Becoming an American citizen was a chaotic process in the early days of the United States. During what became known as the Old Law period, there was no official federal oversight of the citizenship process. Early laws allowed any municipal, county, state, or federal court to grant citizenship and did not require courts to issue certificates.
When certificates were issued, they varied in size, shape, and design. The contents also varied, with many leaving out biographical information. Many certificates were just certified copies of the court order granting citizenship. With no centralized system, certificates could easily be transferred from one person to another. The lack of any security features meant the certificates were difficult to authenticate but easy to forge.
Congress recognized that the lack of uniformity was a problem and took steps to formalize the citizenship process. In 1906, Congress passed the Basic Naturalization Act. The law made the process consistent across the entire country. There was one certificate that would be used in every court and a copy of that certificate was filed with the newly created Naturalization Service.
The creation of the certificate was an improvement, but there was still no uniform citizenship test. Some judges did not administer a test at all. Some included trick questions like “How high is the Bunker Hill Monument” so they could deny citizenship to someone they did not like.
On this date in 1908, the North Lemmon newspaper printed an article highlighting complaints about the lack of a citizenship test. The article reported that eighty people applied for citizenship at Dickinson but, as it stated, “It was shown that many of the would-be citizens who have lived in this country from six to ten years have no more idea of the real meaning of citizenship to the United States than they did when they arrived in this country.” The article complained that some applicants seemed to think it was not important to know who the president was or what form of government the country has.
In 1950, the Immigration Service narrowed the range of acceptable topics for the test to highlight knowledge of the Constitution and American history. Today, the citizenship test consists of one hundred questions about the Constitution, American government, elections, and American history.
Dakota Datebook written by Dr. Carole Butcher
Sources:
- State-Line Herald. “There were some eighty applicants…” North Lemmon ND. 5/1/1906. Page 1.
- National Archives. “History of the Certificate of Citizenship, 1790-1956. https://www.archives.gov/research/immigration/naturalization/history-cert-of-naturalization Accessed 4/11/2025.
- U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. “History of the Certificate of Naturalization.” https://www.uscis.gov/about-us/our-history/stories-from-the-archives/history-of-the-certificate-of-naturalization-1906-1956 Accessed 4/11/2025.
- U.S. Citizenship and Immigrations Services. “Origins of the Naturalization Civics Test.” https://www.uscis.gov/about-us/our-history/stories-from-the-archives/origins-of-the-naturalization-civics-test Accessed 4/11/2024.
