An Act for Naturalizing such foreign Protestants and others therein mentioned, as are settled or shall settle in any of His Majesty's Colonies in America.
The Plantation Act 1740 (referring to colonies) or the Naturalization Act 1740[1] are common names[2][3] used for an act of the British Parliament (13 Geo. 2. c. 7) that was officially titled An Act for Naturalizing such foreign Protestants and others therein mentioned, as are settled or shall settle in any of His Majesty's Colonies in America.
The Act became effective on 1 June 1740 and allowed any Protestant alien residing in any of their American colonies for seven years, without being absent from that colony for more than two months, to be deemed "his Majesty’s natural-born subjects of this Kingdom."
The Act also required making specific declarations concerning royal allegiance and succession, profession of the Christian faith, and the payment of two shillings. Compared to other alternatives available at the time, the Act provided a cheap and easy method of imperial naturalization, and by the standards of the time, the length of residency was not unreasonable.[4]
Background
Reflecting the situation in Britain,[5] the necessary profession of Christian faith was distinctly Protestant and specifically Anglican. The act was not intended for conscientious Roman Catholics, and they were referred to in the law as Papists. Exceptions however for non-conforming religious scruples and conscience were made, in the case of Quakers and Jews. Adherents of both faiths were allowed to dispense with the Sacramental test, with the former being allowed to affirm the oaths, and the latter being relieved of the obligation to repeat the words 'Upon the true faith of a Christian', at the end of the Oath of Abjuration required by the Act of Settlement since 1701.[6][7]
Contents
The Plantation Act was enacted to systematize naturalization procedures in all localities as well as to encourage immigration to the American colonies.[2] It provided a workable naturalization procedure by empowering colonial courts to administer the oath of allegiance to aliens.[8] The act endowed colonial courts with the responsibility of deciding when alien petitioners had fulfilled the statutory requirements for imperial citizenship.
The Secretaries of Colonies were required, under penalty, to send annual lists of such persons to the Commissioners of Trade and Plantations. In proprietary colonies, the judges were appointed by colonial governors and thus represented the royal or proprietary interest. However, by delegating authority to colonial officials, naturalization became subject to the pressure of the same local interest groups that increasingly defied the governor's efforts to implement royal and proprietary instructions on other issues.[9] Despite the penalties imposed under the act, only six Secretaries of the thirteen American Colonies and one in the West Indies submitted the mandated lists.[4]
Development
In England during the 17th and 18th centuries, several basic statutes applied to naturalization,[4][10] but these statutes would not include many aliens in the colonies who were considered an integral part of the colonial communities. Over the same time period, the American provinces (except New Hampshire) passed their own naturalization laws, which granted citizenship to people living within their province. These laws were based more on local colonial interpretations of community citizenship than on stricter considerations in the mother-country. but they gave no rights beyond their borders. This situation was initially accepted as positive and workable in England, but proved to be too inconsistent with and broader imperial intentions as time passed.
Britain began withdrawing support to promote immigration to the colonies at the end of the Seven Years' War. Colonial implementation both before and after the Plantation Act tended to ignore, evade, and reshape English regulations, thus vitiating many policy decisions and generating a chaotic array of citizenship procedures.[9] The Navigation Acts were a particular target for evasion, since they were seen as acting more as restraint on both colonial naturalization and its peoples' ability to take part fully in the economy.[9][11] Colonial naturalization of aliens was outright forbidden in December 1773,[11] under any conditions.[12] A ban on royal land grants, initiated earlier in 1773, was made final in February 1774.[9]
The colonial naturalization laws and the Plantation Act, during its nearly 30-year utilization would define British North America as a refuge and land of opportunity,[9] The prohibition on naturalizing foreigners under the act was considered intolerable, and would be included, inter alia, in the grievances listed in the Declaration of Independence,[9][11][13] though some consider that surprising.[4] Despite being a British law, the Plantation Act "was the model upon which the Naturalization Act of 1790, the first U.S. naturalization act, with respect to time, oath of allegiance, process of swearing before a judge, and the like, was clearly based."[2][3]
Notes
↑ The act received royal assent in 1740. However, it was formally dated as 1739 in older official uses because acts passed before the Acts of Parliament (Commencement) Act 1793 came into force, acts were dated by the year in which the relevant parliamentary session began, which, in this case, was 1739.
