United States Citizenship

Ways of becoming a citizen

Fourteenth Amendment


The Oath of Allegiance

I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen;  that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against allenemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law;  that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God.

• Note requirements for naturalization.
• New citizenship test.

The complex status of Native Americans and further background

Click here to see a graph showing the foreign-born population of the US 1850-2000.

Data on foreign-born population 

Immigration in much in the news.

The duties of citizenship

Federalism, continued

Federalist 5: multiple nations?
Federalist 6:  commercial republics
Federalist 7: sources of interstate disputes
Federalist 8: fear of standing armies
Federalist 39: party federal, partly national
Federalist 45: "few and defined" national powers
Federalist 46:  attachments will be to the states


Perceived Advantages of Federalism:


Attitudes toward government waste

Perceived Problems of Federalism:

• Federalism and alcohol
• Federalism and the Station Fire:
• The first includes home video of the fire;
• The second involves an investigation of alleged federal incompetence;
• The third describes the resulting mudslides and a mayor's demand that "thefederal government must take responsibility for their mud that is coming out of their hills."

Federalism I

Systems Of Government Powerpoint (Unitary, Confederation, Federal)

View more PowerPoint from North Gwinnett Middle School

Number of governments

Federalist 51 on "double security"


Constitutional provisions

• Article IV
• Article VI
• Tenth Amendment
• Fourteenth Amendment
• Sixteenth Amendment
• Seventeenth Amendment
• Eighteenth and Twenty-First Amendments

more regarding constitution

As sort of a follow up to my last post on the constitution, while the framers intentionally left loose-ends to ensure the flexibility and, more pertinent to the point of this post, the longevity of the constitution, this article suggests that at least the text of constitution is rapidly growing outdated given the ever-increasing rate of exchange of (in this case, democratic) ideas around the world. However, as the article also argues, the democratic ethos that many consider a defining point of America could not have become  what it is today without the rock-solid foundation that is the Constitution. The most powerful part of the Constitution may be the spirit in which it was written and that it represents, not necessarily its utility today.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/07/us/we-the-people-loses-appeal-with-people-around-the-world.html?_r=1&hp

James Madison Meets Darth Sidious

[A] dangerous ambition more often lurks behind the specious mask of zeal for the rights of the people than under the forbidden appearance of zeal for the firmness and efficiency of government. History will teach us that the former has been found a much more certain road to the introduction of despotism than the latter, and that of those men who have overturned the liberties of republics, the greatest number have begun their career by paying an obsequious court to the people; commencing demagogues, and ending tyrants.

 

The Federalist Papers

Ron Chernow's biography undercuts the notion that Alexander Hamilton was a well-born defender of privilege. Here is a passage summing up what the born-out-of-wedlock Hamilton and his brother faced in their youth:

Let us pause briefly to tally the grim catalog of disasters that had befallen these two boys between 1765 and 1769: their father had vanished, their mother had died, their cousin and supposed protector had committed bloody suicide, and their aunt, uncle, and grandmother had all died. James, 16, and Alexander, 14, were now left alone, largely friendless and penniless. At every step in their rootless, topsy-turvy existence, they had been surrounded by failed, broken, embittered people. Their short lives had been shadowed by a stupefying sequence of bankruptcies, marital separations, deaths, scandals, and disinheritance. Such repeated shocks must have stripped Alexander Hamilton of any sense that life was fair, that he existed in a benign universe, or that he could ever count on help from anyone. That this abominable childhood produced such a strong, productive, self-reliant human being -- that this fatherless adolescent could have ended up a founding father of a country he had not yet even seen -- seems little short of miraculous.

Here is the hip-hop version (no kidding):








Concerns for deliberative democracy:

• Federalist 1: "[O]f those men who have overturned the liberties of republics, the greatest number have begun their career by paying an obsequious court to the people; commencing demagogues, and ending tyrants."

The Need to Suppress Insurrection:

• Federalist 9

Controlling power

• Federalist 10
• Federalist 51
• Federalist 47
• Federalist 48

Madison anticipated modern social psychology.


Federalism

• Federalist 9: The proposed Constitution, so far from implying an abolition of the State governments, makes them constituent parts of the national sovereignty, by allowing them a direct representation in the Senate, and leaves in their possession certain exclusive and very important portions of sovereign power. This fully corresponds, in every rational import of the terms, with the idea of a federal government.

First Essay Assignment

Below is your first assignment. Before writing it, make sure that you read Strunk and White. Also see my writing advice at http://www.claremontmckenna.edu/pages/faculty/JPitney/writing.htm, which in turn contains links to model papers.


Pick one of the following:

• Find a recent (since October 2011) article pointing to a problem that Publius anticipated. (You may search newspapers at news.google.com.  Explain how The Federalist sheds light on the story. In this instance, is the political system working as the Founders hoped?
• Pick a crime issue (e.g. drug possession). Explain how federalism either fosters or hinders progress on this issue.  That is, how does the division of power between the states and federal government create or solve problems (or both)?
• See the box on p. 64 of the textbook. Would you favor or oppose a new constitutional convention? Explain.
• See the box on pp. 94-95 of the textbook. Pick one state government (information here) and explain what major action it has recently taken on illegal immigration.  What should it do?
• See the box on pp. 128-129 of the textbook. Do you believe that the government should encourage or discourage dual citizenship? Explain.

Whichever essay you choose, do research to document your claims. Do not write from the top of your head.

You may find links to many relevant stories at  www.bessettepitney.net)

Essays should be typed, stapled, double-spaced, and no more than four pages long. I will not read past the fourth page.

Put your name on a cover sheet. Do not identify yourself on the text pages.

Cite your sources with endnotes, which should be in a standard style (e.g., Turabian or Chicago Manual of Style). Endnote pages do not count against the page limit.

Watch your spelling, grammar, diction, and punctuation. Errors will count against you.

Return essays by the start of class, Wednesday, February 15. Late essays will drop a gradepoint for one day's lateness, a letter grade after that.  I will grant no extensions except for illness or emergency.