Speech #560013853

The Alaska treaty stipulated thatThe inhabitants. * * * with the exception of uncivilized native tribes. shall be admitted to the enjoyment of all the rights. advantages. and immunities of citizens of the Unitel States. and shall be maintained and protected in the jree enjoyment of their liberty. property. and religion. -Citizenship here. as in the former cessions. is the result of treaty stipulation. And here again we note that the makers of the treaty did not consider that they would become such citizens by the operation of the Constitution and without such stipulation. The definition in the Constitution is: 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 wherein they reside. In Elk vs. Wilkins (112 U. S.. 94) Gray. J.. delivering the opinion. at pages 101 and 102. says: This section contemplates two sources of citizenship. and two sources onlybirth and naturalization. The persons declared to be citizens are all persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdicion thereof." The evident meaning of these last words is not merely subject in some respect or degree to the jurisdiction of the United States. but completely subject to their political jurisdiction and owing them direct and immediate allegiance. And the words relate to the time of birth in the one case. as they do to the time of naturalization in the other. Persons thus not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States at the time of birth can not become so afterwards except by being naturalized. either individually. as by proceedings under the naturalization acts. or collectively. as by the force of a treaty by which foreign territory is acquired. Indians born within the territorial limits of the United States. members of and owing immediate allegiance to one of the Indian tribes (an alien though dependent power). although in a geographical sense born in the United States. are no more "born in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof" than the children of subjects of any foreign government born within the domain of that government or the children born within the United States of ambassadors or other public ministers of foreign nations. And in United States vs. Wong Kim Ark (169 U. S.. 649). at pages 702. 703. the same justice. delivering the opinion of the court. says: . The fourteenth amendment of the Constitution. in the declaration 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 wherein they reside." contemplates two sources of citizenship. and only twobirth and naturalizatfon. Citizenship by naturalization can only be acquired by naturalization under the authority and in the forms of law. Citizenship by birth is established by the mere fact of birthunder the circumstances defined in the Constitution. Every person born in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof becomes at once a citizen of the United States and needs no naturalization. A person born out of the jurisdiction of the United States can only become a citizen by being naturalized either by treaty. as in the case of the annexation of foreign territory. or by authority of Congress. exercised either by declaring certain classes of persons to be citizens. as in the enactments conferring citizenship upon foreignborn children of citizens. or by enabling foreigners individually to become citizens by proceedings in the judicial tribunals. as in the ordinary provisions of.the naturalization acts. The recent treaty with Spain provides: Spanish subjects. natives of the Peninsula. residing in the territory over which Spain by the present treaty relinquishes or cedes her sovereignty. * * * in case they remain in the territory. (they) may preserve their allegiance to the Crown of Spain by making before a court of record. within a year from the date of the exchange of ratifications of this treaty. a declaration of their decision to preserve such allegiance. in default of which declaration they shall be held to have renounced it and to have adopted the nationality of the territory in which they may reside. The civil rights and political status of the native inhabitants of the territories hereby ceded to the United States shall be determined by the Congress. Here there is no naturalization by treaty. either of the natives or of the Spaniards. natives of the Peninsula. and it is clear from the opinions above quoted that the inhabitants of Puerto Rico and the Philippines. born there prior to the time of acquisition. do not become citizens of the United States. within the meaning of this amendment. by the mere fact of acquisition. but can only become so by naturalization under Congressional legislation. And it is also clear that uncivilized natives. under tribal relations. occupy the same status as our own Indians or the uncivilized tribes of Alaska. (See Cherokee Nation vs. Georgia. 5 Peters. 1.