Speech #530020949

During the time of reconstruction the debts of the eleven Confederate States were increased under this wanton. extravagant. and dreadful policy from $67.000.000 to $297.000.000. In the midst of the reconstruction scheme. in 1870 and 1871. we witnessed one of the supreme efforts of the Republican party to extend Federal interference and military rule into every neighborhood and hamlet of the United States. In 1870 this House passed a bill to amend the naturalization laws and to punish crime against the State. Its first section took from every State court the power to grant certificates of naturalization and vested those powers in the Federal courts. Had that bill. which was approved by Republican leaders. become a law. an applicant for naturalization could not have declared his intention to become a citizen. of the United States in any State court located near his residence. but would have been forced to go to the Federal court. at a distant point and at a loss of much time and money. a court located perhaps hundreds of miles from his home. The bill required that he should file notice in the Federal court. or before one of the commissioners. at least one month before making his application for naturalization. This would have required. very likely. a second journey to the Federal court. He was also required to show a residence in the United States of four years and six months.