by Paul Colts
Provision #14 of the Constitution from the Making of America
8:00 am in adventurers, American History, american institutions, citizen, citizenship, emigrants, foreigners, george mason, House of Representatives, immigrant, insidious purposes, local knowledge, paragraph, seven years, united states congress by Paul Colts
PROVISION 14 (From Article I, Section 2, Paragraph 2) A member of the House of Representatives must have been a citizen of the United States for at least seven years. This provision gives the people the right to not have any person sitting in the United States Congress unless that person has been a citizen for at least seven years. Recommended by the committee on detail, it was agreed that an immigrant should be exposed to American institutions and values for a time before being allowed to make decisions in Congress. George Mason commented …
I was for opening a wide door for emigrants, but did not choose to let foreigners and adventurers make laws for us and govern us. Citizenship for three years was not enough for ensuring that local knowledge which ought to be possessed by the representative. … It might also happen that a rich foreign nation … might send over her tools, who might bribe their way into the legislature for insidious purposes.
