Government in the United States, National, State and Local Part 31

_The District of Columbia_ is a territory with an area of seventy square miles, and was ceded to the United States in 1790 for the site of the national capital. The district was administered from 1801 to 1871 under the forms of munic.i.p.al government, that is, by a mayor and council, but in the latter year Congress vested the government in a governor, a secretary, a board of public works, a board of health, and a legislative a.s.sembly. At the same time the district was allowed to send a delegate to Congress. Largely on account of the extravagance of this government in under-taking expensive public improvements, Congress in 1874 abolished the whole scheme and established the present system, which vests practically all governmental powers in the hands of a commission of three persons appointed by the President. Two of these must be appointed from civil life and the other must be an officer belonging to the engineering corps of the army. This commission has the general direction of administrative affairs and the appointment of employees, and exercises wide powers of a quasi legislative character, such as the issuing of health and police regulations. The legislature of the district, however, is the Congress of the United States. In each house there is a committee on the District of Columbia to which all bills relating to the district are referred, and on one day of each week an hour is set apart in the house of representatives for the consideration of such bills. No provision is made for the representation of the district in Congress, and the inhabitants take no part in presidential elections.[108] One half the expense of conducting the government of the district is defrayed out of the national treasury, and the other half is raised from taxation on private property in the district.

[108] This is also true of the other territories and dependencies. The organized territories, however, have been allowed to send delegates to the national conventions for the nomination of the President and Vice President.

The judicial establishment of the district consists of a court of appeals of three judges, a supreme court of six judges, and the usual police courts and courts of justices of the peace. (See page 364.)

=American Protection over Spanish American States.=--In addition to the ownership of the various insular dependencies mentioned above, the United States, in pursuance of a long established policy known as the "Monroe Doctrine," exercises a certain degree of protection over Latin American states. As this policy is now interpreted it forbids the further acquisition by European powers of territorial possessions in the western hemisphere, or the extension by such powers of political influence on this continent. By virtue of special treaty arrangements the United States exercises a virtual protectorate over certain of the smaller Latin American republics. Thus under the "Platt Amendment," to the const.i.tution of Cuba (also embodied in a treaty between the United States and Cuba) the United States has the right to intervene in Cuba for the maintenance of a stable government and for the protection of public order and security; and this power was exercised in 1906.

Naturally it exercises the power of protection over the republic of Panama through whose territory the Panama Ca.n.a.l runs, and recently (1915) it has established a sort of financial protectorate over Haiti and the Dominican Republic. In pursuance of treaty arrangements it collects the customs revenues in those republics, applies them to the payment of their foreign debts, and has the right to intervene for the maintenance of order.

=References.=--BEARD, American Government and Politics, ch. xxi.

BRYCE, The American Commonwealth (abridged edition), ch. xlvi.

HART, Actual Government, ch. xx. WILLOUGHBY, Territories and Dependencies of the United States, chs. iii, iv, vi.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. From what clause or clauses in the Const.i.tution is the power to acquire foreign territory derived?

2. By what different methods has foreign territory been added to the United States?

3. Are there any limitations on the powers of Congress in legislating for the territories?

CHAPTER XX

CITIZENSHIP

=Who are Citizens.=--The population of every country is composed of two cla.s.ses of persons: citizens and aliens. The larger portion of the inhabitants are citizens, but the alien cla.s.s is considerable in some states of the Union, much more so than formerly, owing to the large influx of immigrants from Europe in recent years.[109] A citizen is one who has been admitted to full membership in the state, though he may not have been given full political privileges, such as the privileges of voting and holding public office. There is a large cla.s.s of citizens in every state who can neither vote nor hold public office, such, for example, as minors, sometimes illiterate persons, those who have not paid their taxes, those who have been convicted of serious crimes, and others. On the other hand, aliens in some states are allowed to vote and hold office, especially if they have formally declared their intention of becoming citizens. The terms "citizen" and "voter," therefore, are not identical, since there are some citizens who cannot vote and some voters who are not citizens. (See page 125.)

[109] The census of New York of 1910 showed that of a total population of 9,000,000 inhabitants there were more than 2,000,000 aliens.

