Speech #720166344

You will ask yourself. "Is not citizenship a public trust? " And. if you are a true American. you will conclude that it is no more proper to insist upon a religious test for citizenship than it is for office holding. Notwithstanding the plain import of this language. the framers of our Constitution strove to make "assurance doubly sure." and the very first amendment emphasized the importance of the question by the use of the following language: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. or abridging freedom of speech or of the press. The clear import of these two specific guaranties of human liberty is that they were intended to be universal in their application.. in other words. that they should apply without exception to every inhabitant of the United States. to wit. that the same principle which prohibited religious tests for officeholders would prohibit religious tests for those seeking citizenship. and that if freedom of thought and of speech was to be guaranteed to nativeborn citizenship it must of necessity be guaranteed to every inhabitant of the United States. whether native born or naturalized.