high
privilege, and hold that it should only be ex-
ercised by those who have become citizens and
entitled to the rights and imniunities, and who
have incurred the obligations Of citizenship.
will hereafter state how an alien may become
citizen.
There have been many misrepresentation
made respecting the effect of the proposed
amendment 1t has been said that those who
support it desire to disfranchise foreigners,
which is not the fact. 1t has been said that
the Clayton amendment was stricken out by
. the House, in accordance with the example
furnished in the bills erecting the Territories Of
Utah and Mem Aerico, when the truth is that
the Clayton amendment makes it conform to
those bills, as will presently show. And those
bills were part of the compromise measures Of
1850, and better considered than any others.
The amendment now under consideration is, in
my judgment, required by the true spirit and
meaning of the Constitution, by sound policy,
and justified by precedent.
The Constitution 1.-The eighth section says,
Congress, may Establish q uniform rule oi
naturalization" Therefore, whenever Congress
acts it must make the rule uniform. Well
Congress has established q rule by on act
passed in 1902, requiring FIVE years residence
before admission to citizenship, and now il is
proposed to establish another rule for Nebraska
And what good reason can be given for it
Why should an alien have greater privileges il
Nebraska than in Pennsylvania? / voted tc
extend the present naturalization laws over the
Territory of Nebraska, nothing more. By whom
should this government be carried on-by citi
zens either native-born or naturalized, or BY
foreigners? And how does an alien become {
citizen IN this country Only under the clause
of the Constitution which have cited and the
act of Congress passed in pursuance thereof
And can the right to vote properly appertain tt
another than citizen? If foreigners can hav,
and enjoythe rightsand privilegesof citizens, ,tht
highest one of which is to vote, why did our fore
fathers " establish q uniform rule of naturaliza
tion 7" and why have SO many aliens conformed
to it? The section under consideration says
any free white man above the age of twenty-one
years land such is the law in all the States
shall vote, &c. So that we require a native
born person, acquainted with our language,
educated in our schools, &C., to be twenty-o
years of age before he is thought fit to exercise
the high privilege of an elector. Our forefathers
wisely thought that foreigners should take FIVE
years to become trained in the ways of repub-
canism, acquainted with our people, our laws,
our complex machinery of government, &c,
and concur in opinion with them. This gov
ernment can only be maintained by an intelli-
apf ay off fba frap
we have always heretofore confined the right to
vote to free ehae persons above the age of
twenty-one years who are native-born, and to
aliens who have been in the country FIVE years,
and complied with the provisions of our natu-
ralization laws. Our views Of constitutional
liberty differ very much from European notions
Of liberty.
1t may be profitable, Mr.. President, to ex-
anime the action of Congress under the clause
of the Constitution requiring an uniform rule
of naturalization" In 1889 the government
went into operation under the present Consti-
tuition, and on the 26th Of March, 1890, the
first naturalization law was passed, requiring
two years residence, one year in the State
where the application is made, oath to support
the Constitution, &c. Toward the close Of
Washington's administration, on the 29th Of
January, 1895, an act was passed requiring FIVE
ySdIo 'icoiucHSc, luiSC ySaio uSSiaioeich " ~
tention, oath, and proof Of good moral charac.
ter, &c. In 1897, the old Adams party came
into power, and on the 18th of June, 1898, an
act was passed requiring fourteen years resi-
dence, Ave years in the State in which the appli
cation is made, oath, and proof Of good mora
character, &c. In 1901, the Jeffersonian demo
cratic party came into power, and on the l4tl
ofApril, 1902, passed an act requiring five years
residence, declaration ofintention two years, re
nunciation of allegiance to any foreign prince
&C., oath to support the Constitution, proofo o
good moral character, &c This law has now
been in force for more than fifty years. 1t was
intended to be liberal one, for the country
was then almost wilderness IL was satisfac
tory to the alien at that time, and should be S,
now. Any attemptto modify it, or to denounc
those who are willing to stand by it, on tn
part Of the emigrants will create a counte
sentiment, highly injurious to them. The sta
tistics of emigration show that upto 1910, onl
one million Of emigrants had arrived in th
country; now we receive annually, near fou
hundred thousand. During the next thre,
years, we viii receive as many as we did fo
" = o r. II