Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1857-06-10


OF DECEMBER, 1851, now residing in said Territory
or who shall become resident thereof on or before
the 1st day Of December, 1851, and who shall have
resided upon and cultivated the same for four CON
seeutive years, and shall otherwise conform the
provisions Of this act the quantity of one half
ton, 800 acres Of land, if a single man, and if
married man, or if he shall become married within
one year from the first day Of December, 1890, the
quantity Of one section, or GAO acres, one nan 70
himself and the other half to his wife, TO be held y
her in her own right; and the Surveyor 1eneral
shall designate the part, &c. Provided tnat . M
alien shall be entitled patent to LANDS granted
by this act until he shall produce to the surveyor
General Of Oregon, record evidence that ms natu-
ralization as citizen Of the United states mas peeu
completed; but if any alien, having maze decla-
ration Of his intention to become cI1len OF Inc
United States after the passage Of this act shall die
before his naturalization shall be completed, the
rogsessorv right acquired by him under the provi-
sioDs of this act shall descend to his heirs at law or
mass to his deYisors, to whom, as The case may be-
the patent shall issue"
Sec s. That to all white male citizens of the
United States, orpvsons oho shall hare made decla
ration Of intention to become such, above the age of
twentyone years, emgraing to and settling in said
Territory 5egsea the first dag Of December 1850 and
The first dag Of December 1858, there shall be- and
hereby is granted the quantity of quarter sec
ton or $50 acres Of land if ngle man; if mar
ried within year from the time of arriving in
said Territory, within one year after becoming
twentyone years Of age aforesaid then the guam
tity Of one-half section or 800 acres, one half to
the husband and the other half to the wife in her
ownrght.
The act from which the foregoing is a part was
voted for by Mr.. Bell and approved and signed by
Mr.. Fillmore, BY carefully reading the clauses
quoted, it viii be found more encouraging to for
eign emigrants and more liberal towards them than
any legislation that has ever passed Congress. By
the 4h section it is provided that not only such
we're already in the United States, but any who
would come from Europe in eighteen months from
the date Of its passage, who were as much as Is
years of age and would declare their intention to
become citizens, should be entitled if a single man,
to the large grant of 800 acres and if married. to
$40 acres Of land, the title to be perfected when
their naturalization should be completed. This We
say was an invitation foreigners in the old world
! and one SO liberal In its provisions that many a
poor and oppressed family in Europe may have been
tempted by it for the first time to abandon their
fatherand and seek their fortunes in the wilderness
Of the new world
The 9TH section, above quoted will be found still
more liberal towards the foreigner. It guaranteed
to all who would emigrate to the Territory from any
po5tOit u ttc gOOc, Al ANY TIME WITHIN 44lAh14LA
YEARS from the passage of the act, 16G acres, if
single, and 800 if married. I'VE say nothing about
the anxiety manifested to get colony Of halfbreed
Indians, FOR the PRESENT.
The reader will readily see from these facts that
it was eminently consistent in Messrs. Fillmore and
Bell after having extended such liberal invitations
to foreigners to settle upon the public domain, that
they should favor the Washington Territorial BILL
| which secured to them the right of voting in the
first election for members Of legislature to adopt
laws for the regulation of their domestic matters
1t would have been not only inconsistent but an act
of bad faith in Messrs. Fillmore and Bell, after
having induced by their liberal offers, the foreigner
to abandon his native land and emigrate to these
uninhabited territories Drawing both the dangers Of
the deep and the wilderness, renouncing his allie
glance to his mother country and clothing himself il
American nationality, not to have permitted him t.
have voice in matters strictly of territorial ma
ture and of municipal concern.
At the time Mr.. Bell voted for, and Mr. Fillmore
as President, approved and signed the bill making
such magnificent donations of land to all who would
emigrate from Europe and settle upon it in three
years. we heard not a murmur of complaint from
those who now constitute the Know Nothing party
Nor did we hear a word of censure from any o
those sources at the support and approval of thu
Washington Territorial bill; nor would the public
now know that they had ever supported such
policy if dependent upon their party for the infor
| nation.
We must do Messrs Fillmore and Bell the justice
however, to say that this policy, sustained by then
in the Washington Territorial bill, of letting for
eign-born inhabitants vote in the first election wht
had fled their declaration of intention to become
citizens and taken oath to support the constitu
ton and laws, did not originate with them. They
had a very old precedent for it, sanctioned by grea
names and long observance.
As far back as 1877, there was an Ordinance
passed by Congress for the government of the Ter
ritory North West of the Ohio river The CLAUSE
prescribing the qualification for Office and of voting
reads as follows:
PROVIDED, That person be eligible qualified
to act as representative unless he shall have beer
a citizen of one of the United States three years
and be resident in the district, or unless he shall
haze resided IN the district three gears, and in either
case shall likewise hold in his own right, in fe
simple 200 acres of land within the same: provided
also, that a freehold of 80 acres in the district
having been a citizen of of the States, and be
ing resident in the district or the like freehold an
tr0 gears redsncei the district shall be necessary t.
qualify an elector or a representative.
By this provision it will be seen that to be quail
fed to act as a representative in the legislature
one of two things were necessary: first citizenship
in one Of the States three years, and simply resi-
dence in the district; Or if the person had not beer
citizen of one of the States three years, it ther
required, second residence IN the district Of tire
gears. To be a voter required one of two things
lst, former citizenship in of the States and resi-
dence in the district or, if not citizen of one
the States, ID, too gears residence in the district
It will be that by this rule two three years
residence in the Territory was required of the for
eigner, instead of declaration of intention to be
come citizen and an oath to support the laws and
constitution.
Two years afterwards, 1889, North Carolina ceded
to the General Government certain western lands
out of which the State of Tennessee was formed
One Of the provisions of the deed of cessOn was
follows:
'That the territory so ceded, shall be laid out and
formed into a. State States, containing suitable
extent of territory, the INHABITANTS Of which shall
ENJOY all the privileges benefits and advantages setfOrh
IN the Ordinance Of the late Congress- for the gov
eminent of the Western Territory of the United
| States" &c