I do not dream. therefore. that I am called on in this debate to oppose or to reply to a general assumption that the men of Africa and the men of China andthe men of India or the men of Europe are free to come here without our permission. Why. sir. we have had from the foundation of our Government laws which designated who should come. We never had any naturalization law that embraced any but white men. That was the law of the land. and that was the sentiment of the country from the extreme north to the extreme south. No man in New England. no han upon the Gulf coast. ever desired to naturalize as a citizen of the United States any bat white men. until in the course of time we came to deal with the great domestic problem. until in the course of time we came to deal with five millions of people emancipated by war. not by the voluntary act of the people of this country. We had State conventions North and South to ratify amendments to the Constitution which proclaimed freedom to the black man. But every man knows that the black man was free as air before those amendments were ratified by the States or affirmed by the Congress of the United States.
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naturalization naturalize