=How Citizenship is Acquired.=--Under the Fourteenth Amendment to the federal Const.i.tution, all persons born in the United States[110] are citizens of the United States, and also of the states in which they reside. Persons who come here from abroad may become citizens only by being naturalized.

[110] For some purposes, the residences of foreign diplomatic representatives are considered as if belonging to the foreign country represented. Thus a child of the French amba.s.sador, if born in the amba.s.sador's residence at Washington, is born a citizen of France; likewise a child of the United States amba.s.sador at Paris, if born at his residence in France, is nevertheless a natural-born citizen of the United States.

_Naturalization Law._--To acquire citizenship in this way, they must reside here for a period of five years, they must also be persons of good moral character, attached to the principles of the Const.i.tution and well disposed to the good order and happiness of the same. Under the law of 1906 they must also be able to write their own language and be able to read and speak English. Two steps are necessary in the procedure of naturalization: first the applicant must go before a federal court or a court of record in some state and make oath that he is at least eighteen years of age, and that it is his intention to become a citizen of the United States. At the same time he must renounce all allegiance to the foreign state of which he is a citizen or subject and must furnish the court with a variety of information concerning his past life, including the date of his arrival in the United States and the name of the ship on which he arrived. He is then furnished with a certificate which is popularly known as his "first papers." When he has resided in the United States at least five years and possesses all the necessary qualifications the court will issue him a certificate of naturalization which makes him a citizen. Fees amounting to five dollars are now charged for filing the pet.i.tion and issuing the final certificate. In order to prevent the wholesale naturalization of aliens in the large cities for election purposes, the law provides that no certificate of naturalization shall be granted within thirty days prior to any general election. Any honorably discharged alien from the United States army may be admitted to citizenship after a residence of one year, and the preliminary declaration of intention is not required of aliens who have served five years in the navy.

_Disqualifications._--In addition to the qualifications mentioned above, there are certain disqualifications which serve to debar many foreigners from acquiring American citizenship. Thus only white persons and persons of African nativity are capable of being naturalized under our laws, so that those belonging to the Mongolian or other races, such as Chinese, j.a.panese, Burmese, and East Indians, cannot become citizens of the United States unless born here. Other persons excluded for different reasons are polygamists, anarchists, and certain other cla.s.ses of criminals who are not considered worthy to enjoy the high privileges of citizenship.

The naturalization of a husband makes the wife and minor children citizens, so that they do not have to go through the process of taking out their "papers."

_Other Methods of Acquiring Citizenship._--Citizenship may be acquired sometimes in other ways than the method described above. Thus a foreign woman becomes a citizen by marriage to an American citizen, and the inhabitants of foreign territory annexed to the United States become citizens by virtue of their incorporation into the body politic. In this way the inhabitants of the Louisiana territory, acquired from France, became citizens. In the same way those of Florida, Texas, California, Alaska, and Hawaii became citizens, but not those of Porto Rico and the Philippines. Residents of Porto Rico, however, were made citizens of the United States by act of Congress in 1917.

=How Citizenship may be Lost.=--As citizenship may be acquired in various ways so it may be lost by different acts. An American woman loses her citizenship by marriage to an alien. Acceptance of a commission in the service of a foreign country; if it involves the taking of an oath of allegiance to a foreign government, operates to divest one of his American citizenship. The most common mode by which citizenship is lost, however, is through voluntary removal from the country and naturalization in a foreign state. The right of the citizen to withdraw from the United States, renounce his allegiance, and acquire the citizenship of a foreign state, is declared by our law to be an inalienable right. Mere removal from the United States and the establishment of a residence in a foreign country, however, does not of itself operate to divest one of his citizenship. An American citizen may reside abroad many years for the purposes of business, education, or pleasure, and so long as he preserves an intention of returning to the United States he is not held to have abandoned his American nationality.

In order to prevent foreigners from coming to the United States, acquiring our citizenship, and returning to their native country for the purpose of living there without being subject to the burdens and obligations of military service, the law declares that a naturalized American who returns to his native country and resides there for a period of two years will be presumed to have abandoned his American citizenship, and unless he can show an intention of returning to America he will be considered as no longer being a citizen.

