Our Government: Local, State, and National: Idaho Edition eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 219 pages of information about Our Government.

Our Government: Local, State, and National: Idaho Edition eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 219 pages of information about Our Government.

Naturalized Citizens.—­The second class of citizens are those who are naturalized.  That the rules should be uniform by which aliens become citizens, is self-evident.  After a brief discussion, the Constitutional Convention provided in Section 8, Clause 4, that Congress shall have the power to establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States.

Process of Naturalization.—­(1) The foreigner desiring to become a citizen goes before the clerk of any court of record and declares, “upon oath,” that it is his intention to become a citizen of the United States, and to renounce all allegiance to the government which has jurisdiction over him.  He then receives his “first papers.” (2) After he has resided in the United States for five years, providing two years have elapsed since his “declaration of intention,” he may secure his certificate of naturalization.  He must appear in open court and swear that he will support the Constitution of the United States, and renounce all allegiance to any foreign power.  Two witnesses must testify to his term of residence, and declare that he is a man of good moral character.  The applicant must be able to speak the English language.  His wife, and those of his children who are under twenty-one years of age, become citizens at the same time.  In certain cases Congress has, by a single act, admitted large numbers of aliens to American citizenship, as it did at the time of the purchase of Louisiana, the annexation of Texas, and of Hawaii.

Bankrupt Laws.—­It sometimes happens, because of general depression in trade throughout the country, on account of losses, or for other reasons, that business men become heavily involved in debt.  They are said to be insolvent.  Now, it is but just that such property as they have should be divided in some equitable way among the creditors.  A bankrupt law secures such a division, and the debtor is, at the same time, freed from all legal obligation to pay the debts which cannot be met in this way.  The first law of Congress on this subject was passed in 1802, and repealed in 1803.  Since that time there have been three other bankrupt laws, but the total time during which they have been in force amounts only to some twenty years.  The last law, that of 1898, is still in operation.[29]

[Footnote 29:  See “Government in State and Nation,” p. 193, for a further discussion of bankrupt laws—­especially that of 1898.]

Some States have also passed insolvency laws.  However, these must not in any way conflict with the provisions of the National bankrupt laws.

II.  THE POSTAL SYSTEM.

Organization of the Post-office Department.—­We can appreciate somewhat the advancement made in the postal service rendered by the government when we read that an Act of Congress in 1782 directed that mail should be carried “at least once in each week from one office to another.”  Our well-organized postal system, declared recently by the Postmaster-General to be the “greatest business concern” in the world,[30] has been evolved through laws made in carrying out the provision of the Constitution that Congress shall have power to establish post-offices and post-roads.

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Our Government: Local, State, and National: Idaho Edition from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.