1790 Naturalization Act: Requirements, Eligibility, and Full Text

The Naturalization Act of 1790 was the first federal law setting out how a foreign-born person could become a United States citizen. Signed on March 26, 1790, and cited as 1 Stat. 103, it let any “free white person” who had lived in the country for two years apply to a common law court of record, prove good character, and take an oath to support the Constitution. Congress passed it under Article I, Section 8, Clause 4, which authorizes a uniform rule of naturalization across the states.¹ The law stayed on the books for only five years before Congress repealed and replaced it.

What the Act Required

The statute set out a short list of conditions. An applicant had to be a free white person, had to have lived in the United States for two years, and had to have lived in the state where they filed for at least one of those years.² They had to convince a court of their good character and swear or affirm support for the Constitution. Once the clerk recorded the application and proceedings, they were a citizen.

By modern standards, this was a light framework. There was no waiting period between filing and approval, no written test, no separate declaration of intent, and no requirement for sworn witnesses. The country was young and wanted settlers, and the rules reflected that.

Who Could Apply and Who Was Excluded

The most consequential language in the entire law was the opening eligibility phrase. Only a “free white person” could naturalize.² That excluded enslaved people, indentured servants, free Black individuals, Native Americans, and immigrants from Asia. Before 1790, some states had allowed free Black residents to hold citizenship at the state level, so the federal act actually narrowed access rather than widening it.

The racial bar proved durable. Congress did not extend naturalization to people of African nativity or descent until 1870.³ Immigrants from much of Asia remained ineligible even after that. The last of the racial restrictions was not removed until the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, more than 160 years after the original statute.

The Court Process

Applicants filed with a common law court of record in their state of residence.² A court of record was any court that kept permanent written documentation of its proceedings and could issue binding judgments. In practice, municipal, county, state, and federal courts all handled naturalization petitions as long as they kept formal records.

The statute did not spell out what evidence of good character looked like. The presiding judge had wide discretion, and there was no formal affidavit requirement in 1790. That kind of paperwork came later, most notably through the 1906 reforms. The whole process could happen in a single court appearance: the applicant showed up, satisfied the judge, took the oath, and left a citizen.

Citizenship for Children

The act treated two groups of children separately. Minor children under twenty-one who were already living in the United States when a parent naturalized became citizens automatically, with no separate filing needed.² Families were not split into citizens and non-citizens under the same roof.

Children of American citizens born overseas or at sea “shall be considered as natural born citizens,” the statute said. One restriction applied: citizenship could not pass down if the child’s father had never lived in the United States. Congress wanted to prevent citizenship from being inherited indefinitely by people with no real connection to the country.

The phrase “natural born citizens” appears in no other federal statute in American history. Article II of the Constitution uses the same words to describe who may serve as president, and the First Congress’s choice of language has fueled debate ever since about whether children born abroad to American parents qualify. When Congress replaced the 1790 act five years later, it dropped “natural born” and called these children simply “citizens of the United States.”⁴ The Supreme Court has never definitively resolved what the change meant.

The Loyalist Proviso

The act closed with a proviso barring anyone “heretofore proscribed by any state” from naturalizing unless that state’s legislature specifically authorized it.² “Proscribed” meant formally banished or stripped of rights by a state government. During and after the Revolution, many states had passed laws targeting Loyalists who supported the Crown, confiscating property and banishing them.

The clause told exiled Loyalists that federal naturalization could not override a state’s decision to cast them out. To become a citizen, a former Loyalist first needed permission from the very state that had banished them.

Women and the Father-Line Rule

The statute used only male pronouns, and the doctrine of coverture shaped how it operated. Under coverture, a married woman’s legal identity was absorbed into her husband’s. She could not independently own property, enter contracts, or pursue most legal actions in her own name. Naturalization was effectively a process for men, with wives deriving citizenship through their husbands.

The overseas-birth provision followed the same pattern. Citizenship descended through fathers, and the text did not address whether a child born abroad to an American mother and a foreign father could claim citizenship. English law before 1731 had recognized citizenship through either parent, but by 1790 the father-only model was the prevailing framework.

How Long It Lasted and What Came Next

The Naturalization Act of 1790 lasted five years. Congress repealed it entirely with the Naturalization Act of 1795, which reshaped the rules in several ways:⁴

Minimum residency in the United States rose from two years to five.
Applicants had to file a declaration of intent at least three years before naturalizing, adding a waiting period the 1790 act had lacked.
Children born abroad to citizen parents were called “citizens” rather than “natural born citizens.”
The Loyalist bar remained, and the 1795 act explicitly extended it to anyone who had joined the British army during the Revolution.

Congress replaced the 1795 act in 1802 and kept revising naturalization law through the nineteenth century. The “free white person” phrase survived each revision until 1870, when eligibility was extended to people of African descent.³ Racial restrictions were not fully removed until 1952. Today’s standard path requires five years of lawful permanent residence (three for spouses of U.S. citizens), English proficiency, a civics examination, and a background check.

Full Text of the Naturalization Act of 1790

The complete text, as recorded in the first volume of the Statutes at Large, reads as follows:²

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That any alien, being a free white person, who shall have resided within the limits and under the jurisdiction of the United States for the term of two years, may be admitted to become a citizen thereof, on application to any common law court of record, in any one of the states wherein he shall have resided for the term of one year at least, and making proof to the satisfaction of such court, that he is a person of good character, and taking the oath or affirmation prescribed by law, to support the constitution of the United States, which oath or affirmation such court shall administer; and the clerk of such court shall record such application, and the proceedings thereon; and thereupon such person shall be considered as a citizen of the United States.

And the children of such persons so naturalized, dwelling within the United States, being under the age of twenty-one years at the time of such naturalization, shall also be considered as citizens of the United States. And the children of citizens of the United States, that may be born beyond sea, or out of the limits of the United States, shall be considered as natural born citizens: Provided, That the right of citizenship shall not descend to persons whose fathers have never been resident in the United States: Provided also, That no person heretofore proscribed by any state, shall be admitted a citizen as aforesaid, except by an act of the legislature of the state in which such person was proscribed.

Finding Records from the 1790 Act Era

Because any court of record could process naturalization petitions before 1906, records from this era are scattered across hundreds of local, state, and federal courts. The National Archives holds naturalization records from federal courts, organized by the state where the court sat.⁵ Records from state and local courts are typically held by state archives or historical societies.

If you are researching an ancestor who may have naturalized in this period, start with the archive that serves the state where the person lived. Federal court files usually include indexes, declarations of intent (for post-1795 applicants), and petitions. Some federal courthouses still hold their own naturalization records, so contacting the courthouse directly may be necessary if the National Archives does not have the file. Records from 1906 onward are more standardized and may be held by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.⁵

1
Congress.gov. ArtI.S8.C4.1.1 Overview of Naturalization Clause
2
GovTrack. 1 Stat. 103 – An Act to Establish an Uniform Rule of Naturalization
3
GovInfo. 16 Stat. 254 – An Act to Amend the Naturalization Laws
4
Congress.gov. ArtI.S8.C4.1.2.3 Early US Naturalization Laws
5
National Archives. Naturalization Records