Residency Requirement

Examples of Residency Requirement in the following topics:

• The Alien and Sedition Acts

  • The Naturalization Act repealed and replaced the Naturalization Act of 1795 and extended the duration of residence required for aliens to become citizens of the United States from five years to fourteen years.
  • The Alien Act authorized the president to deport any resident alien considered "dangerous to the peace and safety of the United States."
  • The Alien Enemies Act authorized the president to apprehend and deport resident aliens if their home countries were at war with the United States.

• The Flowering of Black Freedom Struggle

  • When Mississippi ratified its constitution in 1890, the constitution had placed barriers to black voting with provisions such as poll taxes, residency requirements, and literacy tests.
  • After local residents asked the SCLC for assistance, King came to Selma to lead several marches.

• Disenfranchising African Americans

  • In 1890, Mississippi adopted a new constitution, which contained provisions for voter registration that required voters to pay poll taxes and pass a literacy test.
  • Legislators created a variety of barriers, including longer residency requirements, rule variations, and literacy and understanding tests, which were subjectively applied against minorities, or were particularly hard for the poor to fulfill.
  • Apportionment of seats was still based on total population (with the assumption of the usual number of voting males in relation to the residents); as a result, white Southerners commanded a number of seats far out of proportion to the voters they represented.

• Tenements and Overcrowding

  • The Tenement House Act of 1867, the state legislature's first comprehensive legislation on housing conditions, prohibited cellar apartments unless the ceiling was one foot above street level; required one water closet per 20 residents; required fire escapes; and began to delineate space between buildings.
  • The Tenement House Act of 1867 was amended by the Tenement House Act of 1879, also known as the "Old Law," which required lot coverage of no more than 65%.
  • The New York State Assembly Tenement House Committee report of 1894 surveyed 8,000 buildings with approximately 255,000 residents and found New York to be the most densely populated city in the world, at an average of 143 people per acre, with part of the Lower East Side having 800 residents per acre, an area denser than Bombay.
  • Known as the New Law, this law implemented the Tenement House Committee's recommendation of a maximum of 70% lot coverage (with strict enforcement); specified a minimum of 12 feet for a rear yard; required six feet for an air and light shaft at the lot line or 12 feet in the middle of the building (these numbers increased for taller buildings); required running water and water closets in every apartment; required a window in every room; and instituted fire-safety regulations.
  • The "residents" (volunteers at Hull were given this title) held classes in literature, history, art, domestic activities (such as sewing), and many other subjects.

• Jim Crow Laws

  • Between 1890 and 1910, 10 of the 11 former Confederate states passed new constitutions or amendments that effectively disfranchised most blacks and tens of thousands of poor whites through a combination of poll taxes, literacy and comprehension tests, and residency and record-keeping requirements.
  • While poll taxes and literacy requirements banned many poor or illiterate Americans from voting, these stipulations frequently had loopholes that exempted white Americans from meeting the requirements.
  • In Oklahoma, for instance, anyone qualified to vote before 1866, or related to someone qualified to vote before 1866 (a kind of "grandfather clause"), was exempted from the literacy requirement; the only persons who could vote before that year were white male Americans.

• Chinese Exclusion and Chinese Rights

  • When the act was extended in 1902, it required "each Chinese resident to register and obtain a certificate of residence.
  • The Supreme Court determined that refusing entry at a port does not require due process and is legally equivalent to refusing entry at a land crossing.

• The Growth of Suburbs

  • Economic growth in the United States encouraged the suburbanization of American cities that required massive investments for new infrastructure and homes.
  • These suburban residences are built on larger lots of land than in the central city.
  • For example, the lot size for a residence in Chicago is usually 125 feet (38 m) deep, while the width can vary from 14 feet (4.3 m) wide for a row house to 45 feet (14 m) wide for a large stand-alone house.
  • The influx of new black residents caused many white Americans to move to the suburbs ("white flight").
  • The federal government contributed to white flight and the early decay of non-white city neighborhoods by withholding maintenance capital mortgages, thus making it difficult for the communities to either retain or attract middle-class residents.

• Immigration Restriction League

  • The goal of this bill, called "An Act to regulate the immigration of aliens to, and the residence in, the United States," was to reduce as much as possible the number of immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe while increasing the number of immigrants from Northern and Western Europe (who the League thought were people with kindred values).
  • The IRL made common cause with blue collar workers in labor unions by advocating a literacy requirement as a means to limit poorly-educated immigrants who would lower the wage scale.
  • Potential immigrants were required to be able to read their own language.
  • In 1896, congress passed a literacy bill for the first time, which required that immigrants be able to at least 40 words in any language before they could be admitted to the United States.

• Union Finances

  • The United States required more than three billion dollars to pay for the immense armies and fleets raised to fight the Civil War and more than $400 million in 1862 alone.
  • Annual income of U.S. residents was taxed at a 3 percent rate, while those earning more than $10,000 per year were taxed at a 5 percent rate.
  • Among the Union's most important war measures was the creation of a system of national banks that provided a sound currency for industrial expansion.These new banks were required to purchase government bonds, directly financing the war.

• The Anti-German Crusade

  • In early September, Congress passed a bill requiring all German-language newspapers published in the United States to print English translations of any commentary about U.S. government policies and international relations or the state or conduct of the war.
  • In anticipation of support for Germany among immigrants, President Wilson issued two sets of regulations, on April 6 and November 16, 1917, imposing restrictions on German-born male residents over the age of 14, including natives of Germany who had taken citizenship in countries other than the United States.
  • Approximately 250,000 men were required to register at their local post offices and carry registration cards at all times, as well as report any changes of address or employment; the regulations were extended to women in April 1918.
  • Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels to transfer the other 750 residents of the village to secure units at Fort McPherson in Georgia and Fort Oglethorpe, separated from the civilian internees there.