↑ Adams, Willi Paul (Autumn 1979). "Review of The Development of American Citizenship, 1608-1870 by James H. Kettner". The University of Chicago Law Review. 47 (1): 176–184. doi:10.2307/1599419. JSTOR1599419.
↑ Hoyt, Naturalization p. 257-258 ff "The following are the basic statutes on naturalization which applied in England during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries: 7 Jas. I, c. 2, [1609, Naturalization and restoration of blood]; 15 Carl. II, c. 15, Linen Cloth Act 1663; 6 Anne, c. 37, Duties on East India Goods Act 1707; 7 Anne, c. 5, Foreign Protestants Naturalization Act 1708; 13 Geo. II, c. 3, Supply of Seamen Act 1739; 22 Geo. II, c. 45, Whale Fishery Act 1748; 26 Geo. II, c. 26, Jewish Naturalization Act 1753."
↑ Baeler, Asylum, p. 125 "Each royal governor was instructed "that you do not upon any pretense whatsoever give your assent to any Bill or Bills that may have been or shall hereafter be passed by the Council and Assembly of the Province under your Government for the naturalization of Aliens...nor for establishing a Title in any Person to Lands, Tennements & real estates in your said Province originally granted to, or purchased by Aliens antecedent to Naturalization."
An allegiance is a duty of fidelity said to be owed, or freely committed, by the people, subjects or citizens to their state or sovereign.
The Quebec Act, 1774 was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain which set procedures of governance in the Province of Quebec. One of the principal components of the Act was the expansion of the province's territory to take over part of the Indian Reserve, including much of what is now southern Ontario, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, and parts of Minnesota.
Canadian nationality law details the conditions by which a person is a national of Canada. The primary law governing these regulations is the Citizenship Act, which came into force on February 15, 1977 and is applicable to all provinces and territories of Canada.
An Act to prevent the further Growth of Popery was an Act of the Parliament of Ireland that was passed in 1704 designed to suppress Roman Catholicism in Ireland ("Popery"). William Edward Hartpole Lecky called it the most notorious of the Irish Penal Laws.
The Cable Act of 1922 was a United States federal law that partially reversed the Expatriation Act of 1907. (It is also known as the Married Women's Citizenship Act or the Women's Citizenship Act). In theory the law was designed to grant women their own national identity; however, in practice, as it still retained vestiges of coverture, tying a woman's legal identity to her husband's, it had to be amended multiple times before it granted women citizenship in their own right.
The Oath of Allegiance is a promise to be loyal to the British monarch, and their heirs and successors, sworn by certain public servants in the United Kingdom, and also by newly naturalised subjects in citizenship ceremonies. The current standard wording of the oath of allegiance is set out in the Promissory Oaths Act 1868.
The Oath of Allegiance of the United States is the official oath of allegiance that must be taken and subscribed by every immigrant who wishes to become a United States citizen.
This article concerns the history of British nationality law.
Denization is an obsolete or defunct process in England and Ireland and the later Kingdom of Great Britain, the United Kingdom, and the British Empire, dating back to the 13th century, by which an alien (foreigner), through letters patent, became a denizen, thereby obtaining certain rights otherwise normally enjoyed only by the King's subjects, including the right to hold land. The denizen was neither a subject nor an alien, but had a status akin to permanent residency today. While one could become a subject via naturalisation, this required a private act of Parliament ; in contrast, denization was cheaper, quicker, and simpler. Denization fell into obsolescence when the British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act 1914 simplified the naturalisation process.