=Federal versus State Citizenship.=--In a country having the federal form of government, the inhabitants have a dual citizenship, that is, they are citizens of the country as a whole and of the particular state in which they are residents. Thus our federal Const.i.tution declares that all persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof are citizens of the United States and of the state in which they reside. A person, however, may be a citizen of the United States without at the same time being a citizen of any state, as is the case with those inhabiting the territories, the District of Columbia, and other places not forming a part of any state. On the contrary, it seems to be generally admitted that one may be a citizen of a state without necessarily being a citizen of the United States. Thus a state may give an alien full political and civil rights and declare him to be a citizen of the state before he has become a citizen of the United States. Some states have in effect done this. It follows, therefore, that federal and state citizenship are not necessarily identical and coexistent, since there may be a cla.s.s of state citizens upon whom the United States has not conferred its own citizenship, and a cla.s.s of United States citizens who are not citizens of any state. The citizenship of a particular state may be relinquished for that of another by removal from the former state and the establishment of a residence in the latter. No legal formality whatever is required to put off the one and take on the other.

_Interstate Rights of Citizens._--There is a provision in the Const.i.tution of the United States which declares that the citizens of each state shall enjoy all the privileges and immunities of the citizens of the several states. The purpose of this provision is to prevent one state from discriminating against the citizens of other states in favor of its own citizens. Whatever rights and privileges it accords to its own citizens must be accorded equally to citizens of other states who may be within its borders or who may wish to carry on business therein.

The states are also forbidden by the federal Const.i.tution to abridge the privileges and immunities of citizens of the United States, though the Const.i.tution does not specify or indicate what these privileges and immunities are. They include, however, such privileges as the making and enforcing of contracts, of suing in the courts, of inheriting, holding, and conveying property, of receiving equal protection of the laws, and, in general, of enjoying every right or privilege to which the citizen is ent.i.tled under the Const.i.tution and laws of the United States.

=Rights and Duties of Aliens.=--Aliens, though in a political sense members of foreign states, are, nevertheless, fully subject to the jurisdiction of the state in which they are domiciled, and owe it a temporary allegiance. They are bound to obey the laws equally with citizens, and may be punished for violations of them equally with citizens. They must also share, to a certain extent, the public burdens, and may be required to serve in the militia or police (though not in the regular army) if the common defense and domestic safety require their services.

_Right of Protection._--It is now universally admitted that they are ent.i.tled to the protection of the government under which they are living so long as they are within its jurisdiction, but not when they go abroad. So far as the enjoyment of civil rights is concerned, the tendency is to treat them on a footing of equality with citizens. Both the federal and the state courts are open to them on the same terms as to citizens, and if they suffer injuries in the course of riots and other disturbances, because of their foreign nationality, especially if the public authorities fail to use due diligence to prevent or punish attacks upon them, the United States government will indemnify them or their heirs for the injuries sustained.[111]

[111] The United States government has uniformly refused to admit its liability in such cases, but it has in practice generally allowed an indemnity. This was done, for example, in the case of the Anti-Spanish riots in New Orleans and Key West in 1851; in the case of the Anti-Chinese riots at Rock Springs, Wyoming, in 1885; and in the case of the Italian lynchings at New Orleans in 1891.

_Disabilities of Aliens._--Formerly aliens were subject to disabilities much more commonly than now. Under the common law, for example, they could not inherit land, but this disability has been abolished in most of the states, though some still make a distinction between resident and nonresident aliens in this respect, allowing the former cla.s.s to take land by inheritance as well as by purchase but excluding the latter cla.s.s. Some states do not allow them to be employed on the public works, and a few subject them to other disabilities, but they are not important or numerous.[112] With regard to political privileges, however, the disabilities of aliens are still generally maintained.

[112] In 1915 the Federal Courts held unconst.i.tutional a law of Arizona which forbade the employment of more than 20 per cent of aliens in any work.

=Rights and Obligations of Citizens.=--The chief privilege of citizenship is that of protection by the government in all personal and property rights. If the citizen goes abroad for the purpose of business or pleasure, the government will protect him from wrongful treatment so long as he obeys the law of the country to which he is, for the time being, subject, and demeans himself peaceably. If he is injured or discriminated against because of his foreign nationality, the government which fails to protect him will be required to make a suitable indemnity for the injury.

