"In crafting a naturalization law, prudence thus counseled that immigrants undergo a period of probation before being admitted to the American political fellowship, both to provide foreigners sufficient time to absorb republican values, and to afford the nation an opportunity to assess their moral and political character. After a decade of extraordinary fluctuation in the requirements for naturalization, from a mere two-year residency in the Naturalization Act of 1790 to a high of fourteen years in 1798, Congress settled on a residency requirement of five years-longer than some idealistic advocates of the American asylum had preferred, but still remarkably liberal by historical and international standards. A five-year residency "occasioned the safest and surest transmutation," explained Pennsylvanian Republican Michael Leib. It would impart "knowledge and feeling," and furnish an "opportunity for the intercourse that amalgamated the aliens with us, and gave them a common interest.""
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pp.756-757
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Immigration_to_the_United_States
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Immigration to the United States
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