The Naturalization Act of 1790 was a law of the United States Congress that set the first uniform rules for the granting of United States citizenship by naturalization. The law limited naturalization to "free white person(s) ... of good character". This eliminated ambiguity on how to treat newcomers, given that free black people had been allowed citizenship at the state level in many states. In reading the Naturalization Act, the courts also associated whiteness with Christianity and thus excluded Muslim immigrants from citizenship until the decision Ex Parte Mohriez recognized citizenship for a Saudi Muslim man in 1944.
The history of Canadian nationality law dates back over three centuries, and has evolved considerably over that time.
The Naturalization Act of 1906 was an act of the United States Congress signed into law by Theodore Roosevelt that revised the Naturalization Act of 1870 and required immigrants to learn English in order to become naturalized citizens. The bill was passed on June 29, 1906, and took effect September 27, 1906. It was repealed and replaced by the Nationality Act of 1940. It was modified by the Immigration Act of 1990.
United States citizenship can be acquired by birthright in two situations: by virtue of the person's birth within United States territory or because at least one of their parents was a U.S. citizen at the time of the person's birth. Birthright citizenship contrasts with citizenship acquired in other ways, for example by naturalization.
Philippine nationality law details the conditions by which a person is a national of the Philippines. The two primary pieces of legislation governing these requirements are the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines and the 1939 Revised Naturalization Law.
Aaron Lopez was a Portuguese-born merchant, slave trader, and philanthropist. Born in Lisbon into a converso family, he moved to British America, settling in the colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Through his varied commercial ventures, Lopez became the wealthiest person in Newport, Rhode Island. In 1761 and 1762, Lopez unsuccessfully sued the colonial government of Rhode Island in an attempt to become a British subject.
The primary law governing nationality in the United Kingdom is the British Nationality Act 1981, which came into force on 1 January 1983. Regulations apply to the British Islands, which include the UK itself and the Crown dependencies ; and the 14 British Overseas Territories.
Bhutanese nationality law is the law governing the acquisition, transmission and loss of Bhutanese citizenship. The Bhutanese Citizenship Act of 1985 was introduced by the Druk Gyalpo Jigme Singye Wangchuck, on June 10, 1985, modifying the definition of a Bhutanese citizen. The Act was implemented as part of a new national policy of Driglam Namzha, national customs and etiquette. Because of its emphasis on Bhutanese culture, the Act is also referred to as the "One Nation, One People Act." The 1985 Act was amended by the Immigration Act of 2007 and then superseded in 2008 by the Constitution of Bhutan insofar as previous laws are inconsistent; where not inconsistent, the provisions of the 2007 Act, the 1985 Act, and previous Acts relating to immigration continue in effect.
There have long been ideological restrictions on naturalization in United States law. Nativism and anti-anarchism at the turn of the 20th century, the red scare in the 1920s, and further fears against communism in the 1950s each shaped United States nationality law. Though ideological exclusions on entry were largely eliminated in 1990, ideological bars arising from each of these time periods and prior still exist in American naturalization law. This long history has resulted in a naturalization statute that requires naturalization applicants to be "attached to the principles of the Constitution of the United States" and forbids them from adhering to several more specific ideological principles such as totalitarianism, communism, and anarchism.
Nationality law in the American colonies preceding the Articles of Confederation was a decentralized early attempt to develop the concept of citizenship among colonial settlers with respect to the major colonial powers of the period. Precedent was largely based on English common law, with jurisdictional discretion afforded to each of the colonies in accordance with the principles of self-governance.
The Expatriation Act of 1907 was an act of the 59th United States Congress concerning retention and relinquishment of United States nationality by married women and Americans residing abroad. It effectively functioned as Congressional endorsement of the various ad hoc rulings on loss of United States nationality that had been made by the State Department since the enactment of the Expatriation Act of 1868. Some sections of it were repealed by other acts in the early 1920s; those sections which remained were codified at 8 U.S.C. §§ 6–17, but those too were repealed by the Nationality Act of 1940 when the question of dual citizenship arose.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