_Equality of Native and Naturalized Citizens._--When it comes to protecting its citizens abroad, the United States government makes no distinction between naturalized and native-born citizens. In the case of a Russian, for example, who comes to America and is naturalized and goes back to Russia for business or pleasure, our government will insist that he be treated by the Russian authorities as if he were a native-born American citizen. At home a naturalized citizen enjoys the same privileges as a native-born except that he is not eligible to the office of President or Vice President of the United States.

_Duties and Obligations of Citizens._--Rights and privileges seldom exist without corresponding duties and obligations, and so citizenship has its duties. One of these is to contribute to the bearing of the burdens of the state. This includes the payment of taxes, service in the militia or army for purposes of defense, and the discharge of such public trusts as may be imposed. It is, of course, the duty of the citizen, as it is of every one who lives in the state, to obey the laws and do what he can to secure their enforcement. Finally, if the citizen possesses political privileges, it is his duty to take an active part in securing the election of competent and honest officials to the end that the government which protects him may be efficient and well administered.

=Obligations and Duties of Nations: International Law.=--Nations, like individuals, are bound by rules of conduct in their relations with one another. The rules governing nations const.i.tute what is known as international law, a subject of which we have heard much since the outbreak of the great world war in 1914. The rules of international law, unlike those of national or munic.i.p.al law, are not enacted by a legislative body, for as yet, unfortunately, there is no world legislature. They consist partly of customary rules and usages, and partly of international treaties. The most important of these treaties are those negotiated to end the World War, and also the so-called conventions, sixteen in number, recommended by the Peace Conferences at the Hague in 1899 and 1907, and adopted, for the most part, by nearly all the civilized nations of the world. These conventions contain a large number of important rules prescribing the conduct to be observed by nations both in time of war and in time of peace.

Unfortunately, however, international law has one great weakness which national law does not have. National law has what the lawyers call a sanction; that is to say, a penalty is prescribed for its violation, and courts are established for punishing those who violate its rules. But in the case of international law there is as yet no machinery for bringing to the bar of justice and inflicting punishment upon a nation which violates its international duties and obligations, except as the League of Nations may succeed in performing this function. The only punishment which has often followed such an act is the reprobation of public opinion, which unhappily, as the World War has demonstrated, is not a sufficient deterrent in the case of nations which regard lightly their obligations of honor and good faith. Thinking men the world over realize how important it is to make international law more effective, to compel nations by force or otherwise to observe their international obligations, and to prevent war, the world's greatest curse.

=References.=--ASHLEY, The American Federal State, ch. xxix; also pp.

212-217. BEARD, American Government and Politics, pp. 160-163.

FULLER, Government by the People, ch. ii. GARNER, Introduction to Political Science, ch. xi. HART, Actual Government, chs. ii-iv.

HINSDALE, The American Government, ch. liv.

=Doc.u.mentary and Ill.u.s.trative Material.=--1. Copy of the federal citizenship law of 1907. 2. Copy of the naturalization act of 1906.

3. Copies of naturalization blanks and of naturalization regulations (these may be secured from the bureau of immigration and naturalization). 4. Copy of an application for a pa.s.sport (this may be secured from the department of state). 5. Copy of a pa.s.sport.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. What is a citizen? Distinguish between native-born and naturalized citizens; between citizens and electors.

2. Is the citizenship of a child determined by the law of the place where it is born or by the law of the place of which the parents are citizens? Distinguish between the English and American practice in this respect, on the one hand, and the continental European practice on the other.

3. What would be the citizenship of a child born in the United States if the father were the amba.s.sador of a foreign country, temporarily residing here? What would be the citizenship of a child born of American parents on the high seas? of a child born abroad of American parents? of a child born in the United States if the father were a foreign consul here?

4. A child born in the United States of French parents would be a citizen of the United States under our law; it would also be a citizen of France, according to French law. Which citizenship would prevail?

5. Do you think our law should admit persons of African descent to become citizens and yet deny the right to j.a.panese, Chinese, and natives of India?

6. May one be a citizen of two different countries at the same time?