However. I want to call attention. as briefly as I can. to a matter of American history. When the Constitution was framed we had no uniform naturalization laws. The Constitution provided a grant of power to the Federal Government. to enact a uniform naturalization law. The different States had a different basis of naturalization as well as a different basis of suffrage. and so it was impracticable at the time the Constitution was adopted to exclude aliens from the count. However. as the years went on the question assumed increased importance. and at the time of the adoption of the fourteenth amendment. following the CivilWar. it is interesting to know that the same question I am presenting was debated upon the floor of this House. I have before me a speech made by Thaddeus Stevens. of Pennsylvania. on January 31. 1866.
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